HARVARD UKRAINIAN STUDIES - See also - Harvard University

ARCHAEOLOGY OF KIEV 335Some time in the middle of the tenth century, stone architecture makesits first appearance on the hill. This is undoubtedly a consequence of intensivecultural and other contacts with the Greeks in Crimea and in the centralparts of the empire. Byzantine court life and the way of life of its elite hadbecome a mental template in Kiev for some time, but it was only now that itinfluenced building construction. Two buildings probably belong to thisearliest phase of stone architecture on the hill. They may date to the middleof the tenth century or even a little earlier. A little to the south of thecenter, inside the rampart and the moat, remains of an early stone constructionhave been found (Borovs'kyj 1981, pp. 175-181; Xarlamov 1985, pp.106-110) (fig. 6). Their fragmentary character makes complete reconstructioninfeasible, but some general features can be noted. The building wasconstructed from materials transported a considerable distance, includingheavy granite stones, sandstone, and rosy slate from the Ovrac quarries.Brick fragments further confirm the high standard of the building techniques.The building was richly embellished with frescoes and decorationsof marble from Prokonnesos. The floor was covered with polychrome tiles.The excavators probably rightly interpreted the amounts of charcoal fromlarge timber in the upper debris layer as evidence of a collapsed woodenupper floor.The shape of the building is indicated only by a slightly curved, shortsegment of the wall. This could suggest a circular layout (Xarlamov 1985,pp. 106-107). The outer diameter of the building was probably about 17m.Yet other reconstructions are possible: what was found may be a curvedsection of a more complicated building. There are foundations of large buttresseswhich might have been in harmony with a circular construction.Several are very similar to the sacrificial place found nearby, discussedabove. Could the findings at that site actually be architectural fragments?The other palace building was situated about 13m north of the northerncorner of the Tithes Church. It stood only a few meters outside the moat ofthe late ninth- and tenth-century fortifications and originally just above thesteep slope. This building had a distinctly rectangular shape: it was 21m inlength and about 10m in width (Xvojka 1913, pp. 66-69; Karger 1961, p.67; Tolocko 1970, pp. 56-57). The structure was divided into one largeand two smaller rooms. The building material was stone and brick, withdecorations of marble and slate. Frescoes ornamented the walls, and thereis evidence of mosaics. In this case, too, there was probably a woodenupper floor.These two stone buildings are probably among the earliest in Kiev.However, Xvojka has found seven instances of early stone architecture atvarious sites on the central part of the hill (Xvojka 1913, pp. 63-74). New