A Dugout from the Vicinity of the Village of Sukhoi Donets in the Boguchar District of the Voronezh Region (the Fate of a Chance Find)

Abstract

The article describes how a dugout boat was discovered by a local historians in the vicinity of the village of Sukhoi Donets in the Boguchar district of the Voronezh region in 2015. This boat is the fourth discovered and the southernmost in the Voronezh region, dating back to the pre-industrial epoch. The fate of a chance find has become an example of unprofessional actions of history and archaeology amateurs. A rare monument of the Don river transport was left without proper conservation measures. The article gives the dimensions of the boat, the results of radiocarbon analysis, clarified the tree species and characterizes the historical processes of settlement in the XVI-XVII centuries of the south of the Voronezh region. The boat is the material embodiment of the folk life of the Middle Don basin during the late Middle Age- early modern era.

Keywords

• archaeology
• dugout boat
• shuttle
• river transport
• xvi–xvii centuries
• middle don
• voronezh region
• chance find