Городища-убежища скифского времени Днепро-Донской лесостепи
Scythian-time fortified refuges from the Dnieper-Don forest-steppe

Summary/Abstract: Today more than 227 Scythian-time hillforts are known in the Dnieper-Don forest-steppe. Among them 33 enclosures considered as fortified refuge were distinguished in special group. Poor cultural stratum and lack of permanent constructions are typical for these monuments.Analysis of the known fortified refuges shows absence of common opinion about such a meaningful feature as thickness of the cultural layer. But this criterion could be very useful. There are no detected artifacts on some of the fortified refuges whereas on another monuments cultural layer could have thickness not more than 0,25-0,3 m. There are several reasons for origination a fortified refuge. External invasions and internal conflicts are among them. In addition, progress in social and economy field should be noted. One can considered that thickness of the cultural layer was conditioned by short-term habitation. Also it is impossible to agree with symbolic or religious significance of the fortified refuges because of lack of material. And possible hypothesis about their usage as fortified pastures requires more proofs.Due to presented in this article material one can suppose that so-called fortified refuges it is remains of the fortified settlements. But life activity here was interrupted on the initial stage of monuments development. Analysis of the hillforts with poor cultural layer shows that they function was primarily as defensive structures.

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