The settlement of Luhansk region began in ancient times when the first settlers set foot on its land, whose lives historians and archaeologists have attempted to investigate. Currently we have monographs and works by scientists from which we can learn about the life of the early inhabitants of eastern Ukraine.
A journalist from TRIBUN spoke with the academic secretary of the Institute of Archaeology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, candidate of historical sciences Serhii Telyzhenko to find out what is known about the first inhabitants of the territory of modern Luhansk oblast.
– When does human history begin in Luhansk? When did the first settlements appear and in what modern cities?
– The oldest settlements of people in the territory of modern Luhansk region date back to the late Paleolithic era. This is 35-10 thousand years before our era. Among them it is worth mentioning the most famous settlements near the village of Rohalyk, which is part of Petropavlivka settlement of the Shchastinskyi district, Peredilska group settlement (Shchastinskyi district), Hovorukha (Alchevskyi district), Talova-IV (Dovzhanskyi district), and Yamy (Svatovskyi district).
The Middle Paleolithic, which dates back approximately 150-35 thousand years before our era is associated with Neanderthals. No settlements of this period have been excavated on the territory of Luhansk region. There is only information about surface collections of materials, which is mentioned in the monograph by P.P. Yefimenko “Primitive Society. Essays on the history of the Paleolithic era" as of 1938. The book provides data on findings near the village of Kolesnikovka in the Shchastinskyi district such as flint arrowheads, quartzite scraper, "large split pieces of quartzite, plates from the same material, and separate tools." P.P. Yefimenko also mentions the location with materials of Mousterian type, which come from Krasnyi Yar near the city of Luhansk. The location was discovered in 1925 by the Luhansk archaeologist S.O. Loktyushyev. Excavations were also not carried out. The oldest findings should be attributed to the location "with quartzite products," which was localized in the Middle Donetsk region by the researcher V.Vetrov, who is from Luhansk. The largest number of locations found by him is located near the village of Pionerske in Luhansk district on the right bank of the Siverskyi Donets River. Due to the war that began in 2014, the researcher failed to conduct more detailed studies and determine the age of the locations, but in his opinion they belong to the Lower Paleolithic, which is approximately dated within 1 million-150 thousand years before our era. This long period is associated with Homo erectus.
– Can you tell us where the people who lived in Luhansk came from and why specifically in our east? What attracted them to this region?
– Paleolithic people depended on climatic changes and, despite the critical cold accompanying periods of glaciation, adapted to them. The mobility of Paleolithic tribes may be associated with various reasons - searching for and exploiting raw materials for making hunting weapons and tools from processed animal remains; movement along with animal herds (bison, horses); settling for the purpose of controlling hunting grounds. Paleolithic tribes were not isolated and could undertake multi-kilometer journeys to achieve certain goals. As an example, we can mention a complex of settlements near the village of Kostenki, which is located about 200 km from deposits of flint raw material used by the inhabitants for their purposes. It can be assumed that multi-kilometer expeditions took place to obtain flint raw material. It is also not excluded that flint reached the settlements as a result of exchanges.
– It is said that the first people settled near rivers. What do you think is the reason for this?
– No representative of the animal world where humans also belong can survive without water. Accordingly, ancient people always settled near water sources - streams or rivers. All Paleolithic settlements are linked to water bodies, most of which exist to this day.
– Can you tell us about "Rohalyk" settlement near the village of Petropavlivka and "Hovorukha," located near Luhansk as they are considered some of the oldest settlements? What are their features?
– In the vicinity of the village of Petropavlivka, a total of 14 settlements have been more or less investigated (Rohalyk-I, Rohalyk-II, and so on). Together with the Peredil group of settlements, located approximately 3 km southwest, they constitute the Rohalyk-Peredil Paleolithic region. All settlements belong to the Final Paleolithic and are dated within 15-13 thousand years before our era, with a date of 11.5-11 thousand years before our era for the Rohalyk-VII settlement. The settlements are grouped by researchers O.F. Horelik and V. Vybornyi within the Rohalyk-Tsarinkivskyi region or the Osokorivskyi culture of the Final Paleolithic. This culture unites a number of settlements located over a significant territory of the Dnieper region and the Azov-Black Sea steppes. The specialization of the inhabitants of the Rohalyk-Peredil Paleolithic region was hunting animals - most of the bones found at Rohalyk settlements belonged to horses. Less common were bones of bison, northern deer, and foxes. Samples of Paleolithic art were discovered at Rohalyk-IIA, Rohalyk-IIIB, Rohalyk-XI, and Rohalyk-XII settlements in the form of two statuettes, a retoucher with an engraved female image, and so on.
The late Paleolithic settlement "Hovorukha" was discovered in 1975 during excavations of burial mounds on the right bank of the Luhan River. The excavations were carried out by the Siverskyi-Donetsk expedition of the Institute of Archaeology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. Excavations of the settlement were conducted by O.O. Krotova in 1975 and 1976. In one of her recent publications, "Elements of the industry of the Mysin type in the Upper Paleolithic of Eastern Ukraine," O.O. Krotova suggests a genetic affinity of the Mysin culture settlements (Mysin is located on the Desna River), which dates within 19200-17400 years ago.
Quote from the publication: "The settlement is interpreted as a short-term base camp...with areas of production-domestic activities and well-defined features of a workshop settlement for flint processing, located near the flint deposit. The techno-typological composition of the flint artifact collection and the presence of mother-of-pearl jewelry show certain analogies with the materials of the Borshchevo-I settlement in the Middle Don region."
– You mentioned that the Starobilsk-I settlement is also one of the oldest. What are its features and what did the people who settled there do?
– The Starobilsk-I settlement is located on the left bank of the Aidar River within Starobilsk and is considered one of the oldest Neolithic settlements in the eastern part of Ukraine. It dates back to the beginning of the 6th millennium BCE and is associated with the Rakushechnoyarsk culture, the main area of which is located on the Lower Don. A distinctive feature of the settlement is the presence of such a Neolithic characteristic as pottery. At the same time, the population of the settlement practiced archaic economic activities aimed at gathering river mollusks, hunting, fishing, and knapping flint. A distinctive feature of the flint complex is arrowheads in the form of trapezoids. In terms of manufacturing technique and morphology, they resemble tools from the Khachy Elamksanli Tepe site, located in present-day Azerbaijan, and some layers of the Sabi Abyad settlement, which is located in Upper Mesopotamia.
– Regarding religion, is there anything known about the first people in Luhansk?
– It's difficult to say anything about it because no signs of religious beliefs have been found during the study of Stone Age sites in Luhansk. However, it is not excluded that totemism and animism were widespread among the Paleolithic population. Female images recorded at Rohalyk settlements may have been aesthetic creations for ancient craftsmen but also could have had some religious significance.
