Peftits D. Ornamentation of pottery of the population of forest-steppe Ukraine of the border of Bronze and Early Iron Age.

The purpose of the dissertation is to give a description of the pottery ornament of the Forest-steppe settlements in the Bilohrudivka-Chornolis period. It was developed a general typology of ornament, which would be the basis for the analysis of materials, comparative study in order to solve finally the problem of the definition of the origins of certain ornamentation types. The classification is based on the method of structural analysis, which made it possible to consider the whole set of ornamentation on four levels. The result of migration processes in the Forest-steppe region of Ukraine is the formation of local groups, among which we can define the monuments of the Middle Dnieper (central) region, Middle Dniester (western) region, the northern area and the left bank group. The richest ceramics ornaments are in the western and central groups, meanwhile the decor of other regions is more simple. Peculiarities in the distribution of the ornament indicate a tendency to reduction of the influence of Hallstattization from west to east. Our study confirms the need to identify the Zhabotyn stage as a separate cultural and chronological phenomenon associated with the intensification of Hallstattization. Such changes are associated with the influence of Basarabi and the continued contact with the Late Sakharna culture. This process was most fully manifested in the development of geometric ornamentation, in particular, in such a phenomenon as the "ornamental explosion", in which the Bilohrudivka-Chornolis tradition played a substratum role.