Shadows of a Forgotten World

I read an interesting article in Ukrainian, in which the author uncovers the original purposes of the layout of an old Kozak village and the design of the houses. Below is my translation of most of it. The link to the original article and a few more photos can be found here . Among the modern mining settlements in the far eastern Ukrainian region of Luhansk, the author of the article found an ancient village called Naholno-Tarasivka. Its official founding date is 1775. “…in place of fences the old streets of the village have solid stone walls, interrupted only by the houses. Houses here were built on the outer part of the plot with façades directly overlooking the street. As such, fences and buildings created a continuous stone wall along the street. “To understand the reason for this and other arrangements, which will be discussed further, let us return to a time when the Ukrainian steppe was an undeveloped Dyke Pole (Wild Fields), on which only a small number of ...

"When your government goes medieval on you, it's time to get medieval back." This post is about the medieval tactics, armour, and weaponry that were used during Ukraine's recent revolution. For nearly 3 months Kyiv's Independence Square (Maidan) was the revolution's main battlefield, where the antigovernment protesters fought back the elite police squad and internal ministry troops. Dozens of articles were written about the the medieval aspects of the protests, and especially about the catapult. Below is a compilation of photos and excerpts from the articles. "The towering fleece hats and elaborate beards of Ukraine's 16th-century Cossacks are favored by many of the demonstrators on Kiev's main square, who have camped out in anti-government protests for nearly two months. When events turned violent this week, demonstrators' weapons also had an antique aura and clashes resembled a Medieval assault. Protesters have armed themselves ...