The archaeological season of 2026 has officially begun on the territory of the National Reserve "Ancient Halych". On the very first day of excavations, researchers unearthed a unique artifact – a bone gaming chip, which is associated with Medieval Britain and indicates close ties between the Carpathian city and the Latin world. This was reported reported by the reserve and the Center for Medieval Studies.
Greetings from medieval Winchester and the life of citizens
The archaeological season started with luck. At a depth of about 60 centimeters, the scientific secretary of the reserve, Candidate of Historical Sciences Andriy Stasiuk, discovered a rare item – a bone chip for a game, likely backgammon.
"Similar artifacts are known from findings in Winchester (Hampshire, Kingdom of England) and date back to the 11th-13th centuries," scientists note.
This small object lifts the veil on the daily life of the inhabitants of the ancient capital. Now, researchers have expanded the excavation to the perimeter of an ancient utility building. The find proves that not only dishes or supplies were stored and meals were eaten here, but also leisure time was spent by those for whom this temple was originally built.
Where excavations continue and what secret the temple hides
Large-scale research has been ongoing since June 25 near the Annunciation Church in the village of Krylos. Specialists from the Center for Medieval Studies and the reserve, together with students from the Faculty of History, Political Science, and International Relations of Vasyl Stefanyk Precarpathian National University, are conducting excavations as part of archaeological practice. The process is supervised by Oleg Melnychuk, a researcher at the Department of Cultural Heritage Protection.
The church is one of the most interesting monuments of princely Galicia, which has attracted the attention of researchers since the second half of the 19th century. Its main intrigue is the architectural style, characteristic of the so-called Latin world (Western Europe). Because of this, historians suggest that the temple served the needs of foreigners who did not belong to the Galician diocese of the Kyiv Metropolis of that time.
The original dedication of the temple remained unknown until the 15th century, but now researchers have put forward a bold hypothesis: the church might have been built as a monument to a grand victory near the city walls, which occurred on the Annunciation – March 25, 1221.
At that time, the troops of Prince Mstyslav Mstyslavych Udaly crushed the Hungarian-Polish-Galician forces of Prince Coloman (son of Hungarian King Andrew II), who called himself the "King of Galicia". As a result of that battle, the Hungarian prince, along with his 10-year-old Polish fiancée Salomea, was taken prisoner, and Prince Mstyslav established himself on the Galician throne.
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We remind you that the National Reserve "Ancient Halych" is a complex of historical and cultural monuments of ancient Halych and the Halych-Volyn principality of the 11th-13th centuries, most of which are located within the modern village of Krylos and the city of Halych, Halych district, Ivano-Frankivsk region. The area of the reserve is almost 80 km².
