Ancient settlements (selishche)

Subject / Relics
Selishches, remains of unfortified settlements, discovering according to the presence of the culture lay and withdrawn material. The search of ancient settlements is embarrassed for lack of external indications. More then 120 ancient settlements were found in the Leningrad Oblast territory. Most settlements are located in the Luga District (45) and in the Volkhov district (38) where the search was carried out purposefully and systematically. The most ancient settlements (1000 BC - the first half 1000 BC) were settled by the Baltic and Finnish nations ancestors; finds of textiles and stroked ceramics are typical for those settlements. Single settlements of the 5th-9th centuries Long Barrows Culture (Zasobye and others) are known in the Luga River upstream region. Settlements of Mound Culture of the 8th-10th centuries are presented in the Luga river upper reaches and the Volkhov river lower reaches. They are located in the neighbourhood of burial grounds. Deep in household constructions of the 9th-10th centuries were excavated on the settlement (selishche) at the fortified settlement (gorodishche) of Noviye Duboviki on the Volkhov rapids. The lay dated from AD 1000 was explored on the many-lay settlement of Gorchakovshchina in the Volkhov district. The excavations of the selishche Merevo are carried out in the Luga district. Most selishches are dated from the Old Russian time and the period of the late Middle Age. Settlement's area usually is from 2000 to 10000 square metres, the cultury lay is enough small (0.1 - 0.6 m). Inhabitants of those low-yard settlements were buried in barrows and zhalnik-shaped burial grounds of the 11th-15th centuries located in the neighbourhood. There are no many settlements in the west districts of the oblast. There are single large ancient settlements with the square 2 - 8 hectares (Tarovitsi Village of the Gatchina district, Neppovo Village of the Kingisepp district and others). Iron-making centres (Starodvorye and Laguni villages of the Lomonosov district) were explored. The presence of large settlements which were centres of iron smelting and handling was mentioned in the scribe books of the late 15th - 16th centuries in the zone of "Chud's" pogosts. Small settlements and a sanctuary were found near Karelian's burial grounds of 12th-14th centuries in the Priozersk district. Investigations and excavations of ancient settlements were carried out by A.N. Bashenkin, N.N. Gurina, S.L. Kuzmin, V.A. Lapshin, G.S. Lebedev, Yu.M. Lesman, E.N. Nosov, V.P. Petrenko, N.I. Platonova, E.A. Ryabinin, A.I. Saksa, and others. Plotkin, Konstantin Moiseyevich
Bashenkin, Aleksandr Nikolayevich
Gurina, Nina Nikolayevna
Kuzmin, Sergey Leonidovich
Lapshin, Vladimir Anatolyevich
Lebedev, Gleb Sergeyevich
Lesman, Yuri Mikhaylovich
Nosov, Yevgeny Nikolayevich
Petrenko, Valery Petrovich
Platonova, Nadezhda Igorevna
Ryabinin, Yevgeny Aleksandrovich
Saksa, Aleksandr Ivanovich
Leningrad Oblast, the/Volkhov District/Gorchakovshchina Village
Leningrad Oblast, the/Lomonosov District/Laguni Village
Leningrad Oblast, the/Luga District
Topographical landmarks/Luga River, the
Leningrad Oblast, the/Luga District/Merevo Village
Leningrad Oblast, the/Kingisepp District/Neppovo Settlement
Historical Toponyms/Noviye Duboviki
Leningrad Oblast, the/Priozersk District
Leningrad Oblast, the/Lomonosov District/Starodvorye Village
Leningrad Oblast, the/Gatchina District/Tarovitsi Village
Topographical landmarks/Verkhneye Poluzh'ye
Leningrad Oblast, the/Volkhov District
Topographical landmarks/Volkhov River, the
Leningrad Oblast, the/Luga District/Zasobye Village
Колчин Б.А. Черная металлургия и металлообработка в Древней Руси // Материалы и исследования по археологии СССР. 1953. № 32., С.28
Носов Е.Н. Поселение у Волховских порогов // Краткие сообщения института археологии. 1976. № 146., С.76-81
Петренко В.П., Шитова Т.Б. Любшанское городище и средневековые поселения Северного Поволховья // Средневековая Ладога. Л., 1985, С.181-191
Лапшин В.А. Археологическая карта Ленинградской области. Ч. 1-2. Л.; СПб. 1990-1995, С.181-191
Burial grounds of the Karelian people.
The Culture of long burial mounds (barrows)
Zhalniks (sepulcrums).