Mezhyrich

Not to be confused with Mezhirichi or Międzyrzec Podlaski.

Mezhyrich Межиріч
—  Village  —
Country	Ukraine
Oblast	Cherkasy Oblast
Population
• Total	904
Website	Ukrainian Parliament website

Mezhyrich (Ukrainian: Межиріч, also referred to as Mezhirich) is a village (selo) in central Ukraine. It is located in the Kaniv Raion (district) of the Cherkasy Oblast (province), approximately 22 km from the region's administrative center, Kaniv, near the point where the Rosava River flows into the Ros'.

Pre-historic finds

In 1965, a farmer dug up the lower jawbone of a mammoth while in the process of expanding his cellar. Further excavations revealed the presence of 4 huts, made up of a total of 149 mammoth bones. These dwellings, dating back some 15,000 years, were determined to have been some of the oldest shelters known to have been constructed by pre-historic man, usually attributed to Cro-Magnon. 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 ocher dots and lines
• amber ornaments and fossil shells

References

Bibliography

• Bibikov, S. N. (Sergei Nikolaevich) (1981). Drevneishii Muzykalnyi Kompleks iz Kostei Mamonta: Ocherk Materialnoi i Dukhovnoi Kultury Paleoliticheskogo Cheloveka (The Oldest Musical Complex Made of Mammoth Bones). Akademiia Nauk Ukrainskoi SSR, Institut Arkheologii. Kiev, Ukraine: Naukova Dumka. 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. ISBN 0-86054-949-6.
• Pidoplichko, I. H. (1978) The Mezhirich mammoth-bone houses, U.S. Geological Survey. ISBN B0006WZGIS.
• (Ukrainian) (1972). Icтopiя мicт i ciл Укpaїнcькoї CCP - Черкаськa область (History of Towns and Villages of the Ukrainian SSR - Cherkasy Oblast), Kiev.

On-line citations

• Ancient Inventions of Ukraine by Andrew Gregorovich
• Mezhirich at Emuseum @ Minnesota State University, Mankato
• Mezhirich - Mammoth Camp at Don's Maps: Resources for the study of Archaeology

See also

• Prehistoric Europe