Archaeologists in Ostrog have excavated a 17th-century foundry and an underground structure

Photos: Pavla Nechitaylo, Irena Senkovych, Alexander Kovalchuk

In Ostrog Rivne region Archaeologists have discovered 10th-century pottery fragments, a 17th-century foundry and an underground structure that will be explored. About it” ukrainian news ” said Pavel Nechitailo, head of the Kamenetsky-Podolsk architectural and archaeological expedition team of the research center “Security Archaeology Service” state enterprise of the Institute of Archaeology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and a doctoral candidate in historical sciences.

– Research is currently underway on the land on St. Akademicheskaya, 4, located in the center of Ostrog. The research is being conducted by the Right Bank Complex Expedition of the state-owned enterprise “Security Archaeology Service of Ukraine”. Nechitailo noted that research on the site began in 2022 and will continue in 2023.

According to him, ancient Ostrog is famous for its strong cultural layers, which are more than 3 meters deep in the area. In particular, archaeologists have discovered artifacts from the Tripillian culture of the 10th century, the Mongol era, and the most prosperous period of Ostrog in the 16th-17th centuries.

– An interesting object dating back to the 17th century, made of large bricks – 31x17x7.5 cm. This is a circular structure, the upper part of which is in the shape of a six-petal flower. The upper part of this foundry was coated with clay, and some copper-containing alloy was smelted here. Maybe small amounts of bronze. For what purpose we do not know yet. Previous years and our research have shown that there is a lot of slag at this place, and in my opinion, this is a very interesting industrial site in Ostrog,” the archaeologist noted.

In addition to the 17th century foundry, the expedition also found a stationary fire and pottery fragments from the 10th century. Laboratory processing of the material was carried out by Volyn archaeologist Yuriy Pshenichny, with consultation provided by archaeologists from Ostrog Alexander Bondarchuk.