Belsk

The
largest
hillfort
in Europe
Enclosed within the
ramparts of Belsk is
enough land to do
a modern city proud.
This giant hillfort dates
back to the Scythian era,
but what was going on
inside it? Marina Daragan
has been exploring
an enigmatic edifice.

B
elsk is a large hillfort
settlement (gorodishche) of
Scythian times built near the
modern-day city of Poltava
in north-central Ukraine. It is
huge, measuring 4,870ha in extent, with
a rampart more than 33km long. The
distance between the extreme northern
and southern points of the settlement is
11.6km – which means that, for Londoners,
if you start at Hampstead in the north
and go south through the West End, over
the River Thames, you would end up in
Clapham Common to reach the furthest
extent. The biggest hillfort in western
Europe is at Heidengraben, Germany,
which at 1,700ha would fit into Belsk ABOVE The fortifications that ring Belsk, the largest
two and a half times. Roman London hillfort in Europe, are still impressive today, with the
covered 133ha, so you get 36 Roman distance from the base of the ditch to the peak of
the rampart sometimes exceeding 10m. Activity
Londons into Belsk. (And for our
within much of the interior is rather less prominent,
American readers, Manhattan Island though, raising questions about Belsk was for.
is 5,900ha, so Belsk would just about
fit into a squashed Manhattan.) But
RUSSIA
who built this huge enclosure?
To the best of our knowledge, the
Kiev Belsk
peoples who constructed this enormous
settlement were the northern neighbours UKRAINE
of the Scythians, fierce horsemen who
lived in the steppe region north of
the Black Sea, in modern Ukraine and ROMANIA
southern Russia. The Scythians produced
superb gold jewellery, some of which

32 CURRENTWORLDARCHAEOLOGY Issue 101


came to the British Museum three years
ago for a splendid exhibition (of which
this article is an offshoot). Herodotus
devoted a whole book of his Histories
to the Scythians, and as a result they
are a source of endless fascination to
archaeologists. Scythians were certainly
involved in the historical developments
that culminated in the construction
of Belsk and numerous other similar
fortified settlements, but they were not
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its builders. The Scythians were nomadic
pastoralists and only started building
settlements along the Dnieper River
during the 4th century BC, the largest
of which is Kameskoye Gorodishche.
The hillforts to the north, in the forest-
steppe region of Ukraine, were built by
a different cultural group, who were not
unlike their contemporaries the Celts.
Belsk is the largest such hillfort known.
In fact, it consists of two smaller hillforts
UKRAINE
– Western Belsk and Eastern Belsk –
that are enclosed within a larger hillfort.
Apart from a few scattered settlements,
most of the territory within this large
hillfort showed no sign of permanent
occupation, but this was apparent in the
two enclaves. Western Belsk had an area
of only 87ha with a rampart 3.6km long,
whereas the interior of Eastern Belsk
amounted to 75ha, enclosed by a rampart
4km long. Both fortifications are united
by a system of ramparts and ditches that
together make up the Great Belsk hillfort,
which lies on a watershed between the
rivers Vorskla and Suhaja Grun, tributaries
of the Dnieper.
From 1959 to 1995, major excavations
were carried out by B A Shramko on
the eastern fortification. He considered
the western and eastern hillforts to be
contemporaneous, with occupation
dating from the 7th to 3rd centuries
BC; however, he believed that a diverse
ethnic population lived in them, as the
ceramic assemblages in the two forts were
different. He looked to Herodotus to help
explain the site. The historian describes
how Darius, the Persian king who
threatened the Greeks, also attacked the
Scythians. They convened a conference
with neighbours including the tribe of
Budinus, in whose land there was a city
known as Gelon. Was Gelon in fact Belsk?
The Scythians, convinced that they alone
were not able to repel Darius’ army in open
warfare, sent messengers to their neighbours,
whose kings had already gathered and were
deliberating on the presumption that a great
army was marching against them. The
assembled kings were those of the Tauri,
Agathyrsi, Neuri, Maneaters, Black-cloaks,
Geloni, Budini, and Sauromatae.
(Herodotus 4:102)
The Budini are a great and populous nation;
the eyes of them all are very bright, and they
have red hair. They have a city built of wood,
called Gelonus. The wall of it is three and
three quarters miles in length on each side of
the city; this wall is high and all of wood; and
their houses are wooden, and their temples.
LEFT Belsk, showing the course of the great
fortification, and the two smaller hillforts attached
to the east and west portion of the perimeter.
CURRENTWORLDA RCHAEOLOGY 33
A detailed survey of Western Belsk was conducted
using GNSS (global navigation satellite system) receiver
(ABOVE). The result shows the course of its rampart, and
also where it connects to the Great Belsk fortification at
the top and bottom of the image (RIGHT).
The Geloni are by their origin Greeks, who
left their trading ports to settle among the
Budini; and they speak a language half Greek
and half Scythian. But the Budini do not
speak the same language as the Geloni,
nor is their manner of life the same.
(Herodotus 4:108)
Based on Herodotus, Shramko
correlated Belsk hillfort with the city
Gelon, meaning the different material
coming from Western and Eastern
Belsk was explained by the presence
of both the Budini and Geloni. After
facing criticism for this stance, Shramko
revised his interpretation to Belsk being
an ‘intertribal centre’. However, it now
seems obvious that the picture drawn by
Herodotus and used by Shramko does not
fully correspond to the archaeological
realities. Since the 1990s, several teams
of Ukrainian and German archaeologists
have combined to undertake a detailed
study of the monument.
The site was occupied before the
hillfort was built, with traces of activity
found under the western fortification.
This happened around the middle of the
34 CURRENTWORLDARCHAEOLOGY
8th century BC, a time when there was
a migration of the population from the
right bank of the Dnieper to the Vorskla
basin. These people were the bearers of
the archaeological culture called the
‘Zhabotin’, characterised by very distinctive
black-glazed tableware, decorated with
geometric patterns and inlaid with white
paste. The remains of their activity survived
in the form of ‘ash accumulations’, which
are hillocks of various sizes differing in
soil colour and consistency, but having
a characteristic whitish tinge. These ash
mounds could reach a height of 3m and
are rich in cultural remains.
Some of the discoveries in these ash
hills were distinctly odd – dare one say,
ritual? There were numerous partial and
complete carcases of goats, pigs, and dogs.
Interestingly, some of the dogs had a
twisted neck, and one dog’s vertebra was
found with a bronze arrowhead stuck in
it. Some deposits are very interesting: at
the bottom of Ash Mound 13, for example,
were found skeletons of eight sacrificed
dogs (with twisted necks), broken clay
loaves, part of a human skull, and burnt
dog bones. In another case, the skeleton
of a little puppy was found with a string
of blue beads round its neck. The upper
layers of ash hills are often associated
with fragmented human skulls and jaws,
a significant number of them belonging
to women and adolescent children.
The ash mounds are long-term
constructions and cover many different
phases. Most of them date from the
second half of the 7th century to the
mid 6th century BC, though some begin
earlier in the second half of the 8th
century. However, the materials from
the space adjacent to them belong to the
late 6th to early 5th century BC. The ash
mounds produced important objects in
the early Scythian animal style, bronze
arrowheads, and Greek pottery.
The eastern hillfort
In contrast to the western hillfort, the
settlements on the site of the eastern
hillfort were later: they did not take place
before the second half of the 6th century
and continued until the end of the 4th
century. The organisation of the space of
the eastern hillfort is completely different:
ash accumulations are absent, but at least
Issue 101

three shrines have been identified,
as well as some industrial complexes.
The sanctuary occupies the dominant
terrain in the central, eastern, and
south-eastern part of the fortification.
The sanctuaries preserve clay altars
and pits in which various objects of
religious significance were deposited.
These include clay figurines of men,
birds, and animals with miniature
vessels, and clay models of grain. In
a number of cases, groups of statuettes
constituted whole ritual compositions
illustrating scenes of cult ceremonies.
The manipulation of human skulls
was an integral part of cult activity
– whole skulls or parts thereof
were found in the backfill of
many pits. Such religious
activities were also carried out
in other sites of this period
in the region – for example at
IMAGE: excavations of I Kulatova and A Suprunenko, photo by A Suprunenko
Knyshovsky, where dogs had
been sacrificed around human
skulls with iconic vessels nearby.
The industrial complexes are
located in low-lying areas of the
southern part of the monument, and
featured iron-smithing, bronze-casting,
pottery, and bone-carving workshops;
the remains of an iron-smelting furnace,
slag, and fragments of ore were also found.
Weaving took place, too, for numerous
clay conical loom weights were found,
showing that warp-weighted looms had
been present at the site.
Thus, within the Great Belsk hillfort,
several settlements existed at various
IMAGE: excavations of P Gavrish
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times from the middle of the 8th to the
4th century BC. However, the western and
eastern hillforts only coexisted for a fairly
short time during the second half of the
6th and the first half of the 5th century
BC. Most of the vast space inside the Great
Belsk hillfort remained uninhabited.
ABOVE An example of the black-glazed pottery
used by the 8th-century occupants of the area
later occupied by Western Belsk.
BELOW Ash mounds produced an array of
interesting finds, including these bronze arrowheads.
UKRAINE
Tsarina
One of the most interesting ancient
settlements within Belsk is Tsarina, which
is situated to the south of the western
hillfort – though still within the great
fortification – and was occupied over a
broadly similar timescale. Here, evidence
of further gruesome rituals can be found.
Several clay altars were examined with
human skulls placed at their base, near
them, or on them. One of the altars was in
the shape of a truncated cone extending
50cm above a platform. It contained
animal bones and two human skulls.
Human skulls without their jaws were
used in the foundation of the altar
in its lower layer. One of them
belonged to a young woman
(18-20 years old) and was placed
upside down, facing towards the
centre of the altar, lying next to
the skull of a horse, in the same
position. A second skull, at the
base of the altar on the right side,
belonged to a man 25-35 years old.
On these skulls, as on other skulls
from this settlement, traces of their
mechanical separation from the body
survive – they had been beheaded. Some
of them displayed unhealed damage that
could be the result of torture, murder, or
ritual mutilation of the skull immediately
after death: post-mortem manipulation
of the skulls includes scalping, punching
holes in the lower jaw, and stripping of
soft tissue from bones.
The settlement of Tsarina also produced
important evidence of industrial activity.
CURRENTWORLDA RCHAEOLOGY 35

ABOVE Various items were deposited in pits
within sanctuaries, including these clay figurines
depicting humans and animals.
36 CURRENTWORLDARCHAEOLOGY
Numerous deer-horn blanks that were
used to produce tools and psalia in the
early Scythian animal art-style were
found here. Traces of casting bronze were
reported and an iron-smelting furnace was
excavated. Bronze-casting moulds for the
formation of wax models of arrowheads
were found on Belsk hillfort.
From the middle of the 7th century
BC, the residents of both fortifications,
as well as the settlements, maintained
active contacts with the Greek colonies
of the northern Black Sea region, as is
shown by the numerous Greek pottery
imports, found in the burials of the
inhabitants of the ancient city.
When was the
Belsk hillfort built?
Intensive investigation of the earthworks
revealed three to five construction
periods, showing the ramparts were
built in several stages. But were they
simply different construction horizons or
was each subsequent cycle a consequence,
as the majority of the researchers assume,
of enemy destruction?
At first, the defences consisted of a
palisade, with a ditch in front of it. Then
the ditch was deepened to form a moat
and a rampart was raised behind it. Three
to five horizons stand out, but it is unclear
whether they represent a single building
episode or chronologically separate
episodes. It is difficult to say when the
major fortifications were erected as the
data are only indirect. By analogy with
IMAGE: excavations of P Gavrish
ABOVE Cult activity involving human skulls and the
sacrifice of dogs seems to have been widespread in
the region. This example is from Knyshovsky.
other dated fortifications (Motroninsky
and Trachtemirovsky hillforts), it can
be assumed that the construction of
the western fortification palisade took
place in the middle of the 7th century
BC or possibly in the second half of the
6th century BC. However, the eastern
fortifications were not constructed until
the appearance of the settlement – that
is, not earlier than the second half of
the 6th century BC. Accordingly, it is
assumed that the defensive system
of the Great Belsk hillfort was not
erected until after the construction
of the eastern and western fortifications,
which makes it not earlier than the second
half of the 6th century BC. In fact, there
are now two alternative points of view:
according to the first, the fortification
complex was built up gradually, while
according to the second the various stages
were synchronised.
IMAGE: excavations of B A Shramko, from Shramko 2016
Why was the Great
Belsk hillfort necessary?
The combination of two neighbouring
hillforts into a single fortification is
unique in Ukraine. At first glance it
is tempting to assume that it was the
territory of a large city with a large
population – the city of Gelon. Yet
the western and eastern hillforts only
coexisted for a relatively short period
Issue 101
 UKRAINE

Belsk hillfort coincides with the end of the
Scythian era in the Forest Steppe, as
well as in the Steppe. It was followed
by more than a century of hiatus.
Other mega-hillforts
in Ukraine
In addition to Belsk, ten other similar
sites are known in Ukraine that can be
considered giants. For example, the well-
preserved Nemirovsky hillfort is located
on both banks of the small Mirka River
and covers 123ha. The huge rampart is
well preserved. Its height exceeds 7m, and
reaches 10m in places, though on the
other side it is only 4-5m. The depth of
the ditch is 3-4m, and from the bottom
IMAGE: excavations of V Belozor
imports and excellent examples of bone
objects in the early Scythian animal style.
The Trachtemirovsky hillfort is situated
on the right bank of the Dnieper, with an
area of about 500ha. In the north-western
part of the hillfort there is an internal
fortification of 14.5ha. In this small
hillfort, there is a sanctuary with an altar
on which stood a vessel in the form of a
bird and a Greek kylix. The site dates to
the late 7th and early 6th century BC.
The Motroninsky hillfort, in contrast
to the Nemirovsky hillfort, was laid out
on a plateau surrounded on all sides by
deep gullies. This hillfort has a longer
period of existence from the middle of
the 7th to the middle of the 5th century

of the ditch to the top of the rampart is
8-10m. Almost at the centre of the fort is a
separate internal fortification. Most of the
site appears to have been uninhabited, but
the bulk of the excavated material dates
to the 7th century BC, and includes Greek
BC, and appears to have had a relatively
large populated area.
Hill thoughts
Despite certain differences, an identical
and well-considered strategy for building

ABOVE Among the crafts being practised in

Tsarina was the use of deer horn to create tools
and artefacts in the Scythian animal art-style.
BELOW RIGHT Cutting a section through the
Belsk rampart revealed how it had been constructed.
First, a palisade was raised behind the ditch, and
then rampart material was built up (INSET).

of time during the late 6th to the early

5th century BC; in the second half of the
5th and during the 4th century BC, only
the eastern hillfort was functional. Were
there enough inhabitants of the eastern
hillfort to man the entire defensive system
of the Belsk hillfort?
Researchers have proposed various
different explanations: Shramko suggested
that a large hillfort was constructed so
that, in time of danger, the population
(and their animals) from the surrounding
territory could take refuge there. A more
provocative interpretation was proposed
by Murzin and Rolle: that the ramparts
were built by the order of a Scythian
king, who used it as a temporary site
for the tents and yurts of his court
and army. The current state of research
allows no definite answer.
Belsk hillfort had ceased to exist by the
end of the 4th century BC – apparently
it was just abandoned by its inhabitants.
No evidence of violence, such as traces of
burning, has been recorded. But the end of

www.world-archaeology.com CURRENTWORLDA RCHAEOLOGY 37

 PHOTO: M Potupchik
ABOVE Nemirovsky is another hillfort in Ukraine
that covers an impressive area, boasting an interior
extending over 123ha.
ABOVE RIGHT Finds from Nemirovsky include this
fine bone comb in the early Scythian animal style.
RIGHT The course of the Motroninsky hillfort
defences are marked out with a black line. It had
an internal area of about 106ha.

these hillforts can be detected. The basis

is formed by a palisade and a small clay
rampart. Building a palisade around a
large area is a very expensive undertaking:
for example, for the construction of the
Motroninsky hillfort palisade, with its
3.9km perimeter, at least 11,142 logs were
needed. That figure is eclipsed by the
Great Belsk palisade, where a minimum
of 84,582 logs would be required, which
is the equivalent of a small forest. Yet
the palisade merely bounded space – it
had no military significance. It was only
later that the fortification became
monumental, taking the form of a
grandiose rampart and ditch.
Undoubtedly, the genesis of these
huge constructions was caused by
certain historical collisions, but we
can only guess what they were. The
problem is that these hillforts have only ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
been excavated to an extremely limited I dedicate this feature to the memory of a wonderful man and scientist, my first teacher, the researcher
degree, which makes them difficult to of Belsk and Knyshovka hillforts, and a native of Belsk village – to Peter Petrovich Gavrish.
understand and interpret. It is hoped I am grateful to Yuriy Svoyskiy, Kseniya Bondar, Margarita Gleba, Oles Yasinskiy, Aleksey Domanskiy,
that future work will help us to understand Mihail Potupchik, Vyacheslav Murzin, Aleksandr Suprunenko, Petro Gavrish, the Alexander von
the enigma of the largest man-made Humboldt Foundation, Svend Hansen, Hermann Parzinger, and Tatyana Menchinskaya.
constructions of this period in Europe.

38 CURRENTWORLDARCHAEOLOGY Issue 101