Sivachi the fortified settlement in the Shilka system of medieval hillforts

Sivachi hillfort was found in the Sretensk district of Transbaikal in 2013. It is the mountain fortified settlement situated in the marginal of high terrace (about 60 m). Fortification include the П-shaped ditch, which secured the space with living and household buildings on three sides. The cliff naturally secures the southern side. Preservation of the site is fine, but the north area destroyed by tillage. 23 fleet pits of half dugouts present in the hillfort. Pits are subsquare-oval and subrectangular-oval-plan form. They are organized the four rows, pointed along WE axis. We excavated the house pit No. 1 in 2014. There were the construction of half dugout-type. The size of construction and found artifacts indicate that building accomplished the household function. We found ceramics, associated with Mohe archaeological culture. The type of hillfort, building in the deep construction pit, analogies with other regional archaeological sites suppose that hillfort Sivachi related to the Shilka system of medieval hillfors. In the same way as for other mountain hillforts in the Shilka River, Sivachi the fortified settlement is perched. Sivachi is the smallest in area and numbers of house pits (only 23) among the other sites, while the other studied objects contained from 41 to 100 such pits. At this moment the Sivachi hillfort is the first hillfort of Shilka system, situated on the way of migrated groups of Mohe archaeological culture, which followed the Shilka River upward from its confluence with the Amur River.