PRIMARY WOOD PROCESSING IN KYIVAN RUS’ (based on materials from the Middle Dnipro area)

Abstract

The paper deals with the initial stages of wood processing — the selection and primary processing of raw materials. Wooden artifacts used in this work include not only completed wood products but also waste (wood chips, fragments with traces of tools, shavings, etc.). The analysis of the woodworking raw material base also involves the use of natural science methods to identify the wood species that formed its basis. The selection of raw materials requires the selection of wood that is technically suitable for each type of product. This is primarily achieved by selecting wood species with the appropriate qualities. An oak wood is most often recorded as a building material but this applies mainly to lower logs of the fortifications and for various engineering structures. For residential buildings made of pine wood, oak foundations are not required and are not always found. In the case of using unstable deciduous species, which were destroyed by contact with the soil, strong oak foundations were more essential. Wood with the right properties for each type of product was also used to make household utensils and other products. All identified wood, except boxwood for the combs, belongs to local wood species. The question of the possibility of using other types of imported wood, especially in connection with the manufacture of Christian worship items, remains unresolved. The wooden artifacts under study also indicate that high quality wood without large knots, cracks and other defects was used. There may have been some primary processing of the wood in specially selected places. According to literary sources, logging of building timber took place mostly in winter. Indirect evidence of winter logging can be found in the presence of a large amount of bark among the tree remains in the cultural layer «with chips» which is associated with the primary processing of wood in the north-west of Kyiv Podil. Preferring winter logging is an established practice, driven by natural factors and taking into account the biological characteristics of trees. However, in some Early Rus sites logs with bark have been found, which can be linked to summer logging. There are reasons to believe that some products could have been manufactured at the site of primary wood processing. Processing of blanks could also have been carried out within the settled area. This is evidenced by the discovered woodworking complexes in the settlement of Khodosivka — Roslavske and on the outskirts of Chernihiv. The study of all wooden artifacts obtained as a result of archaeological research, including production waste, provides additional important information about the peculiarities of local woodworking.