Make like Indiana Jones: go on an archeological dig in Ukraine (04/13/97)

Make like Indiana Jones: go on an archeological dig in Ukraine

by Marta Dyczok
Special to The Ukrainian Weekly

TORONTO - When thinking visually about Ukraine, the images that most readily spring to mind are the golden domes of Kyiv, the Carpathian Mountains and definitely the picturesque villages immortalized in folk songs, described by countless poets and prose writers, and depicted by some of the world's most famous painters. But there is another route to capture the imagination, to make contact with the past that few know about. These are the country's historical castles.

Kamianets-Podilskyi, located in the Khmelnytskyi Oblast just north of the Moldavian and Romanian borders, is a great place to start. The city's 12th century castle is about an hour's drive from Chernivtsi in western Ukraine. Standing atop a natural stone outcrop, surrounded on all sides by a steep canyon gorge, the castle's ruins are reminiscent of similar sites in Wales or Scotland.

Modern tourism has not yet spoiled the area; in fact, there are few signs of modernity. Crossing the castle's ancient moat, you can almost feel yourself passing into a different time.

Adrian Mandzy, a graduate student enrolled at Toronto's York University, is helping the past come alive at Kamianets-Podilskyi. For six years he has been organizing archeological expeditions to the ancient fortifications, and preparations are currently under way for the dig of 1997.

During a research trip in 1989, Mr. Mandzy was overwhelmed by the historical monuments he saw in Kamianets-Podilskyi. He made contact with local architects and preservationists and, in the fall of 1990, this group founded the small non-profit Kamianets-Podilskyi Foundation (KPF), an organization devoted to the study and preservation of the Old City's cultural heritage, whose additional purpose is to allow scholars from the U.S., Canada and Europe to participate in this effort.

In cooperation with local municipal authorities, as well as the Lviv Institute of Social Sciences, every year Mr. Mandzy leads a group of 12 students in digging up hidden artifacts, discovering parts of long-lost buildings, making maps and processing the finds. A 16th century tower in the center of the Old City serves as the base camp for the project, and participants are housed either within the structure or in tents on the property.

The site itself is significant for a number of reasons, and experts in the field agree that it is one of the most important late Medieval and Renaissance citadels in Eastern Europe. Kamianets-Podilskyi was one of the largest urban centers in early modern Ukraine (1500-1672) and was the capital of the Podillia region.

The area was initially settled by ethnic Ukrainians in the sixth century, followed soon after by Armenians, and the city first appeared in the written historical record in an 11th century Armenian chronicle as belonging to the Halych principality.

By the 14th century Poles and Jews had established vibrant communities there. Available evidence suggests the four groups lived harmoniously, observing the Magdeburg Law on municipal self-government, which allowed each ethnic community to maintain its own legal authority and religious traditions.

Until the late 16th century Kamianets-Podilskyi prospered economically, as it was located at the crossroads of overland (east-west) and water (north-south) trade routes. Although it was destroyed in 1240 by the Mongols, after the large stone citadel was built in the 15th and 16th centuries, it withstood numerous sieges. Captured from the Polish Commonwealth in 1672 by the Turks, with the help of Kozak Hetman Petro Doroshenko, it became the gateway to the Ottoman Empire.

However, this marked the beginning of the city's decline. The Russian empire assumed control in 1793, and in 1812, under Russian viceregency, the citadel, which had been strengthened by the Turks, was dismantled. In 1919, the city briefly served as the interim capital of the Ukrainian National Republic, and today is a small urban center with a population of about 100,000 and a struggling auto-parts and agricultural machinery industry.

Mr. Mandzy told The Weekly how his focus shifted from his native continent, North America (he was born in Rochester, N.Y.), to Ukraine and in particular to the city whose dirt he has scraped every summer since 1989.

"I was always interested in archeology," Mr. Mandzy said. "In my undergraduate years I had studied in Greece for a term and worked in the Middle East on two separate sites. But my focus was on 17th century North America - both Native American interaction and European colonization."

"After I went to Michigan State University to pursue these studies, I was invited to go on a dig in Ukraine in 1989," the archeologist said, "a prehistoric site about 100 kilometers (60 miles) outside Kamianets-Podilskyi."

Also involved in the KPF are Volodymyr Chornovus, Lviv Institute of Social Sciences; Jack Lee, St. John Fisher College; Lorraine Saunders, SUNY-Brockport; and Orest Subtelny of York University in Toronto.

There are still a few spaces available for those interested in participating in the Kamianets-Podilskyi archeological dig of 1997. Applicants must be 18 years or older. Fluency in Ukrainian is not required, nor is previous archeological experience.

However, applicants must be in good health and able to do physical labor in a hot, sunny climate. According to the KPF's information brochure, "A sense of humor and a spirit of adventure [are] a must." University credits are available for the eight-week expedition, running from June 22 to August 10.

The KPF's website, http://www.frontiernet.net/~amandzy, contains extensive background information about the city's history, attractions and the KPF's excavation sites. It is generously illustrated with photographs and diagrams.

For further information contact Adrian Mandzy, Kamianets-Podilskyi Foundation, 2033 Westfall Road, Rochester, NY 14618; telephone, (716) 442-1597; e-mail, amandzy@aol.com

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