The territory of Perechyn region in archeological finds
Archaeological research has shown that the territory of the Perechyn basin was inhabited no later than 11 thousand years ago, and possibly much earlier - 20 thousand years ago. Apparently, the presence of people here has not stopped since then, as archaeological finds confirm traces of their active work in the Late (Upper) Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Early Iron Age. These were people of modern physical appearance who were engaged in hunting, fishing and gathering. They possessed the technique of making tools from obsidian (volcanic glass) and flint, as evidenced by many archaeological finds. Among the archaeologists who studied this area: J. Pasternak, F. Gladilin, L. Matskeva, S. Penyak, M. Potushnyak and others.
In particular, west of the village of Vorochovo, on the left bank of the river Uzh in 1969 an expedition of the Institute of Archeology of the USSR Science Academy, led by V. Gladilin, collected chips, plates, incisors, nuclei of obsidian and andesite, dating from the Late Paleolithic period (40-11 thousand years ago).
Over the next two decades, an expedition of the USSR Institute of Archeology, led by S. Penyak explored a number of Paleolithic settlements on the route of the Transcarpathian highway construction, near Perechyn. In particular, nuclei, chips, microplates retouched with flint and obsidian were discovered in 1975 in the «Simerski Bereziny» tract (1 km northeast of Perechyn) on a plateau above the clay quarry of a brick factory.
Many archaeological finds relate to later - Mesolithic times, which are chronologically outlined in the period 9-6 / 5 thousand years BC. Places where people of this period stayed were discovered in Transcarpathia in the 1970s and 1980s thanks to the activities of a complex Mesolithic-Neolithic expedition of the USSR Institute of Social Sciences. During 15 field seasons, 38 Mesolithic artifacts were found, several of which were near Perechyn, Vorochevo and Simer.
Among the discovered is a parking lot in the «Simerski Berezyny» tract, opened in 1973 by the Transcarpathian expedition of the USSR Institute of Archeology. This parking lot was inspected by the Subcarpathian expedition of the USSR Institute of Social Sciences under the leadership of L. Matskevy. The researchers attributed the complex of found artifacts to the group of monuments such as Nezvisko IX-Attacks of the VI Mesolithic period, dating from the Boreal time (lasted from 8690 to 7270 BC).
In 1976 and 1981, an expedition led by L. Matskevy discovered several more Mesolithic sites on the banks of the river Uzh near the village Vorochovo in the tracts of «Pole», «Rybnyky» and «Vysokyi Bereg». Among the lifting material: chips, plate fragments and small fragments of obsidian (volcanic glass) and flint, prismatic and amorphous nuclei. In addition, there were tools: scrapers, notched side scrapers, angle cutters, knives, squeezer, grinder. Materials from these excavations have shown a genetic link to previous Late Paleolithic monuments in the region.
The next, Neolithic period (6 / 5-3 thousand years BC) is not represented by archaeological finds. This does not mean their absence, most likely they are still waiting for researchers to find them. There were monuments of the Eneolithic, that is Copper Age, such as the discovery of L. Eber. In 1902, this resident of Perechyn found eight pots and a silicon chip in the «Hora» tract, which were transferred to the Hungarian National Museum.
Monuments of a later period have been found on the territory of Perechyn OTG: artifacts of the Early Iron Age. In the south-western part of the Simer village, on the high left bank of the Uzh River, in the «Simersky Berezina» tract, in 1925, local ethnographer Pavlo Yatsko found two burials: an earthen and a burial mound. The first refers to the Gáva-Holigrady culture, which dates back to the VIII century. BC, the second represents the Kushtanovitska culture of VI - IV centuries. B.C. Pavlo Yatsko appealed to the Prague Institute of Archeology with a request to study them, and soon Yaroslav Pasternak, an assistant at the institute, arrived in Perechyn. Together, in the Eneolithic burial ground, they found 31 burial urns containing burnt bones. The urns were placed in regular rows at a distance of 0.5-1 m from each other. Search works were carried out near the village of Simer («Simerski Bereziny» tract, «Kameniste» tract), in Perechyn («Pod Vapelny Grun» tract, «Gora» tract). Based on his research in 1925, Yaroslav Pasternak prepared the work «Podkarpatská Rus v mladši době kamenné». According to the scientist, these were samples of cord pottery culture. Pavlo Yatsko also wrote about the find, noting that in addition to it, he found 21 places where traces of Stone Age people meet.
Much later, it was not until 1980 that Pavel Yatsko's find was inspected by the Transcarpathian Expedition of the USSR Institute of Archeology of the National Academy of Sciences under the leadership of S. Penyak. The research literally saved some monuments , because there was operating brick quarry at that time. Remains of urns were collected on the spot and two damaged mounds were recorded. Three more mounds were destroyed by the quarry. A burial urn filled with calcined bones was found in the central part of the mound area at a depth of 0.6 m, and an iron knife was found with them. A ritual bonfire was arranged above the burial, where broken shards were found near the coals, which were obviously an element of the funeral rite in honor of the deceased.
During the early Middle Ages, the territory of the region was inhabited by various tribes that did not belong to any state formations. As a result of the great migration of peoples, Germans, Sarmatians, Huns, Avars, Slavs, Hungarians and other peoples appeared here. The Slavic population actively inhabited the region in the VII-VIII centuries AD, apparently assimilating the local tribes that had lived here since earlier times.
Settlement of Perechyn region in the Middle Ages
The study of the medieval history of Transcarpathia requires the analysis of documents in Latin, Hungarian, German and other languages, while there are not too many specialists of this level. Among modern scientists, historians O. Ferkov, L. Zubanych, O. Miskov, as well as archaeologists O. Dzembas, J. Kobal, M. Zhilenko, I. Prokhnenko and V. Moyges, who study castles and churches of medieval and early modern times, are engaged in this period. The history of Perechyn and neighboring settlements in the Middle Ages gradually became the focus of interest of specialists, but it should be recognized that in scientific knowledge still remain a lot of «white spots».
The historical period before our era and the early Middle Ages we can reconstruct mainly on the basis of archeological data. The life of people in the lands northeast of Uzhgorod has obviously not been interrupted by the late Paleolithic period, as evidenced by archaeological finds of ancient times and in the Slavic era. In particular, in the villages of Orikhovytsia, Vorochovo and Nevytske, early Slavic antiquities were found (up to the 9th century), first of all ceramics, which are well preserved in the local moist and acid soils.
During the Hungarian kingdom, which emerged in the late ІХ - early X centuries, which included the territory of Transcarpathia, there are written sources, including descriptions of villages and estates. They provide information about the settlement and development of the Uzhansky valley, which had to be repopulated, as, in fact, a large part of the country, after the Tatar-Mongol devastation of the XIII century. The process of economic colonization of northeastern Hungary began in the middle of the thirteenth century and lasted with varying intensity over the following centuries.
During the royal Arpadovych dynasty (889-1301), the villages of Velykyi Bereznyi and Perechyn, as well as Nevytske Castle, appeared northeast of Uzhhorod. However, in general, the lands to the northeast along the valley of the river Uzh up to the state border were then the least populated area of the region.
At the end of the Arpadovych dynasty reign, the territory of the Uzhansky committee was owned by the influential tycoon and palatine Amadeus Aba, who rebuilt the Nevytske stone castle, after its destruction by Mongol troops. He died during his confrontation with the representative of the new royal dynasty of Anjou, King Charles I. After that, for the next four centuries, the lands were owned by the Drugets, who appeared in the political arena of Hungary with the ruling dynasty change in the kingdom. According to O. Ferkov's research, Uzhanshchyna officially passed under Drugety on October 9, 1328, when King Carl Robert, being in Pozhon (modern Bratislava), informed nobles, about the fact of giving the Uzhansky committee to Yan Drugety.
In the first half of the 14th century, the kings of the Anjou dynasty continued the practice of their predecessors and encouraged the relocation of people to sparsely populated areas. The Drugets actively supported the policy of the Hungarian kings regarding the economic colonization of the outlying territories of the state by donating lands on the condition of their settlement. This was usually through recruiters, known in the sources as the «soltes» and «genesis», who called on the settlers and promised them certain «freedom». The founders of the villages were issued diplomas from the king or landowners. The history of a village often begins with a Soltes letter - an agreement between a landowner and a Soltes to settle the territory. It is through these letters that the process of settlement of the region in the period after the Mongol arrival is traced. Such documents were issued by the Drugets, who, becoming the owners and controlling the territory from the Tisza to the Uzhotsky Pass, settled the region.
In the ХІІІ-XVI centuries, the resettlement of Ruthenians from Galychyna to the Uzhansky region became common, which took place on the basis of German and Wallachian law. In the new place, peasants were exempted from paying taxes for a period from 12 to 24 years. As a result of the next wave of land settlement in the 30's of the XIV century, a large number of new settlements appear, which, in most cases, have had a Slavic origin.
Most of these settlements during the XIV century originated northwest of Ungvar, where the Drugets did not have much land. At the 1490, in the Uzhansky committee were seven castles: Bukolts, Chicher, Luchka, Vinyansky (Nad-Migal), Nevytske, Tybava, Ungvar (Uzhhorod), seven agricultural towns, 205 villages, 128 medium and small landowners. The Drugets in the Uzhanskaya dominion owned two towns (Ungvar and Seredne) and more than two dozen villages, including: Kerekne (Korytnyany), Hossumezov (Dovhe Pole), Laz (Velyki Lazy), Strypa, Arok (Yarok), Rakhontsa (Orikhovytsia), Kementse (Kamyanytsia) and all without exception settlements to the north and east of Uzhhorod in the valley of Uzh and Turia.
The description of 1398, names us 13 settlements in the valley of these rivers, eight of which were in the possession of the Drugets. According to this description, in that century were founded: Maly Berezny, Dubrynychy, Turytsia, Vorochevo, Zarichovo, Turya Pasika, Turya Remeti, Poroshkovo, Simerky. Between 1398 and 1437, seven more villages appeared here, and by the middle of the 16th century - at least eight more. In general, in 1451, the Uzhan dominion of the Drugets numbered 21 villages, where the ethnic composition was dominated by Ruthenians.
The population density of the committee was only 0.84 people per sq. km., and the process of settling the territory was just beginning. According to estimates by M. Tyvodar, who took the number of one family for 5 people, the population of the Uzhanshchyna back then, was up to 12 thousand. By ethnic origin, they were Ruthenians, apparently formed on the basis of the older Slavic population and immigrants from Galychyna or Podillya, like the Prince Fyodor Koryatovich.
Photos and images:
Funeral urn: from the publication of Oksana Chopak. What do scientists know about the archaeological finds of Perechyn region?:
http://archaeology.com.ua/?p=1770
Fragments of pottery - photo by the author.
Map and seal of Amadeus Aba from a Wikipedia article: Amadeus Aba:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amadeus_Aba
Drugets emblem from a Wikipedia article: Drugets:
https://uk.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%94%D1%80%D1%83%D0%B3%D0%B5%D1%82%D0%B8
Map of the cadastre of 1897:
http://mek.oszk.hu/00000/00060/html/kepek/ung-terkep_dka.jpg
References:
Amadeus Aba:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amadeus_Aba
Archaeological monuments of Subcarpathia and Volhynia of the Stone Age. Kyiv, 1981
Drugets: https://uk.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%94%D1%80%D1%83%D0%B3%D0%B5%D1%82%D0%B8
Beley N.A. Ferkov O.V. «Economic development of Uzhanshchyna in the time of the Drugets» // Scientific Bulletin of Uzhhorod University. Series: History. 2013
Vinokur I.S. Gutsal A.F. Penyak S.I. Timoshchuk B.O. Yakubovsky V.I. «Handbook of Archeology of Ukraine». Khmelnytsky, Chernivetsky, Transcarpathia regions. Kyiv, 1984
Gladilin V.M. Smirnov S.V. Sova P.P. «The first year of work of the Transcarpathian Paleolithic expedition» // Archaeological research in Ukraine in 1969. Kyiv, 1972
Penyak S.I. Penyak P.S. «Archeology of Transcarpathia: history of research» Uzhhorod: «Landscapes of the Carpathians», 2013
Kotyhoroshko V. «Upper Potyssia in antiquity». Uzhhorod: "Carpathians", 2008
Matskevoy L.G. Artyukh V.S. «On the works of the Carpathian Mesolithic-Neolithic expedition» // Moscow, 1974
Matskevoy L.G. Artyukh V.S. Vasilenko B.A. Adamenko O.M. «Research in the Carpathians» // Moscow, 1977
Matskevoy L.G. «Report on the work of the Carpathian Mesolithic-Neolithic expedition» of USSR Institute of Social Sciences in 1973. Scientific archive, Institute of Ukraine Archaeology. - № 1973/85
Matskevoy L.G. «Research in the western regions of Ukraine» // Moscow,1983
Matskevoy L.G. «Mesolithic of the Transcarpathian region» // «Problems of archeology of the Eastern Carpathians» - Uzhhorod, 1995.
Matskevoy L.G. «Report on works in Lviv, Zakarpattia and Ivano-Frankivsk regions in 1976» - Institute of Ukraine Archaeology. - № 1976/62
Matskevoy L.G. «Report on works in Lviv, Zakarpattia and Ivano-Frankivsk regions in 1981» - Institute of Ukraine Archaeology. - № 1981/36
Matskevoy L.G. «Research in the western regions of the USSR» // Moscow, 1983
Penyak S.I. Popovich I.I. Potushnyak M.F. «Report on explorations and excavations of the Transcarpathian new construction expedition in 1980» - Institute of Ukraine Archaeology. - № 1980/4
Popovych I.I. «Transcarpathia during the Early Iron Age» - Krakow-Lviv, 2006.
Lemkos and Lemkivshchyna
It is with the period of the Druget era that we can correlate the formation of local Lemkos in Transcarpathian region. The Lemkos are an original ethnographic group that has developed since the late Middle Ages on the northern and southern slopes of the Low Beskids between the Syan and Uzh rivers in the east and the Poprad and Danube rivers in the west. Lemkivshchyna is considered to be an area inhabited by mountaineers, located on the northern and southern slopes of the Carpathians. Divided by state borders, the Lemkos lived in different countries: Ukraine, Poland, Slovakia, and on the territory of Transcarpathian region (see map 1).
Map 1.
Although the number of scientific studies on Lemko has long been more than a thousand publications, but the question of their ethnogenesis, as well as the name is still not finally resolved. One of the hypotheses convinces that the Lemkos are the descendants of white Croats, who in the VI-VII centuries lived in the Carpathians and Subcarpathians. Other researchers believe that the Lemkos were formed later - in the XIV-XVI centuries, based on a mixture of local and resettlement groups of Ruthenians from Syan, Peremyshl and Transcarpathia. They settled in the territory, which scholars would later call Lemkivshchyna, on the basis of Wallachian «settlement» law. Another version explains the formation of Lemkos by separating them from the «boykos».
As for the name «Lemko», it is believed that it comes from the use by members of this ethnographic group of the word «lem», that is «only». The term «lemak» was first introduced into scientific circulation as a dialectological and ethnographic term by the famous Slovak scientist Jan Čaplović. In 1829 he published a study in which he wrote, among other things, that the Hungarian Ruthenians were divided into «Lemaks» and «Lyshaks» according to the peculiarities of their dialect. Scholar knew the territory of Transcarpathia and its population on the basis of his own experience, as he visited Hungarian Ruthenia every year, acting as the manager of the Schönborn family estates during 1813-1847. After Čaplović, O. Levitsky, I. Vahylevych, P. Shafaryk and others began to use the name «Lemaks».
According to the ethnographic principle, the Lemkos are divided into: northern (Polish or Galician), southern (Prešov or Slovak) and Užany (Transcarpathian). According to many researchers, the Užan Lemkos are part of the southern (Prešov) Lemkos, divided by the state border of Ukraine and Slovakia. Some other scholars allocate Bachvan Lemkos, which were recorded in the surroundings of Bachka in Serbia.
The most famous researchers from different countries who have studied the ethnographic boundaries of the Lemko region include: J. Golovatsky, O. Kuchubynsky, M. Korduba, V. Paul, V. Hnatyuk, R. Reinfus, V. Lashta and many others. B. Struminsky summarized their conclusions most fully in his work «Territory. Historical Essay of Views», which is included in the first volume of «Lemkivshchyna. Earth - people - history – culture», published under the auspices of Notes of the Shevchenko Scientific Society.
In the case of Northern Lemko, the researchers did not have any problems, as Lemkos lived compactly in modern Poland and the Ukrainian part of Galychyna. However, there are many contradictions among researchers regarding the delineation of the boundaries of the Southern Lemko region, depending on what one or another researcher chose as the basis of his conclusions: samples of material culture, dialectical features, religious factor, etc. As a result, the boundaries of southern Lemkivshchyna differ significantly in the conclusions of scientists, in particular S.Semenyuk believes that in the XV century Lemkivshchyna covered much larger areas of Slovakia than outlined on the map created on the basis of research V.Kubiyovych (compare maps 1 and 2). Currently, researchers distinguish the territory of the Lemko region and the Lemko border, which significantly increases the geographical boundaries of the Lemkos (see map 2).
MAP 2.
Lemkos at Transcarpathian region
Scholars do not have an unequivocal opinion about the spread and delineation of the boundaries of Lemko culture in Transcarpathia. This is not surprising, as the region is characterized by the stratification of many ethnocultural borders, mixing of traditions and mutual borrowing of cultural elements by different local ethnographic and ethnic groups. In general, this makes it difficult to accurately classify and distinguish «pure» groups, including local Lemkos.
In general, on the basis of samples of folk architecture, clothing or other elements of traditional material culture to Uzhan (Transcarpathian) Lemkos include the inhabitants of the upper villages of the river Uzh: Lubnya, Verkhovyna Bystra, Zagorb, Stuzhytsia, Domashyn, Knyaginya, Strychava, Zavosino, Novoselytsia and Zaricho (see map 3). However, according to linguistic data, the territory of Lemkivshchyna reaches the valley of the river Latorytsia, and the Lemko frontier includes a large part of the territory of the region up to the river Borzhava. Some researchers, in particular I. Krasovsky, generally believe that there were no Lemkos in Transcarpathia, and the population of the above-mentioned villages is an interesting example of the Lemko-Boyko border with the predominance of the Boykos element.
Map 3.
Folk name / ethnonym «Lemkos» in Transcarpathian region
The name «Lemko», as a nomination of an ethnographic group, became widespread due to the activities of scholars and the power of the written word. Among the population of Transcarpathia, which is now referred to as Lemkos or representatives of the Lemko frontier, the name «Lemko», which we use in the modern sense, did not exist, although it was used in certain situations. We can judge this on the basis of the conclusions of local ethnographers.
In particular, the author of one of the first ethnographic essays on Transcarpathia - Yuri Zhatkovich (1855-1920) writes that the local population calls themselves Ruthenians. And according to linguistic features, it divides itself into «Lemaks» and «Lyshaks» (according to the use of the words «lem» and «lysh»). He also cites another principle of division of the Ruthenian population: those who live in the mountains – «verkhovyntsy» and those who in the valleys – «namulyanyky». Between them is a strip representing a mixture of mountaineers and valley inhabitans. And the coryphaeus of Transcarpathian ethnographic science Fedor Potushyanyak (1910-1960) gives examples of many «summonses» by which villagers call their neighbors. In addition, he notes that the locals called themselves Ruthenians, who were divided into Lemaks, Hutsuls, Verkhovyntsy, Dolynians and others. Well-known ethnographer M. Tyvodar (1936-2017), quoting I.Senko, notes that the inhabitants of the Lemko villages of the Velykobereznyanshchyna do not call themselves Lemkos, and consider the word «Lemko» offensive.
It should be noted that the case with the relatively recent spread of the name Lemko is not something special, both in the context of the names of other peoples and other ethnographic groups of the region. In particular, V. Shukhevych, the author of the fundamental «Hutsul region in 5 parts», notes that Hutsuls began to call themselves so, only in the last third of the XIX century due to external influences and scholars, that is «Hutsuls» are an exo-ethnonym (external folk name).
Thus, the name «Lemko», as well as other scientific constructions have gained general use only recently, because the bearers of Lemko culture did not call themselves so. This is equally true of all other Lemkos - Slovakia, Poland, Galychyna. As for the last two, this popular name became widespread among them earlier than in Transcarpathia, but also not earlier than the end of the XIX – at the beginning of the XX century.
Interestingly, the first written mention of the name «Lemko» was recorded in Transcarpathia. The name «Lemko» appears as a nickname in the Mukachevo region in the documents of the XIV-XVI centuries. Later (in 1715 and 1775) in the documents from the city of Khust and the villages of Chepa and Korolevo recorded another form of nickname – «Lemak». And only after that similar surnames start to appear in documents from settlements of other parts of Lemkivshchyna. Obviously, this is due to the spread of the word «lem», which is borrowed from the Slovak language.
Maps:
Map 1.
https://spadok.org.ua/lemkivshchyna/lemky-istorychna-dolya-pokhodzhennya
Map 2.
Map of Lemkivshchyna, published in 2008 in Lviv on the initiative of the All-Ukrainian Society «Lemkivshchyna».
Map 3.
Mikhail Tivodar. Ethnography of Transcarpathia. Historical and ethnographic essay. Uzhhorod, 2010
References:
«Ethnographic groups of Ukrainians in the Carpathians. Lemkos» Kharkiv, 2020.
«Lemkivshchyna» in 2 vols. Lviv: Institute of Ethnology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. 1999
Potushnyak Fedor. «Transcarpathian Ukrainian ethnography. Significance, historiography, tasks, problems and their solutions, elements and their placement» / Tivodar M.P. «Life and scientific research of Fedor Potushnyak» Uzhhorod, 2005
Zhatkovych Yuriy. «Ethnographic sketch of the Ugric-Ruthenians» Uzhhorod, 2007
Tivodar Mikhail. «Ethnography of Transcarpathia: historical and ethnographic essay» Uzhhorod, 2011
Struminsky B. «Territory. Historical essay of views» / «Lemkivshchyna. Earth - people - history – culture» New York, Paris, Sydney, Toronto, 1988
Taranovich Julian. «Illustrated history of Lemkivshchyna» Lviv, 1936
Shukhevich Vladimir. «Hutsul region: in 5 parts» Kharkiv, 2018
