Gorodishche

a city (since 1956); center of Gorodishche Raion, Cherkassy Oblast, Ukrainian SSR; on the Ol’shanka River, a tributary of the Dnieper. Railroad station on the Fastov-Smela line. Population, 16,000 (1970). There is a sugar refinery, a creamery, and a brewery; building materials are also produced. There is a sovkhoz-technicum. The S. S. Gulak-Artemovskii Museum is located in Gorodishche.

a city; center of Gorodishche Raion, Penza Oblast, RSFSR; on the Iulovka River, a tributary of the Sura. Located on the Moscow-Kuibyshev highway 21 km northwest of the Chaadaevka railroad station on the Penza-Syzran’ line. Industries include food, forestry, wood products, and bricks. There is a teachers’ college. Gorodishche was founded in the second half of the 16th century and has been a city since 1780.

an urban-type settlement in Dubovka Raion, Volgograd Oblast, RSFSR. Its railroad station (Raz-guliaevka) is 15 km north of Volgograd. Gorodishche has a clothing factory, a poultry-processing plant, and poultry and dairy sovkhozes.

an urban-type settlement in Pereval’sk Raion, Voroshilovgrad Oblast, Ukrainian SSR, 6 km from the Fashchevka railroad station (on the Debal’tsevo-Likhaia line). It is the site of a poultry-processing plant. Coal is mined near Gorodishche.

the remains of an ancient fortified settlement or town. The word gorodishche was first used in Russian chronicles in the beginning of the 12th century. A gorodishche is generally a small triangular, circular, or rectangular area, frequently protected by natural fortifications (streams, ravines) and always by ditches and earthen banks (or walls).

The origin of ancient fortified settlements is linked with the epoch of patriarchy and with the transition of the population to an agricultural and stock-raising economy. Fortifications were built to protect the tribe’s property—cattle and grain— from enemy raids. In the USSR and other countries tens of thousands of gorodishcha are known, many of which have been investigated. In the USSR the oldest gorodishcha date back to the Aeneolithic (the Mikhailovka settlement and others) and the most recent, to the 17th century.

Frequently, a gorodishche of one epoch was later used by other peoples coming to that area. Some gorodishcha attain an area of sizable proportions—for example, the Scythian Kamenka Gorodishche (12 sq km). The area of the goro-dishcheoften has a cultural layer; during excavations, remains of dwellings, workshops, various objects, and the like are unearthed. Exceptions to this are the gorodishche- refuges where the population hid in times of enemy raids. Among medieval gorodishcha are the remains of a series of town citadels, fortified farmsteads, and castles, as well as some structures included in a system of sentry fortifications.