Archaeological investigations of subsistence and household life of Ukrainian population of Luhansk region in XVII–XVIII centuries

This article examines in a complex way the peculiarities of organization of everyday and household life of the Ukrainian population of the Luhansk region in the XVII–XVIII centuries. The basis for the study of those or other aspects of this topic were materials of archaeological expeditions that were carried out in Luhansk region in the second half of the twentieth – early twenty-first century. It is noted that this topic is poorly covered in the works of Ukrainian academics. Among the few studies in this area, the works of N. N. Kaplun, O. V. Stadnik and A. I. Stadnik were the most valuable for the research. Also in the preparation of the article the author relied on the expert estimates of scientific collaborators of the Institute of Archaeology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine S. A. Telizhenko, L. Chmiel, L. Mironenko. The aim of the article is to outline the way of life and economic life of the Ukrainian population during the active development of the Luhansk region – that is in the XVII–XVIII centuries. As a result of the conducted research, the authors reached the following conclusions. The presence of diverse archaeological artifacts: ceramic works, artisanal metallurgical furnaces, stone tombstones, the lower boundary of the dating of which falls on the XVII–XVIII centuries, In our view, indicates the existence of sufficiently developed material culture associated with the way of life and household utilities of Ukrainian settlers of the Cossack era in the Luhansk region. Today's assumption that the dynamic development of this region began only at the beginning of active development of the territory at the beginning of the XVIII century – the beginning of the XIX century. Russian Empire, it can be argued that even before its beginning, a significant part of the „Wild Field” did not yield in its development to other regions, both Ukraine and Russia, distant from the restless relations with the Nogai horde.