Archaeological Findings of the 16th–17th Centuries from the Town of Trypillia and Its Historical Topography

Abstract

The article analyses the informative potential of archaeological materials of the 16–17th centuries from the territory of the town of Trypillia to reconstruct its historical topography. The available data from written sources are limited and insufficiently specific, with only brief mentions of structures such as a castle and religious buildings. Information regarding the city’s development and its components is reduced to general quantitative information. Iconographic sources for this period consist of maps, which offer a rather schematic representation of the town’s layout. The materials related to historical topography were collected over the past twenty years through archaeological excavations and donations from local residents to the Kyiv Regional Archaeological Museum. The collection comprises over fifteen hundred items, each with documented find locations. These include predominantly ceramic fragments and stove tiles, as well as tools, traces of craft production, bricks, nails, and other items. The analysis of this assemblage demonstrates that archaeological sources are crucial in providing concrete details to supplement and clarify the existing textual references. Furthermore, they help refine the boundaries of the inhabited area during this period. Archaeological materials, when integrated with the full range of available sources — written, iconographic, and archaeological — are key to forming a comprehensive understanding of the town.