Intensive agricultural development of the forest zone of the East European Plain started in the second part of the first millennium AD. Although the majority of the mediaeval population were peasants, archaeological study of ancient rural settlements is much less developed than that of ancient towns. The analysis of interrelationships between environmental conditions and the agricultural pattern across space, including the corresponding pattern of rural settlements, helps us to delimit the spatial frame in which it is possible to find rural settlements of different historical epochs, even if they have since disappeared. Five areas with different historical types of agricultural landscapes were revealed, based on their geological and climatic characteristics. Another analysis essential for archaeology deals with the age of contemporary agricultural landscapes and rural settlements along with the factors and laws that control their changes through time and space.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.