The court has returned to the state the land containing the ‘Two-tiered settlement’ archaeological site in the Khmelnytskyi region
The Commercial Court of Khmelnytskyi Region has ruled that part of a plot of land containing the archaeological site known as the ‘Two-layered Settlement’ in the Dunayevets community should be returned to state ownership.
As established by the Kamianets-Podilskyi District Prosecutor’s Office, in 2018 the Main Directorate of the State Geocadastre in Khmelnytskyi Oblast transferred a plot of over 11 hectares from state to municipal ownership of the Dunayevetska City Council as agricultural land.
The archaeological site ‘Two-layered settlement’ is located within this territory. The site consists of the remains of fortifications and a residential complex dating from the Scythian period of the 7th–5th centuries BCE. These have been preserved in the form of earthen ramparts and ditches in the ‘Valy’ tract between the Ushytsia and Bila rivers.
A cultural layer containing materials from various historical periods, including the Early Iron Age, the Old Russian period and modern times, has been identified within the site.
The prosecutor’s office noted that the land on which the archaeological sites are located is classified as land of historical and cultural significance, is subject to restricted transferability, and cannot be transferred to municipal or private ownership.
In view of the unlawful change in the designated use and form of ownership of the land plot, the prosecutors brought the matter before the court.
The court upheld the prosecutor’s office’s position and ruled that a portion of the land plot, covering an area of over 4 hectares, should be reclaimed into state ownership.
