Treasure Hunting East of Dnieper River
After returning to Kiev from Skvira, Dima and I took a few days off metal detecting. It was necessary to relax and recover our strength in the comfortable civilized living conditions before commencing our next treasure hunting project.
Because of the lack of a substantial research, the way our projects were created was simple: we would jump on any opportunity presenting the three conditions such as a place to stay, means of transportation and a potentially good area for metal detecting. The latter was an easy one as the entire Kievan region used to be populated with thousands of settlements even during the medieval times - a lot of history there - many sites to metal detect!
A good opportunity came when Dima's cousin Sergei invited us to relic hunt near the old village Devochki ("Girls") located on the left (east) bank of the Dnieper river. In that village Sergei had a summer house where we could stay. He also had a beat-up looking BMW which could take us to the locations.
View on Dnieper River and Its Right Bank
My two previous metal detecting expeditions to the east of Dnieper river were unsuccessful, so I knew I had to have a totally different approach to treasure hunting in this area. It was essential to sort out all the pieces of information - historical facts, positioning, terrain conditions, etc., attained for each site and then to choose the right one, i.e. the one with the most defining conditions.
The problem was that I did not know all those defining conditions yet. My previous successful metal detecting experiences in other areas of the Kievan region were not enough to provide me with that knowledge.
When we arrived to the village Devochki, there was nothing going there despite such a promising name. Like any other small village or town in Ukraine, this settlement was becoming a "ghost."
The Only Grocery Store in Village
If it was not for the Kievans coming in this area and building their summer houses, the settlement would become a ghost-village right after desintegration of the Soviet Union.
Sergei's Summer House
For a few days ahead, we would be dreaming about the comforts of modern living again.
A Traditional Wash Stand - A Pipe Out of the Ground
A Typical Outhouse
