CHRONICLE CITY OF KHOTEN

The article discusses issues related to the localization of the chronicle city of Khoten and the eponymous volost of the Putivl district in the second half of the 13th – 16th centuries. To resolve this issue, a number of written and archaeological sources are used to determine the approximate boundaries of the Khoten volost. For the first time the name of the city of Khoten is found in the chronicles in the XIV century. This settlement is mentioned among the cities located on the Sula River. Later, Khoten was mentioned in the documents of the Crimean Khanate and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Unfortunately, these documents do not give an exact answer where exactly Khoten was located. Since the end of the 19th century, historians have localized the chronicle city of Khoten on the territory of the village of the same name in the Sumy region. However, archaeological prospecting did not reveal the remains of an ancient settlement there. In the documents of the 16th century, there is a clarification of the location of the Khoten volost, which was located between the rivers Psel and Khorol. Analysis of the fortified hilforts of this region, outlined by the boundaries of the volost, makes it possible to identify some that meet the criteria of the ancient Russian annalistic city. This is a hillforts in the village of Knyshovka and the town of Gadyach, Poltava region. They have an area of about 1.5 hectares. Knyshovka hillfort has a dating corresponding to the chronicle data and confirmed by archaeological research. The hillfort in the city of Gadyach was built before 1626, but it has no dating according to the data of archaeological research. An analysis of the location and features of these two hillforts suggests that the remains of the ancient Russian chronicle city of Khoten may be a hillfort in the city of Gadyach.