In February 2015, archaeologists in the Ukraine at a mall construction location in central Kiev made an exciting discovery: the remains of an ancient street from medieval times more than seven meters under the earth.
The remnants of some old, ancient wooden buildings dating clear back to Keivan Rus times were discovered where a mall was being built at the Poshtova Square close to the Dnipro River in the area of the city of Podil.
The city of Podil has been studied a lot in the past, so scientists say that it was a big surprise to see the remains of what is thought to be a wooden fence and home from the 12th century timeframe. Scientists are very excited about this discovery, as it shows many different things about the area that were not known previously.
The archeologists say this find proves that there were residents in this area even earlier than once thought, and shows that Keiv was once much larger than previously believed. Prior to the discovery of all of these remains, it was believed that Keiv’s medieval border only went as far as Borychiv Tik Street, a modern street that is located inland about 500 kilometers from Poshtova Ploshcha.
Scientists have been digging at the site for three weeks and have since found more fence pieces, as well as money, pots, beads, and other artifacts dating from the 11th to the 13th centuries. The discovery of all of these artifacts shows that this was once a very well populated and used street during the timeframe.
Five centuries later during the 18th and 19th century, a wharf was at today’s Poshtova Square. Originally, when the mall site was being dug up, it was only thought that they might discover things like old pieces of pavement or perhaps some household items.
Luckily for the researchers, the wooden fences and homes were preserved, as it is in the lowland and normally the wood would decay and not be preserved in this location. Since so much has already been found, now the research will continue and the archeologists plan to dig up the entire area of the ancient street. They want to try to determine things such as how the medieval city was planned out if possible, according to officials.
In fact, the nine researchers working on the project will continue their study and dig for nearly 12 hours a day from 9 am to 8 pm to dig up and get as much of the artifacts they can find and start to catalog their finds. They hope to find things like clay pots because the ornamentation on them will help to date them.
Due to this find, the researchers have also been allowed to look for more artifacts on Poshtova Square close the Nativity Church. At one time there was an ancient cemetery in that area and so the scientists believe it could also hold items from that timeframe to help their research.
Until further notice, the mall construction has been stopped while this dig and resulting research is being done. Now, they must also raise money to help preserve the items and are possibly considering building a museum on the spot.
