New data on archaeology of the Sobornaya hill in Smolensk

The paper presents all data on the hand-made pottery finds on the slopes of theSobornaya (Cathedral) Hill in Smolensk. It also provides new data from the excavationsconducted in 2014 and 2015. It has been established that an occupation layer of a settlementattributed to the Smolensk Long Kurgans (barrows) culture as well as traces of tillingcorresponding to the period of the settlement occupation were preserved on a ledge ofthe north-eastern slope of the hill at the 200-210 m elevation. The age of the settlementcan be determined only within the general chronology of the culture, that is, the second half of the 8th - first half of the 10th centuries. The most exciting finds include handmade ceramics, glass blue beads and navy blue seed beads. The settlement discoveredon the Sobornaya Hill is a strong argument in support of the hypothesis that Smolensk ofthe 9th century mentioned in the chronicles was located in the center of the contemporarycity rather than in Gnezdovo