The publication presents
the results of field explorations conducted in the vicinity of the villages of
Stilsko and Iliv of the Stryi district of the Lviv region. Intensive
archaeological research in this region began in the 1980s and continued until
the mid-1990s. It was mainly concentrated
around two key sites – Stilsko and
Iliv hillforts. During this period, within the defensive lines of the hillforts
and in the adjacent territories, numerous sites of different chronological
periods were discovered – agricultural
settlements, production centers, and barrow fields, which reflect the stages of
settlement of the region and can be dated back within a broad chronological
framework from the Eneolithic era to the XVII–XVIII centuries.
A significant contribution
to the study of this area was made by the Upper Dnister archaeological
expedition, which involved Lviv archaeologists O. Korchynskyi, M. Phylypchuk, V. Shyshak, and the Carpathian expedition of the Institute of Archeology of
the Academy of Sciences of the USSR led by B. Tymoshchuk and I. Rusanova. Since
the beginning of the 2000s systematic research in this area has been suspended because
of a lack of funding. Only after the creation of the Historical and Cultural
Reserve «Stilske Gorodyshche» in 2015 did archaeological searches gradually resume.
The main attention is paid to establishing boundaries of already known sites,
discovering and including in the scientific circulation of new locations, their
recording and topographic binding, studying by non-invasive methods of the
remains of ground objects, etc.
Scientific cooperation
between the Historical and Cultural Reserve «Stilske Gorodyshche» and the
I. Krypyakevych Institute of
Ukrainian Studies of the NAS of Ukraine become very productive. Within its
framework, excavations of the hillfort and multi-layered settlement in Iliv
were resumed (expedition leader A. Havinskyi), and joint surveys of the region are being carried out.
In 2023, an exploration of
the territory of Stilsko hillfort within the outer line of defense was conducted
to identify earthen ramparts using a GPS navigator for further transfer of
coordinate point data to digital maps, archaeological material from the surface
was collected on the settlements of Iliv I, XII and Stilsko IX. Together
with the fragments of ceramic ware of different periods (from Neolithic to Late
Middle Ages), several flint and stone products were found, including artifacts
with signs of use and tools: an arrowhead, an awl, a grinder, a fragment of an end-scraper. A new Bronze Age–Early Iron Age settlement was discovered in Koshyra Place near Stilsko.
Numerous materials from the XVII–XVIII centuries were recorded on the
surveyed site with a total area of about 20 hectares together with two
locations of the artifacts from the Bronze Age–Early Iron Age. These locations were defined by finds of flint products – flakes and tools with patination of the surface.
