Ekimautsy

(also Ekimoutsy), the site of an ancient fortified settlement belonging to the Tivertsy tribe, located near the village of the same name (Rezina Raion, Moldavian SSR) and dating from the end of the ninth century to the first half of the 11th century. In the first half of the 11th century, the settlement was burned down by nomads. G. B. Fedorov’s excavations in 1950–52 and 1964 revealed a picture of the settlement’s defense: skeletons of those fallen in battle, various ancient Russian and nomad weapons, and charred ruins. The site of the settlement was surrounded by a ditch and an earthen bank. Houses and workshops were situated at the inside slope of the bank; a reservoir was located in the center. The principal occupations of the population were handicrafts and farming. A blacksmith’s and a jeweler’s workshops have been discovered, along with sets of tools and finished articles. Objects made in Byzantium and Middle Asia have been found. Around the settlement was a quarter whose residents, in addition to farming, engaged in the smelting and working of iron.