The podgorodnaya Sloboda-2 settlement and certain questions concerning the study of the early iron age in the forest zone of the Dnieper region

In this article materials concerning the in-fill of the defensive ditch at the Podgorodnaya Sloboda-2 settlement (Suzemka District, Bryansk Region) are published. The assemblage consists of fragments of vessels, most of which were made of clay containing crushed stone. The rims of the pots curved outwards. Their decoration consisted of imprints of potter's fingers or small sticks. Pieces of two bowls were also found. In the infill of the ditch a casting ladle, an iron knife and an arrowhead (or small perforator) were discovered. In the middle reaches of the Desna River there are parallels for the materials from the Podgorodnaya Sloboda-2 settlement to be found among antiquities from the upper level of the Poluzhye fortified settlement, its chronology ranging approximately from the 2 nd century BC to the 1 st century AD. Some controversial questions are examined concerning the study of Early Iron Age sites in the upper reaches of the Dnieper, the Desna valley and the upper reaches of the Oka. Sites of the same type as the upper level at Poluzhye, the middle level at Tushemlya and several settlements of the Upa-2 type are regarded as interrelated on the basis of their hand-made pottery. Antiquities of the type found in the upper level at Poluzhye and the Tushemlya middle level appeared during the classical Zarubintsy period. The Zarubintsy population played a part in the formation of all three cultural groups.