Scythians in the Sarmatian steppe

Project	Archaeogeophysical survey on the monumental hill fort of „ Bilske Horodyshche “
Location	Bilsk, Oblast Poltava, Ukraine
Period	Scythian, 8th to 5th century BC
Methods	Geomagnetics, aerial photography
Client	Prof. Dr. Renate Rolle, University of Hamburg

River Vorskla		Ravine in the ramparts		Ramparts of Western fortress

OBJECTIVES The monumental hill fort of Bilsk is situated on a prominent plateau between two major rivers in the Eurasian cold steppe, not far from the raion centre of Kotelva in the East Ukrainian oblast of Poltava.

Imposing and up to 12 m high ramparts of a length of more than 33 km surround an area of about 4000 hectares. Three fortresses, 15, 65 and 72 hectares in area, tower above the landscape. Several kurgans in the surroundings are evidences of Scythian burial ceremonies.

Research work of the Ukrainian-German team from Kiev and Hamburg has been running since 1993. Remote sensing, geophysical prospecting and modern survey techniques have been applied in order to detect location, dimension and structure of inner settlements and of the necropoli.


COMPLETED WORKS and results

		The necropolis of Marčenki and parts of the excavation site of Carina Mogila were investigated using geomagnetic mapping. Next to the already known Kurgan 1 the prospection resulted in the discovery of the traces of a second burial mound, the Kurgan 2. Its mound has completely vanished due to extensive agriculture and saltpetre extraction.
Big rampart	Magnetogram of Kurgan 2

Kurgan 1

The magnetogram shows the exterior enclosing ditch, 42 m in diameter and the earth fill inside. The tombs of the bigger Kurganes are mostly destroyed. Those disturbances were caused by looters and saltpetre manufacturers who used the grass sods of the Kurganes to produce the raw material for gunpowder in the 18th century.

Partner National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine
Institute of Geophysics “Subbotin” (www.igph.kiev.ua/ )

Contact Dipl.-Geophys. Burkart Ullrich (b.ullrich@eastern-atlas.de )