ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCH IN THE DOWNTOWN BERDYCHIV

Materials of 2024 scientific and rescue research in the downtown Berdychiv, at 11/4 Zhytomyrska Street are published in the paper. These are the first available results of archaeological research of the part of the city of the 18th—19th centuries outside the complex of the Barefoot Carmelite Monastery. The paper provides a brief outline of the settlement’s history and a description of the history of archaeological research in the central part of the city. In 2024, on an area of 61 m2 in the valley of the Kanava stream, materials of the late 18th—19th centuries were discovered. Some items can be associated with the functioning of a nearby marketplace that served the town. The research area belongs to the territory of the Jewish shtetl, and the found objects, including a metal dreidel, illustrate the material culture of its inhabitants. The 2024 field season is the first archaeological research on the territory of the exact settlement part of Berdychiv. These explorations supply the information of the 2018 research on the stratigraphic situation in the city. The survival of organic materials (bone, wood, leather) in the lower, waterlogged layers of the city raises the question of the need for a special program for the preservation of such organic artifacts dating from the nineteenth and even the late eighteenth century. The discovery of individual objects which are the ethnic and religious markers of the inhabitants (a dreidel) and evidence of trade relations (trade seals) helps to supply the information about the life of the city’s inhabitants. Now the processing of the artifacts obtained as a result of the research in progress. We hope that the analysis of the discovered artifacts will provide a more complete picture of the material culture of Berdychiv residents at the turn of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. This research indicates the prospects, scientific and social feasibility of archaeological research in the city. The analysis of the current Historical and Architectural Reference Plan indicates the lack of enough information about archaeological sites and objects on the territory of the modern city. We hope that this publication will be an impetus for the future clarification of the protection and registration documents for the city’s archaeological sites and will initiate further scientific and scientific-rescue research not only in Berdychiv and its environs but also in other cities and towns.