Natalia V. Khvoshchinskaya^1,*, Andrey V. Dolgikh^2,**, Vladimir V. Matskovsky^2,***, and Oleg M. Oleynikov^3,****

¹Institute for the History of Material Culture RAS, St. Petersburg, Russia
²Institute of Geography RAS, Moscow, Russia
³Institute of Archaeology RAS, Moscow, Russia

*E-mail: kottimoshka85@mail.ru
**E-mail: dolgikh@igras.ru
***E-mail: matskovsky@igras.ru
****E-mail: olejnikov1960@yandex.ru

Keywords: Ryurikovo Gorodishche, timber-earthen structures, radiocarbon and dendrochronological dating of oak, 862.

The fortress at the Ryurikovo Gorodishche is one of the earliest fortification structures of the early Middle Ages in the North of Rus. The details of its construction were studied by the expedition of the Institute for the History of Material Culture RAS over a number of years. It was possible to establish that the timber-and-earthen fortifications consisted of two lines of gorodnya (log frame) located at different levels. In 2021, a well-preserved section of the fortress facade wall was uncovered in the lowest cusp part of the site. As a result, its design features were clarified and a significant number of samples were collected to determine the time of its construction with science methods. The dendrochronological method gave 847 AD as the date of the outer surviving ring of an oak log that was part of the fortification. Radiocarbon dating with AMS produced a modeled calibrated radiocarbon date of 837–979 AD (2σ, probability 95.4%) for the outer surviving ring of the same log. The dendrochronological date (847 AD) falls within this modeled calibrated interval of the radiocarbon date. If further investigations detect a tree ring corresponding to the radioactive emission event of 774 AD (Miyake) on the studied sample, it will be possible to specify the construction date for the Ryurikovo Gorodishche fortifications with an accuracy of up to a year.

DOI: 10.31857/S0869606325030124