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ARCHAEOLOGY OF KIEV 341seems, however, that in the eleventh century this settlement did not exist onthe same scale as before; in fact, to some extent the area was abandoned atthe end of the tenth century (Tolocko 1983, pp. 48-50; 1985, p. 10). Asyet, we do not know if this was a gradual process or a sudden reduction. Ineither case, the entire character of an early urban complex having a numberof distinct and equal centers is lost. To judge from the number of graves,the population of this part of Kiev had been considerable. Settlement in thenorthern part of the Kiev Hills did continue until the Mongol invasion, but itseems to have been only farms and suburban hamlets on the hills rather thanpart of the urban complex. By the end of the tenth century, this district haddefinitely become secondary to the administrative and economic center onthe Starokyjivs'ka Hill.Settlement on the Kyselivka continued to be dense. Remarkable are theindications of craft production on the hill, dating from the late tenth oreleventh century. Two major collections of bone and antler artifacts andtheir waste products were found in excavations during the 1910s and 1920s(Karger 1959, p. 47); subsequent excavations have completed the picture(Sovkopljas 1954). Among the items found were combs with tenth-centuryfeatures (ibid., plate 11:10, 12). Some of the items may date from the earlyeleventh century, as already pointed out, which would indicate a certaincontinuity in production. In the northwestern part of the hill, excavations inthe 1930s uncovered traces of bronze casting, probably from a jeweler'sworkshop, which can also be dated to the late tenth and eleventh centuries(Kilijevyc and Orlov 1985). Various molds for bronze casting, includingthe production of buttons, have been found on the Kyselivka (Tolocko1970, p. 145; Kilijevyc and Orlov 1985, p. 66). It is most uncertain if thisevidence of craft production indicates the existence of a specialized craftproducingdistrict, or whether the production was directly connected with aprincely residence or a prominent family's household. The continueddevelopment of the princely center on the Starokyjivs'ka Hill in the latetenth and eleventh century, and the lack of evidence for a similar developmenton the Kyselivka, indicates that the latter declined in political importance.In the late tenth and early eleventh centuries the settlement on theStarokyjivs'ka clearly emerged as the political center of Kiev. Monumentalstone architecture became more impressive, and the number of buildingsincreased markedly. During the last decades of paganism, a new or additionalpagan shrine was constructed outside the old fortifications. Thisplace of worship was situated in a free zone between the barrow cemeteries.Archaeological excavations have uncovered the foundations of this shrineand of an ashpit similar to the one near the kapysce (cf. above, Tolocko and