There was fortress near Chernihiv in the ninth and tenth centuries. Only
burial mounds and the horodyshche (former city site) have survived the
ravages of time. The graves were studied in the second half of the 1920s
by archaeologist Petro Smolychev and 20 years later by David Bliefeld.
Among other things a rich grave with a warrior, a woman, and horse was
unearthed, along with what was identified as Scandinavian fibulas, swords,
and Norman single-blade combat knives. The finds left no room for doubt
that Shestovytsia had been the site of the Left Bank's largest military
camp of Kyivan princes, the bulk of which was formed by Vikings, not Slavs.
Recently, the site was visited by another team of archaeologists, an
international expedition including scholars from Kyiv, Chernihiv, Briansk,
and Trondheim (Norway). Its mission was to determine the Shestovytsia horodyshche's
place and role in the archaeological structure of Europe. Those supporting
the Norman theory regard it as the largest Scandinavian colony on the Desna
River. This was another reason to approach the problem from a scientific,
rather than political point of view. The archaeologists concentrated on
the horodyshche which, according to Volodymyr Kovalenko, Chairman of the
Archaeology and Ethnology Department, Chernihiv Pedagogical Institute,
are historically perfectly synchronous burial sites, dating from the second
ninth century, in place of an earlier Slavic settlement, which had been
razed to the ground.
"This was just one episode in the 'peaceful' association of Eastern
Slavs in the polity known as Kyiv Rus', a process actually accomplished
by fire and sword using mercenaries hired by Kyiv princes," says Mr. Kovalenko.
"No one wanted to unite just to make it easier for the princes to collect
taxes, so the princes hired mercenaries to keep people under control."
The site of the military camp was chosen well. This way they could keep
an eye on whoever sailed up and down the Desna, to Kyiv and Chernihiv which
was an hour's ride away. The mercenaries must have been assigned to secure
the Grand Prince's control over the city and, to an extent, resisted the
local landed gentry.
The archaeologists studied not only the horodyshche, but also the posad
(trading quarter, suburb) which was even larger. In 1983, Mr. Kovalenko
unearthed about a hundred ancient production facilities. This time the
team discovered a residence from the late tenth or early eleventh century.
"Today we know enough to reasonably assume that a considerable part
of the posad was not permanently inhabited but used for production. This,
in turn raises the question of its social status. The answer is the only
obvious one: not a trace of the Viking colony," continues Volodymyr Kovalenko,
adding that he has his doubts about the methods used by demographers when
reconstructing the populace of Old Rus' at its peak. Using their approach,
the Shestovytsia horodyshche would have had about 12,000 residents.
It will be some time before the archaeologists are able to answer questions
about the delimitation of production and dwelling premises, the average
size of the homes, and the number of residents. The expedition is planned
to last three years.







