The Horizon of the Late Bronze Age in the Settlement of Bondarikha (on the Materials of the Excavations of 1951, 1953)

Abstract

The results of the first excavations of Bondaricha-2 settlement, which were used as a basis for naming the same name culture, were only partly introduced into scientific circulation. The paper reconstructs the materials obtained from the horizon of the Late Bronze Age during the studies of 1951, 1953, which gave the most informative results.

The site is located 1.3 km east of the outskirts of the town of Izium, Kharkiv Region, on the edge of the pine tree terrace of the left bank of the Siverskiy Donets. In 1951, the excavations there were carried out by I.F. Levitsky and D.Y. Telegin, in 1953 – by V.A. Ilinskaya and A.I. Terenozhkin. The total studied area was 366 sq.m.

Of particular interest is the complex of the dwelling № 1. During the reprocessing of the assemblage, the composition of the findings was restored within two clusters in its bottom part (1 m below the modern surface). The cluster around the hearth contained the fragments of dishes, flint produced items, production tools, possibly marking the manufacturing zone. The composition of the findings in the cluster beside the north-eastern wall is the same. In the pit filling, above the bottom layer, moulds were found (two fragments and the one undamaged celt-mould).

At least nine pits were related to the Bondarikha horizon, the composition of the findings in which was also restored during the reprocessing of the assemblage. The cultural attribution of cremation burial 1 in excavation 1, which did not contain expressive objects is under discussion. The assemblage of produced items made of flint, bone and horn requires further processing.

According to the scheme suggested by Y.V. Buinov, the settlement represents the middle stage of culture, dated the middle of the XI – X centuries BC. According to V.I. Klochko, the chronology of Zavadovka metal manufacture tradition, represented by the types of Bondarikha celts, dated the XII-XI centuries BC, and, together with the information on ceramics, could narrow the date of the site to the XI century BC. In the chronological scheme of V.S. Bochkarev, Bondarikha was included into the Zavadovka group of Late Belozerka Age, the upper date of which was determined within the X / XI centuries BC. Analysis of ceramics allows suggesting an early position of the site within the middle stage of culture.