Village in Belarus May Have Been Home to Slav Ancestors

MINSK, BELARUS—Vadim Belavec of Belarusian State University believes he has found a home of the ancestors of the Slavs in the Pripyat River Basin in southern Belarus, according to a Science in Poland report. Belavec’s excavation team uncovered two buildings and an assortment of artifacts from the settlement, which dates from the second to fifth centuries A.D. The two buildings at the site were probably used to store grain. Evidence of gold working, in the form of crucibles and casting spoons, was recovered, in addition to bronze brooches decorated with red and white enamel, and a coin bearing the image of the Roman emperor Commodus (A.D. 161-192). An unusual sword sheath that may have belonged to a Germanic warrior was also found. Belavec speculates this warrior may have taken part in an attack that led to the demise of the settlement in the fifth century. The oldest-known historical record of the Slavs dates to the sixth century A.D. To read about a recent discovery made in southwestern Russia, go to “Hellenistic Helmet Safety.”