The history of one family sometimes conceals much more tragic biographies than is required by writers to write a multi-volume exciting saga or adventure novel. It is such a wonderful, tragic and majestic at the same time there is a biography of the researcher of Zhytomyr region Serhii Hamchenko, about whom we know so little

Unfortunately, the average Zhytomyr citizen name is not spoken by Hamchenko. However, archaeologists and historians, especially those who study Trypillian culture or the past of Zhytomyr region, are well aware of the scientific achievements of the outstanding scientist Serhii Hamchenko.
It is thanks to his work that we know about the life of our Drevlian ancestors, and the secrets of the burial ground located in and around Zhytomyr itself. How our ancestors lived, how they cooked, what decorations were worn, how the dead were buried – all in the finds, described by Hamchenko, who devoted his entire life to historical research. A slim man with fallen cheeks and sad eyes in a military cap and an old overcoat looks out of a photo. So he remained in the memory of many followers. Elena Lahodovska, one of the students of Hamchenko, remembers her teacher: “I remember well the tall, thin figure of a gray-haired old man in a simple suit, with a steel stick on a special order in his hands, which was both a probe and a unit of measure, because it was marked with centimeters and divided. ”
In a sense, the life path of the future scientist was quite predictable, but the fascination with history and the stormy events of the twentieth century brought fateful adjustments. Homeland of the Hamchenkos on the men’s line consisted of personnel soldiers. Hrihorii Hamchenko, the grandfather of a future scientist, began his service in the Black Sea Fleet, ran from the Jung to the ensign, and for the revealed conscience he received the noble title. Father, Spyrydon Hrygorovych, as an ancestral nobleman, also became a military: his track record included a way from ordinary to major. And more – participation in many military battles and awards for devotion and stability. Therefore, it is not surprising that the six sons who were born in the family of the resigned Major General Spyrydon Hamchenko and the daughter of the lieutenant Oleksandra Pukhtaievich, predicted an officer’s career. But the future choice was dictated by quite pragmatic circumstances: the real estate family was not small and rich was not.
Serhii Hamchenko wrote in his autobiography that he was born “in the Ukrainian poor, numerous family in Volhynia”. More precisely, in the village of Ratny, Kovel district, Volyn province. Later, in the biography of Serhii Hamchenko, researchers will find a lot of discrepancies, and as for the date of birth and death of the historian (oh, the irony of fate), there are still discussions. And this is not because there is no documentary evidence of the facts or the author of the biography is confused. Simply, the historian himself will have too little to mention his family for reasons of personal security.
Like other Hamchenkos, Serhii at the age of twelve entered Volodymyrsk Kiev military gymnasium, where he was in fourth place in terms of success. It is not surprising now that he had the best grades from history and geography, and the knowledge gained from the great teachers, the future researcher developed and improved throughout his life: the drawings of Hamchenko, which capture archaeological monuments in his scientific works, meet modern requirements, put forward to fix the finds.
But one summer of a boy’s life will forever change the invitation of Professor of Kyiv University Volodymyr Antonovych who will offer the young man during a rest to take part in the excavations of the Drevlyan grave cemetery in Zhytomyr. The matter started by Antonovych, Hamchenko will continue for many years. After the military gymnasium, Sergey ahead of studying at the Third Alexander Military School, which together with him graduated from the future celebrities: M. Yudenich, O. Kuprin, S. Kamenev, M. Tukhachevskyi.
But getting acquainted with those who later become the “enemy of the people” will not affect the biography of Serhii in the best way. In parallel to studying at a college, the young man attended lectures by professor of history Klyuchevsky. Self-education is one of the main features of the personality of Hamchenko: in the four years he read more than three thousand books, the annotations on which he kept in a special notebook. Thanks to perseverance, knowledge and professionalism, in 1886 a young researcher was given the right to independently carry out research on archaeological sites, and his first professional publications received many positive reviews from colleagues. For scientific work “Zhytomyr burial ground. Archaeological researches of the Zhytomyr group of burial mounds ” Hamchenko received a greeting letter from the head of the Imperial Archaeological Commission Count O.O.Bobrynskyi, and the teacher and mentor Volodymyr Antonovych even suggested writing a positive review with a response,” as a work of a completely scientific, largely favorable scientific explanation of our prehistoric antiquity “. At that time, Serhii is still in military service, but continuously continues the research, is actively involved in the excavation, and some even spend their own money.
The ability to work and the thirst for knowledge of the scientist are striking: during the service, Hamchenko gave lessons of language at a craft school for employees of a military factory, and he himself received higher civil education – graduated from the St. Petersburg Archaeological Institute and defended his dissertation. By the way, O.F. In his memoirs, Lahodovska wrote: “Those who knew him closely remembered him only at work.”
About the family of Hamchenko is much less known than his work. His wife was Mariia Bilovodska, a nobleman by birth, the daughter of the provincial secretary, and the children of Roman, Sofia and Nina also inherited the nobility title.
But the First World War came, which broke the lives of whole generations. And though “general by order” Hamchenko served in the gunpowder warehouse in Kazan, and in 1914-1917 he participated in the excavations of the settlement Bulgar, in one of the letters he makes his final choice: “I will probably throw a troubled service, which, firstly interferes, and, secondly, – for a long time, it’s not like it. ” Hamchenko’s fortune to his future destiny relates to archeology forever.
Valid member of the Volyn provincial statistical committee, one of the founders of the Volyn Society of Researchers (1901), a member and chairman of the Bureau of the Volyn section of the scientific workers (1923-1927), the head of the archaeological department of the Volyn Research Museum in Zhytomyr (1919-1923) – is not just a list of titles or positions. This is a connection to the city for a lifetime. And after retiring in 1930, a researcher with his family will return to Zhytomyr. Only Serhii Svyrydovich lives here only two short years in a small house on the street Zhuk, and October 6, 1932 during the famine will leave the world forever. The other brothers of the Hamchenko, as expected, will become military and will receive generals’ ranks in various wars and various governments, but there will be another, albeit a very sad story about the tragedy of one family.
But efficiency, knowledge and research led Serhii Hamchenko to the discovery of many mysteries of Trypillian culture, when under the layers of dozens of centuries he looked at the distant VI-VII centuries, small settlements where the chronicles of the Drevlyan lived in half-timbered houses, peacefully raised the bread, bred animals, and the dead were buried in the mounds, about the location of which ordinary Zhytomyr people now learn through Serhii Hamchenko…
According to the book “Ukrainian biography”
The section “Life of the genuis Hamchenko: problems of the prosopography in the context of the peculiarities of historical time and source base”, Candidate of Historical Sciences S. Liashko

Translated by Aliona Matushevich