At the Crossroads of Centuries. Archaeology of the Region

The exhibition presents finds that reflect the material culture of the people who lived in the present-day Kharkiv region in the Stone and Bronze Ages, in Scythian and Sarmatian times, in the late Roman period (the Chernyakhiv culture), in the early Middle Ages (the Penkivka and Saltiv-Mayaki cultures) and in the time of Kyivan Rus. It includes many maps showing where sites of particular archaeological cultures exist in the region, as well as reconstructions of some tools and burial structures.

The exhibition “At the Crossroads of Centuries. Archaeology of the Region” opened on 18 May 1996 and, over the years of its existence, went through several rearrangements that substantially changed its look and content.

The Palaeolithic era is represented by materials from the excavation of flint-working workshops near the villages of Synychene and Kamianka in the Izium district — cores, blades, burins, awls and scrapers. The collection of this period is complemented by faunal remains, above all mammoth bones found in the city and the region during earthworks.

Mesolithic materials are presented by a collection of various microliths and a reconstruction of composite tools.

The next display case holds materials of two epochs — the Neolithic and the Eneolithic (Copper–Stone Age).

The Neolithic is the time when tribes moved to a producing economy — farming and cattle breeding. Visitors can see tools for working the land such as an antler hoe, various flint items — knives, scrapers, axes, adzes — fishing tackle such as a bone hook, and fragments of clay vessels.

The Eneolithic is represented by a hoard of flint items from the village of Koropove of the Sredny Stog culture and the first copper items — an awl, a wedge-shaped tool and a copper ingot bearing the imprint of a wooden stick.

Finds of Bronze Age cultures (Yamnaya, Catacomb, Babyne, Srubna, Bondarykha) are displayed in two cases of the exhibition. Visitors can see bronze items (knives, adzes, chisels, sickles, celt axes and so on), flint items (arrowheads, spearheads, sickles), various kinds of stone (polished axes, hoes, hammers, pestles, casting moulds) and a variety of clay pottery. An attractive addition to this epoch is the reconstruction of a barrow with burials of the Catacomb and Srubna cultures.

Materials of the Sarmatian period are displayed in the next case. Here you can see various weapons of the time (spearheads, armour plates), horse equipment (bits, cheek-pieces), fibulae, mirrors, bronze cauldrons, incense burners and more.

The next case is devoted to the material culture of the region’s population in the post-Hunnic period. This epoch is represented by materials of the Penkivka culture (5th–7th centuries AD). Penkivka antiquities are presented through materials from two hoards — the Koziivka one and the Novo-Odesa one — and a rich inhumation burial near the village of Mokhnach. In the case you can see various temple ornaments, finger-shaped fibulae, neck rings, beads, parts of belt sets and more.

Archaeological materials that characterise the development of the region’s material culture in the Old Rus period are presented in the cases of the exhibition “Our Land in the 9th–18th Centuries”.

A considerable number of the exhibits shown here were obtained from archaeological expeditions organised by the Kharkiv Historical Museum.