RESEARCH OF SOKIL CASTLE

Abstract

The article presents the results of rescue archaeological research of the Sokil settlement-castle site, conducted by the Volyn Archaeological Expedition of the Institute of Archeology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine in 2020. Sokil and the settlement-castle site of late medieval and early modern times located here are well studied by historians, but large-scale archaeological research was conducted here for the first time. The work was related to the need to build a new medical and obstetric center as part of the “Large Construction” program. Excavation with an area of 169 square meters covered the entire area of future development. The cultural layer of the Bronze Age, Late Middle Ages and Early Modern Times has been identified and studied: ceramics, stone, glass and metal products. In addition to movable archeological finds, interesting objects were discovered and studied: the route of the lost part of the shaft of the Sokil castle site of the 16–17’th centuries was traced, which significantly expands the vision of the planning structure of the monument. The excavation of a rich noble building, which was located here between 1625 and 1642 was also discovered and studied. Thanks to a complete analysis of the blockage of the former tile kiln in the building, it was possible to reconstruct the stamp tiles, clearly date them and find out the owner of the building accordingly. According to the archeological research, the discovered building belonged to the owner of Sokil, Prince Kryshtof (Christopher) Shymkovych Shklynsky (~ 1600–1642), which is a valuable source for studying the early modern history of Ukraine, as we have a rare case of combining existing written sources with stationary archaeological research. Equally important is the participation of researchers in the nationwide program “Large Construction”, as scientific research during the works in the territories and in the protected areas of monuments is mandatory and essential.