Mezhyrich (, also referred to as Mezhirich) is a

village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...

(''selo'') in central

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

. It is located in

Cherkasy Raion Cherkasy Raion () is a Raions of Ukraine, raion (district) of Cherkasy Oblast. It is located in the central part of Cherkasy oblast, and the center of the raion is the city of Cherkasy. The population is On 18 July 2020, as part of the administr ...

(

district A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municip ...

) of

Cherkasy Oblast Cherkasy Oblast (, ), also referred to as Cherkashchyna (, ) is an administrative divisions of Ukraine, oblast (province) in central Ukraine located along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. The Capital city, administrative center of the oblast is the cit ...

(

province A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

), near the point where the Rosava River flows into the Ros'. Mezhyrich belongs to Kaniv urban hromada, one of the

hromada In Ukraine, a hromada () is the main type of municipality and the third level Administrative divisions of Ukraine, local self-government in Ukraine. The current hromadas were established by the Cabinet of ministers of Ukraine, Government of Uk ...

s of Ukraine. Until 18 July 2020 Mezhyrich belonged to

Kaniv Raion Kaniv Raion () was a raion (district) of Cherkasy Oblast, central Ukraine. Its administrative centre was located at the town of Kaniv which was incorporated separately as a city of oblast significance and did not belong to the raion. The raion ...

. The raion was abolished as part of the administrative reform of Ukraine, which reduced the number of raions of Cherkasy Oblast to four. The area of Kaniv Raion was merged into Cherkasy Raion. Mezhyrich hosted the administration of Mezhyrich rural hromada, which was abolished and merged into Kaniv urban hromada.

Prehistoric finds

In 1965, a farmer dug up the lower jawbone of a

mammoth A mammoth is any species of the extinct elephantid genus ''Mammuthus.'' They lived from the late Miocene epoch (from around 6.2 million years ago) into the Holocene until about 4,000 years ago, with mammoth species at various times inhabi ...

while in the process of expanding his cellar. Further excavations revealed the presence of 4

huts A hut is a small dwelling, which may be constructed of various local materials. Huts are a type of vernacular architecture because they are built of readily available materials such as wood, snow, stone, grass, palm leaves, branches, clay, hid ...

, made up of a total of 149 mammoth bones. These dwellings, dating back some 15,000 years, were determined to have been shelters known to have been constructed by pre-historic man, usually attributed to

Cro-Magnon Cro-Magnons or European early modern humans (EEMH) were the first early modern humans (''Homo sapiens'') to settle in Europe, migrating from western Asia, continuously occupying the continent possibly from as early as 56,800 years ago. They in ...

. Also found on the site: * a map inscribed onto a bone, presumably showing the area around the settlement * remains of a "drum", made of a mammoth skull painted with a pattern of red

ochre Ochre ( ; , ), iron ochre, or ocher in American English, is a natural clay earth pigment, a mixture of ferric oxide and varying amounts of clay and sand. It ranges in colour from yellow to deep orange or brown. It is also the name of the colou ...

dots and lines * amber ornaments and fossil shells

. In Russian. Contains summary in English and French; table of contents also in English and French. * Pidoplichko, I. H. (1998) ''Upper Palaeolithic dwellings of mammoth bones in the Ukraine: Kiev-Kirillovskii, Gontsy, Dobranichevka, Mezin and Mezhirich'', Oxford: J. and E. Hedges. . * Pidoplichko, I. H. (1978) '' The Mezhirich mammoth-bone houses'', U.S. Geological Survey. ISBN B0006WZGIS. * (1972). ''Історія міст і сіл Української CCP - Черкаська область (History of Towns and Villages of the Ukrainian SSR - Cherkasy Oblast)'', Kiev. ;On-line citations
Ancient Inventions of Ukraine by Andrew Gregorovich

a

References

{{Authority control Archaeological sites in Ukraine Villages in Cherkasy Raion

Prehistoric finds

See also

Bibliography

References