Shasherina L. V., Stefutin S. A.

The Paleomorpholigic Conditions of the Formation of the Settlementof Shitkino  (Northwest Russia) ” P. 126-138.

UDC 551.4.07(470.2)

DOI 10.37724/RSU.2021.72.3.013

Abstract. The palaeomorphology of many early medieval monuments in Northwest Russia has not been reconstructed yet. In historical and economic perspective, the geographical location has a great impact on settlement formation and affects people’s lives significantly. The settlement of Shitkino is an archaeological monument situated in the basin of the Western Dvina at the western slope of the Valdai Hills. The settlement of Shitkino is located at the shore of Shnidkino lake, which is traversed bythe Toropa River. The authors of the article employ geological and geomorphological analyses to explore the floodplain and its fluvial terraces, to make archaeological finds and to gain evidence of the events of the 9th–10th centuries. The method of radiocarbon dating enabled the scientists to estimate the age of peat sediments, fluvial and slope deposits, to estimate the degree of relief transformation and to tentatively assess the extent of the functionality of the land in medieval times. The accumulated data, such as the structural stability of the shore and the dynamics of the river-lake system show that during the recent thousands of years the shores of the lake have been only insignificantly transformed. It is believed that in the early middle ages people preferred to settle in the basin of the Toropa River.

Keywords: geoarchaeology geomorphology, from the Varangians to the Greeks, Early Middle Ages, river trade routes.

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Posted Saturday September 25th, 2021 by admin in category "Без рубрики