Rivers in everyday life of the population of the West of Ukraine and during war conflicts of the Early Middle Ages

The written sources regarding the importance of rivers in the history of the population of Western Ukraine during the Early Middle Ages were analyzed. These sources were supplemented with archaeological materials, which reflect the peculiarities of the location of urban settlements in this territory. It is noted that this problem is still insufficiently covered in historiography, except for several scientific and popular science articles by Polish and Ukrainian researchers of the first half of the 20th century. It was noted that at the beginning of the XXI century surface studies to record archaeological sites of different periods in the basins of certain rivers, including the Dnister, Zahidnyi Bug, and rivers of the Ukrainian-Polish border, became popular. Emphasis is placed on the crucial role of rivers in the economy and common life of the population, their importance as main trade routes, ways of cultural contacts and exchanges, military expeditions, places for setting up custom houses, and fighting battles on their banks. Individual cases of the destructive function of rivers caused by floods have been recorded too. They also became obstacles during movement along land routes from east to west or vice versa, but were successfully overcome using bridges or fords. Examples are given and emphasis is placed on the close relationship between the names of rivers (hydronyms) and settlements (ononyms) in the studied territory. The need to study the issue of the primacy of hydronyms or oeconyms in the names found in written sources is indicated. In the example of the so-called Kotoryny hill-forts attention is paid to the importance of defensive objects on the banks of rivers in the system of fortifications of large cities, in particular medieval Halych. It has been established that during the localization of settlements on the banks of rivers, it is necessary to take into account changes in riverbeds that have occurred over time under the influence of natural and anthropogenic factors. The importance of the mapping of archaeological sites and individual artifacts for the tracing of peculiar hydronymic chains of the directions of exchange, trade, and cultural connections is noted. Only a few touches on the big issue of «rivers and archeology» are listed. Concluding them, it was stated that all the questions related to rivers in the history and archeology of Western Ukraine, during their detailed and serious interdisciplinary study, can become a big and interesting scientific problem

Ancient history · Everyday life · Geography · Middle Ages · Political science · Population · Sociology · Demography · Diverse Scientific Research in Ukraine · Environmental and Biological Research in Conflict Zones · History · Law

• Birch bark manuscript No 2 from Zvenyhorod

  Open Access•Iryna Lutsyk•Materials and Studies on…•2020

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