For the first time,
materials from an early Scythian settlement, obtained by the Kariv
Archaeological Expedition of Ivan Franko National University of Lviv and the
Lviv Regional Council's Historical and Local History Museum (Vynnyky, Lviv
Region) as a result of research conducted in 2017–2021 near the village of
Kariv, Sheptytskyi district, Lviv region.
The settlement is
located on the right bank of the Solokia River, a left tributary of the Western
Bug. Its territory covers insignificant sandy elevations of the first
floodplain terrace. As a result of the excavations, thirty two objects were
discovered, six of which contained archaeological material from the Early Iron
Age.
It has been traced
that all the finds have direct analogies with the material culture objects of
the Lezhnytsia group of sites. Attention is drawn to individual fragments of
ceramic products that are characteristic of other cultures, in particular the
Milohrad culture. Their presence in the territory of the Lezhnytsia group
indicates certain connections between the latter and the population of the
forest areas of Polissya. At the same time, the limited amount of material does
not allow us to determine the nature of these connections as a whole. It is
difficult to say whether it was trade or some kind of physical presence of
representatives of the Milograd culture in the area of the Lezhnytsia group. So
far, no clearly defined Milograd complexes have been found west of the Styr
River.
Particular
attention is paid to the characteristics of bronze jewellery originating from
the cultural layer of the monument. These are a nail-shaped (mushroom-shaped)
earring and a spectacle-shaped pendant consisting of three elements – one
larger pendant to which two smaller ones are symmetrically attached, thus
forming a composition. Nail-shaped earrings became widespread on the Right Bank
and Podillia no earlier than the beginning of the 6th century BC. This, in
combination with ceramic products, allows us to outline the approximate
chronology of the settlement in Kariv within the HaC–HaD periods (early 8th
– late 6th century BC) according to M. Traxilaʼs
Central European chronological scale. At the same time, the period of existence
of the aforementioned eyeglass-shaped pendant covers a wide chronological range
(second half of the 3rd millennium BC – beginning of the 2nd
millennium AD). Such jewellery was used in a number of archaeological cultures,
which does not allow even an approximate dating of the find.