The Dobranychivs’ka Stoianka Museum
Yagotyns’kyi district of Kyiv Oblast’ is remarkable for its small in size, but great of significance, village Dobranychivka. In the mid 20th century, while building a road through the village, workers found skulls, tusks, bones of incredible size, which has attracted archaeologists. Domestic complexes, representing rounded dwellings with socle made of bones of ancient animals including mammoths, were found during excavations. Also, the archaeologists discovered hole-stores, bonfire sites, the places of implement’s processing, and work tools themselves. Taking into account the location of finds and the ancient dwellings, a circle comes into sight, where they were situated with an unoccupied territory in the centre. It was a unique find, a real treasure for archaeologists. Thus, in 1977 the Dobranychivs’ka Stoianka Museum was opened at this place. The experts all over the world know this heritage sight. Actually, it is the only place in Ukraine, which can tell us about those times.
Very long ago, during Palaeolithic epoch, our ancestors hunted reindeers, wolfs, bears and mammoths. The last mentioned were of a great value due to their sizes, since hunting provided people with food and clothes. They lived as tribal people and hunted in groups. The mammoths were of great dimensions and when they were trapped into an adroitly prepared pit, a tribe attacked them with spears, axes and other tools, made of silicon and smoky topaz. Tusks and bones of mammoths served as a perfect material for work tools; horns of reindeers were used to make hummer tools etc. This all happened about 12 thousand years ago, and that was a period to origin the first preconditions of art. Stylized women’s statuettes were made of amber. Though the mammoth hunting was in groups, people began to form families; each of them had its own household-domestic life.
In the centre of the museum, there is a dwelling of primitive men with its hole-stores, household centre and bonfire-site, where our ancestors carefully kept fire. These items are located disorderly, since much time passed. Also in the museum you can see canvases of a painter Mykola Malynka, which as panoramas reproduce those times. There are 250 exhibits in the museum, including stone, bone and amber finds. Do not miss a chance to visit this small town and the prehistoric habitation of our ancestors – Dobranychivs’ka Stoianka.
