Unfortified settlements around medieval Novgorod

The paper provides an overview of archaeological excavations within compounds of Novgorod monasteries that identified traces of rural settlements preceding emergence of the monasteries. Taking excavations in the St. George's (Yuriev) monastery, the St. Andrew monastery on the Sitka (known also as the Sitesky monastery) and other monasteries as an example, the paper characterizes the occupation layers of such settlements. The article also raises an issue concerning a need to make changes in their topography and layout as these settlements turned into monasteries, with a church built in the center of the settlement and a cemetery emerging afterwards.