Investigations of a Rampart of Balymer Sholom Hill-Fort in 2014

The article features the results of comprehensive archaeological and geomorphological study of the exposures of defensive structures of the Sholom hill-fort known as the Early Iron Age settlement (the Ananyino cultural and historical area) and the Early Middle Ages (the Imenkovo culture). As a result of field archaeological works the researchers determined that the rampart was constructed as late as in 1st millennium A.D., and the construction of fortifications was preceded by a long period of time during which the settlement remained unprotected. The construction of defensive structures in the settlement is subdivided by the authors into three stages which are clearly distinguishable in the body of the rampart on the basis of the structural variations of filled ground and the structural elements of the earth rampart. Each modification was accompanied by the construction of a new moat or pits used during construction, which also confirms the three-stage building of the rampart. There was a considerable pause between the construction of the early and middle ramparts, which is signified by the deformed shape of the lower rampart and a clearly identifiable border of its top section. The item complex from rampart filling material allows the authors to consider that the monument existed in 4th – 7th centuries and was related to the population of Imenkovo archaeological culture.