Detecting Medieval Sites (Story 3) - Trying To Locate a Site
Upon my arrival to the Kievan apartment, I prepared and drank a whole kettle of strong herbal tea, and after sleeping for 20 hours straight, I was ready for new adventures. The weather had improved by that time, and now four of us, Bob, his son Aaron, Dima and I, decided to take a trip to the area where a small cache of medieval coins was found recently.
Along with a few other coin finds, the cache was discovered on the island which would be easily accessible without a boat at this time of the year. One Kievan treasure hunter gave us this information along with the directions to the spot.
He told us that the best way to find the site was to follow the dirt road to the river, locate an exposed sandy riverbank, and the island would be right in front of it. There also were many pottery fragments of Chernyakhov Culture scattered on the riverbank, thus suggesting that there was an early medieval settlement nearby.
The tribes of Chernyakhov Culture populated this area of Ukraine in AD 180-470, namely from the 2nd to the 5th century of the Christian era. By the way, A.D. stands for "Anno Domini" - "In the Year of the Lord."
Old Church in the Region
Also, there was another interesting metal detecting site in the forest situated half a mile away from the river. A battalion of Red Army soldiers took position there during the Battle of Kiev in WW2. So we had three good reasons to explore that area, the island would be the first priority.
Dirt Road to the River, WW2 Red Army Positions in Forest to the Left
On the way to the river, we decided to make quick stops and examine the ground surface for the presence of ceramics.
When we arrived to the Trubezh river, it did not seem to fit into the description given to us: the river looked like a canal. And, as far as we could see, there were no islands in both directions.
Looking in Northern Direction.
Looking Towards South
In fact, there were also narrow irrigation canals everywhere.
