Settlements and hillforts of the Zarubinets culture of the Cherkasy region

Sites of the Zarubinets culture of the Cherkasy region constitute the southern part of the Middle Dnieper local version of this culture. In the article, a brief historiographical review of the vestiges is carried out: their topography, chronology, classification and state of study are considered. The article presents a concise catalogue of Zarubynets settlements and hillforts located in Cherkasy region. Among them are 13 settlements and 10 hillforts. The general chronological boundaries of the culture constitute in III/II cent. B.C. – I cent. A.D. The sites considered in the work represent all stages of cultural development: early – 3rd – 1st cent. B.C., middle – 1st cent. B.C. – the end of the 1st cent. A.D., late – middle of the 1st cent. B.C. – the end of the 2nd cent. A.D. Since the last period (the second half of the 1st – the 2nd cent. AD) is currently considered by most researchers to be the time of the existence of late Zarubinets vestiges, we can consider the late stage of the «classical» Zarubinets culture precisely from the middle/end of the 1st cent. B. C. – the end of the 1st cent. A.D. E.V. Maksimov identified two types of settlements of the Middle Dnieper variant of the Zarubinets culture based on topography: sites located on capes, and located in floodplains, supraflood terraces or slopes. The article considers the settlement near the villages Moshny, Mezhyrich, Zalevky, Zhabotyn, Orlovets, the Cherkasy city of the Cherkasy district; hillforts near the village Buchak, Subotiv, Sakhnivka, Trakhtemiriv, the cities of Kaniv, Cherkasy of the Cherkasy district. In contrast to the burial grounds of the Zarubinets culture, the study of settlements began exclusively in the period after the end of the Second World War. Most of the settlements and hillforts are known only from reconnaissance materials. Systematic excavations by E.V. Maksimov investigated only three hillforts: Pylypenkova Hill, Babyna Hill, and Monastyrok. During the last decades, stationary excavations of settlements were not carried out. Obviously, the mentioned sites existed throughout the entire chronological period of the development of the Zarubinets culture, i.e., during the III/II centuries B.C. – I century A.D. In order to obtain new information about the settlement sites of the Zarubinets culture, it is necessary to conduct a new stage of research using new methods and technologies. Key words: Zarubinets culture, Middle Dnieper variant, settlement, hillfort, chronology.