Ancient History
According to the most common version, the appearance of the first representatives of a kind of people (Neanderthals) on the territory of modern Belarus belongs to the period from 100 to 35 thousand years ago. In the Mogilyov and Gomel regions, three Middle Palepolitic flint products, allegedly made by Neanderthals, were found. The first traces of the indisputable human presence of a biological species Homo sapiens on the territory of modern Belarus are two primitive Late Paleolithic sites of Cro-Magnons which are 27-24 thousand years old in Yurovichy and Berdyzha (both located in the Gomel region ). These lands were fully settled about 10-8 thousand years ago.
Indo-Europeans began to penetrate the territory of modern Belarus in the III millennium B.C.
The oldest skull from the territory of Belarus, in which the face was restored, belonged to a representative of the culture of corded ceramics to a 30–40-year-old man who lived during the Bronze Age in the 2nd millennium B.C. and found in a silica mine in the village of Krasnoselsky, Volkovysk district, Grodno region. A fragment of the second skull belonging to the representative of the Middle Dnieper culture was found in the Vetka district in the Gomel region.
The question of the ethnogenesis of the Belarusians and their isolation from the East Slavic massif is debatable. According to one of the concepts of ethnogenesis, the Belarusian ethnos began to form in the VIII — IX centuries on the basis of the Slavic ethnic communities of the Dregovichs (occupied the territory of modern Middle and Southern Belarus), the Krivichy (upper and middle reaches of the Western Dvina and the upper reaches of the Dnieper ), the Radmiches (the Sog river basin) and a number of East Baltic tribes. According to another version, the formation of the Belarusian ethnos took place as part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth of the ancient Russian people that had already been established by that time.
The last glacier came down about 13-8 thousand years ago, after which the Mesolithic began on the territory of Belarus. As the glacier melted and retreated, the climate became warmer and the territory was gradually covered with forests. Moving from place to place, the man gradually moved to the north. The bow was invented, which changed the nature of the hunt. In Belarus, 120 Mesolithic sites of the three main archaeological cultures are known (Grenska, Sviderskaya and Sozhskaya), and the total population was about 4.5-6 thousand people.
In the Neolithic era (4–3 thousand years B.C.) the climate became even warmer. The appropriating economy reached its peak. A study of the cemetery of the Dnieper-Donetsk culture in Ukraine proved that the representatives of this culture belonged to the Northern Caucasians or the late Cro-Magnons. The main occupation of the Neolithic tribes was fishing.
Kievian Rus
Archaeological finds made on the territory of Polotsk confirm that people lived here already in the 4th-5th centuries of our era. In VIII — IX centuries the development of agriculture and crafts contributes to the formation of feudal relations, the expansion of trade, and the emergence of cities. The most ancient of them were Polotsk (first mentioned in annals under the year 862), Vitebsk (founded in accordance with the urban legend of the 18th century – 974) and Turov (the first mention in the annals – 980).
The first Slavs came to the territory of Belarus from the south approximately in the 6th – 7th centuries, when the age of Baltic antiquities reached two thousand years. Chronologically, it coincided with the beginning of the collapse of the common Slavonic language. Kolochinsky culture was recorded in the Gomel and Mogilyov Dnieper region. In Posozhie, the carriers of the Kolochin archaeological culture were the forerunners of the Radiches.
Already by the IX century, most of Belarus was Slavic. Slavicisation took place mainly by peaceful means, but there are traces and conflicts (traces of fires were recorded on some Baltic settlements of the 7th – 8th centuries).
From the 10th century, Slavicisation of Ponemania by Dregovichi and Krivichi began actively, but the Baltic population in that region remained for several centuries.
There is still an open question when statehood arose among the peoples of Eastern Europe. This is due to the lack of written sources that have come down to our time. The result of this was the multiplicity of theories developed by scientists from different historical periods who call their dates and reasons for the origin of statehood in the territory of Belarus. In accordance with the Norman theory, which for a long time dominated pre-revolutionary historical science, the first states in Eastern Europe were formed by foreign Varyag princes in the 9th century. However, this theory was challenged by many scientists. The first anti-Normanist was Mikhail Lomonosov, who drew attention to the fact that German scientists who were invited to Russia largely invented this theory. In the Soviet period, the Norman theory was criticized by many.
According to archaeological data, the Polotsk site of ancient settlement existed long before the first chronicle mention of Polotsk in 862. Perhaps at that time Polotsk was the center of the proto-state formation-reign of the Krivichi. The same proto-state entity could exist in the Dregovichi. About the history of the Slavs in Belarus almost nothing is known. The first chronicle mention of the population of Belarus begins in the IX century. In the ninth century, the first state formations began to form – the principalities, with the corresponding centers – the cities. In Krivichy – Polotsk and Smolensk stood out, in Dregovichi – Turov. According to the ancient Russian chronicles, the ancient Belarusian principalities (Polotsk, Turov, Smolensk, etc.) until the mid-tenth century were part of or were dependent on Kievan Rus. This is confirmed by the participation of the Slavic tribes of Belarus in the military campaigns of Kievan Rus. But starting from the middle of the 10th century, the Belarusian lands became partially independent (Rogvolod began to rule in Polotsk, and Tur in Turov). However, in 980 Vladimir Svyatoslavich captures Polotsk, killing Rogvolod, and annexes the Polotsk princedom of Kievan Rus. In Turov from about 988-90, Svyatopolk Vladimirovich, the son of Vladimir, rules. Belarusian principalities again lost their independence.