INTENSITY OF THE FORMATION OF ANCIENT SETTLEMENTS IN THE TERRITORY OF POLTAVА REGION

Abstract

This article examines the peculiarities of the early stages of the formation of the settlement system of the Poltava region, evaluates the intensity of settlement of certain areas of its territory using a retrospective geographical approach. Quantitative parameterization of settlement formation on the territory of Poltava region was carried out according to the differentiated scale of intervals of the intensity of these processes. Eight time stages were selected, which allow to show in more detail the intensity of the process of settling the territory of Poltava Oblast. The archeological and general historical periodization of social development represented by the stone, copper, bronze, and iron ages (epochs) was chosen as a criterion for such a distinction. We separately highlighted the Slavic and Old Kyiv periods. The main feature of the selected stages of settlement formation is that the main primary source for assessing the quantitative parameters of the emergence and existence of ancient settlements are the results of archaeological surveys and their mapping. And only for the ancient Kyiv period, data from chronicle sources are added. As a basis for assessing the intensity of the emergence of ancient settlements in the territory of the Poltava region, we used a differentiated scale of intervals of the intensity of settlement formation, represented by the following types: rare or random (1–2 recorded settlements per corresponding day), sporadic (3–4 settlements), moderate (5–6 settlements), frequent (7–8 settlements), intensified (9–10 settlements) and permanent (11 or more settlements). It was concluded that the formation of the system of ancient settlements of the Poltava region was traced through several stages: from the earliest Paleolithic era to the time of ancient Kyiv, during which there was a gradual expansion and complication of the settlement system, as well as a certain continuity with respect to the main geographical areas of the existence of ancient settlements and modern settlements. The highest indicators of the intensity of settlement formation were characteristic of the Neolithic, Bronze, Early Iron, and Old Kyiv periods. The lowest rate of population of the region was during the Mesolithic and Copper Age.