FLINT ARTIFACTS AS A SOURCE OF INFORMATION ABOUT THE MEDIEVAL CITY LIFE (ON THE EXAMPLE OF THE ASSEMBLAGE FROM THE PYATNITSKY-I EXCAVATION SITE IN STARAYA RUSSA)
The article is devoted to the analysis of the information potential of flint finds in the cultural layers of the medieval city. For a long time, medieval archaeologists showed indifference to artefacts from earlier times, considering them as a mechanical admixture in the medieval layer. Fragments and pieces of stone were not studied at all, even if they could not naturally get into the cultural layer. But in recent years medieval archaeologists have begun to treat flint as a special category of finds, this allowed them to reveal their potential as a source of information about some aspects of the life of medieval residents of the city. This work is devoted to the analysis of some of the flint finds from the excavations of the medieval Staraya Russa. In the Pyatnitsky I excavation of Staraya Russa, an impressive series of flint finds were found - 96 objects, 55 from medieval layers and 41 from early metal formations. This sample allowed us to make a number of conclusions proposed to the reader.