Article by jekky
Origin of the Slavic peoples br Slavic beginnings in Poland br The origins of the Slavic peoples who arrived on Polish lands at the outset of the Middle Ages archeologically as the Prague culture go back to the Kiev culture which formed beginning early in 3rd century CE and which is genetically derived from the Post Zarubintsy cultural horizon Rakhny Ljutez Pochep material culture sphere and itself was one of the later Post Zarubintsy culture groups Such ethnogenetic relationship is apparent between the large Kiev culture population and the early 6th 7th century Slavic settlements in the Oder and Vistula basins but lacking between these Slavic settlements and the older local cultures within the same region that ceased to exist beginning in the 400 450 CE period br Zarubintsy culture br The Zarubintsy culture circle in existence roughly from 200 BCE to 150 CE extended along the middle and upper Dnieper and its tributary the Pripyat River but also left traces of settlements in parts of Polesie and the upper Bug River basin The main distinguished local groups were the Polesie group the Middle Dnieper group and the Upper Dnieper group The Zarubintsy culture developed from the Milograd culture in the northern part of its range and from the local Scythian populations in the more southern part The Polesie group s origin was also influenced by the Pomeranian and Jastorf cultures The Zarubintsy culture and its beginnings were moderately affected by La Tne culture and the Black Sea area trade with the Greek cities provided imported items centers of civilization in the earlier stages but not much by Roman influence later on and accordingly its economic development was lagging behind that of other early Roman period cultures Cremation of bodies was practiced with the human remains and burial gifts including metal decorations small in number and limited in variety placed in pits br Kiev culture br Originating from the Post Zarubintsy cultures and often considered the oldest Slavic culture the Kiev culture functioned during the later Roman periods end of 2nd through mid 5th century north of the vast Chernyakhov culture territories within the basins of the upper and middle Dnieper Desna and Seym rivers The archeological cultural features of the Kiev sites show this culture to be identical or highly compatible representing the same cultural model with that of the 6th century Slavic societies including the settlements on the lands of today s Poland The Kiev culture is known mostly from settlement sites the burial sites involving pit graves are few and poorly equipped Not many metal objects have been found despite the known native production of iron and processing of other metals including enamel coating technology Clay vessels were made without the potter s wheel The Kiev culture represented an intermediate level of development between that of the cultures of the Central European Barbaricum and the forest zone societies of the eastern part of the continent The Kiev culture consisted of four local formations The Middle Dnieper group the Desna group the Upper Dnieper group and the Dnieper Don group The general model of the Kiev culture is like that of the early Slavic cultures that were to follow and must have originated mainly from the Kiev groups but evolved probably over a larger territory stretching west to the base of the Eastern Carpathian Mountains and from a broader Post Zarubintsy foundation The Kiev culture and related groups expanded considerably after 375 CE when the Ostrogothic state and more broadly speaking the Chernyakhov culture were destroyed by the Huns c This process was facilitated further and gained pace involving at that time the Kiev s descendant cultures when the Hun confederation itself broke down in mid 5th century br Written sources br The eastern cradle of the Slavs is also directly confirmed by a written source The anonymous author known as the Cosmographer of Ravenna 7th 8th century names Scythia a geographic region encompassing vast areas of eastern Europe as the place where the generations of the Sclaveni had their beginnings Scythia stretching far and spreading wide in the eastern and southern directions had at the west end as seen at the time of Jordanes writing first half to mid 6th century or earlier the Germans and the river Vistula Jordanes places the Slavs in Scythia as well br Alternative point of view br According to an alternative theory popular in the earlier 20th century and still represented today the medieval cultures in the area of modern Poland are not a result of massive immigration but emerged from a cultural transition of earlier indigenous populations who then would need to be regarded early Slavs This view has mostly been discarded primarily due to a period of archaeological discontinuity during which settlements were absent or rare and because of cultural incompatibility of the late ancient and early medieval sites b br Slavic differentiation and expansion Prague culture br Slavic lands c 500 550 CE br Kolochin culture Penkovka culture and Prague Korchak culture br The final process of the differentiation of the cultures recognized as early Slavic the Kolochin culture over the Kiev culture s territory the Penkovka culture and the Prague Korchak culture took place during the end of 4th and in 5th century CE Beyond the Post Zarubintsy horizon the expanding early Slavs took over much of the territories of the Chernyakhov culture and the Dacian Carpathian Kurgans culture As not all of the previous inhabitants from those cultures had left the area and some groups were assimilated they probably contributed some elements to the Slavic cultures br The Prague culture developed over the western part of the Slavic expansion within the basins of the middle Dnieper Pripyat upper Dniester up to the Carpathian Mountains and in southeastern Poland that is the upper and middle Vistula basin This culture was responsible for most of the growth in 6th and 7th centuries by which time it also encompassed the middle Danube and middle Elbe basins The Prague culture very likely corresponds to Jordanes Sclaveni whose area he described as extending west to the Vistula sources The Penkovka culture people inhabited the southeastern part from Seversky Donets to the lower Danube including the region where the Antes would be and the Kolochin culture was located north of the more eastern area of the Penkovka culture the upper Dnieper and Desna basins The Korchak type designates the eastern part of the Prague Korchak culture which because of its western expansion is somewhat less directly dependent on the mother Kiev culture than its two sister cultures The early 6th century Slavic settlements covered an area three times the size of the Kiev culture region some hundred years earlier br Early settlements economy and burials in Poland br In Poland the earliest archeological sites considered Slavic include a limited number of 6th century settlements and a few isolated burial sites The material obtained there consists mostly of simple manually formed ceramics typical of the entire early Slavic area It is because of the different varieties of these basic clay pots and infrequent decorations that the three cultures are distinguished The largest of the earliest Slavic Prague culture settlement sites in Poland that have been subjected to systematic research is located in Bachrz Rzeszw County and dated the second half of 5th through 7th centuries It consisted of 12 nearly square partially dug out houses each covering the area of 6 2 to 19 8 14 0 on the average square meters A stone furnace was usually placed in a corner which is typical for Slavic homesteads of that period but clay ovens and centrally located hearths are also found 45 younger different type dwellings 7 8th to 9 10th century have also been discovered in the vicinity br Characteristic of all early Slavic cultures are poorly developed handicraft and limited resources of their communities There were no major iron production centers but metal founding techniques were known among metal objects occasionally found are iron knives and hooks as well as bronze decorative items 7th century finds in Haki Bielsk Podlaski County a site of one of the earliest fortified settlements The inventories of the typical rather small open settlements include normally also various clay including weights used for weaving stone and horn utensils The developments arranged as clusters of cabins along river or stream valleys but above their flood levels were usually irregular and typically faced south The wooden frame or pillar supported square houses covered with a straw roof had each side 2 5 to 4 5 meters long Fertile lowlands were sought but also forested areas with diversified plant and animal environment to provide additional sustenance The settlements were self sufficienthe early Slavs functioned without significant long distance trade The potter s wheel was being used from the turn of 7th century on Some villages larger than a few homes have been investigated in the Krakw Nowa Huta region 6th to 9th century for example cottages from about 625 CE where on the left bank of the Vistula in the direction of Igoomia a complex of 11 settlements has been located The original furnishings of Slavic huts are difficult to determine because equipment was often made of perishable materials such as wood leather or fabrics Free standing clay dome stoves for bread baking were found on some locations Another large 6th 9th century settlement complex existed in the vicinity of Gogw in Silesia br Like others for many centuries in this part of the world the Slavic people cremated their dead The burials were usually single the graves grouped in small cemeteries with the ashes placed in simple urns more often than in ground indentations The number of burial sites found is small in relation to the known settlement density The food production economy was based on millet and wheat cultivation cattle breeding swine sheep and goats to a lesser extent hunting fishing and gathering br Geographic expansion in Poland and central Europe br As the Slavs were arriving from the east beginning in the second half of 5th century the earliest settlers reached southeastern Poland that is the San River basin then the upper Vistula regions including the Krakw area and Nowy Scz Valley Single early sites are also known around Sandomierz Lublin in Masovia and Upper Silesia Somewhat younger settlement concentrations were discovered in Lower Silesia In 6th century the above areas were settled At the end of this century or in early 7th century the Slavic newcomers reached Western Pomerania According to Theophylact Simocatta the Slavs captured in 592 at Constantinople named the Baltic Sea coastal area as the place they came from br As of that time and in the following decades this region plus some of the Greater Poland Lower Silesia and some areas west of the middle and lower Oder River make up the Sukow Dziedzice group Its origin is the subject of debate among archeologists First settlements appear in the early 6th century and cannot be directly derived from any other Slavic archeological culture They reveal certain similarities to the findings of Dobrodzie group of the Przeworsk culture According to some scholars like Siedow Kurnatowska and Brzostowicz it might be a direct continuation of the Przeworsk tradition According to allochthonists it represents a variant of the Prague culture and is considered its younger stage Sukow Dziedzice group shows significant idiosyncrasies as no graves or typical for the rest of the Slavic world rectangular dwellings set partially below the ground level were found within its span br This particular pattern of expansion into the lands of Poland and then Germany another more southern 6th century route took the Prague culture Slavs through Slovakia Moravia and Bohemia was a part of the great Slavic migration which took many of them during this 5th 7th century period from the lands of their origin to the various countries of central and southeastern Europe In particular the Slavs reached the eastern Alps populated the Elbe basin and the Danube basin from where they moved south to occupy the Balkans as far as Peloponnese br Slavic related Ancient and early Medieval written accounts br Besides the Baltic Veneti see Poland in Antiquity article ancient and medieval authors speak of the East European or Slavic Venethi It can be inferred from Tacitus description in Germania that his Venethi lived possibly around the middle Dnieper basin which in his times would correspond to the Proto Slavic Zarubintsy cultural sphere Jordanes to whom the Venethi meant his contemporary Slavs wrote of past fighting between the Ostrogoths and the Venethi which took place during the third quarter of 4th century in today s Ukraine At that time the Venethi would therefore mean the Kiev culture people The Venethi says Jordanes who now rage in war far and wide in punishment for our sins were at that time made obedient to the Gothic king Hermanaric s command Jordanes 6th century description of the populous race of the Venethi range includes the regions near the left northern ridge of the Carpathian Mountains and stretching from there almost endlessly east while in the western direction reaching the sources of the Vistula More specifically he designates the area between the Vistula and the lower Danube as the country of the Sclaveni They have swamps and forests for their cities hi paludes silvasque pro civitatibus habent he adds sarcastically The bravest of these peoples the Antes settled the lands between the Dniester and the Dnieper rivers The Venethi were the third Slavic branch of an unspecified location the more distant from Jordanes vantage and more ancestral in relation to the other two the Kolochin culture is the likely possibility as well as the overall designation for the totality of the Slavic peoples who though off shoots from one
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