Chendev Yu.G., Koloda V.V.

Key words: fortified settlement, buried soil, artificially modified relief, natural environment, Saltovo and Romny archaeological cultures.
At the archaeological site of Korobovy Khutora (far south forest-steppe of the Mid-Russian plain) we have studied the artificially modified relief and the soils, and reconstructed the appearance of the relief and the landscape for different periods of the settlement’s existence. Comparison of the contemporary and the buried soils has shown that at the beginning of the Early Iron Age the soil cover still retained the features of steppe soil formation that had existed in the Bronze Age. In the early Middle Ages (Saltovo and Romny archaeological cultures) and in later periods the territory was covered with broad-leaf forests. The article offers a reconstruction of the surface relief profile for the southwestern front of the settlement at different periods of its existence.