Ancient settlement site of the Iron Age
Near the highway Baranovichi-Novogrudok, on the bank of the Servech river, rises a hill of elongated shape which can’t be perceived as natural. Here, on the territory of the annalistic Lithuania, lies an ancient setlement site of the Iron age. Now it is an archeological monument of early feudalism, of linear pottery culture.
The arrival of the first settlers at the banks of the Servech was in the middle of the 1st century B.C. Gradually, owing to the settlers’ efforts, the natural hill was being made into a major fortification. On the flat top there were domestic buildings, utility structures and cattle pens. Along the edges of the flat area there was a wooden palisade which was a serious obstacle for prospective invaders in those days. Later, there appeared a rampart and a moat at the foot of the hill.
During the excavations, already in our time, fragments of pots, arrow-, axe- and spearheads were found. The cultural level was up to 1 metre thick and it contained layers of linear pottery culture and of old Russian times (12th.-13th centuries).
Many historians suppose that it is here that the legendary Varuta , the residence of the Grand Duke of Lithuania Mindovg , used to be.
Geographic coordinates: N 53° 19'24,23" E 25° 59' 16,81"
Foto: Владимира ЗУЕВА, Андрея ПОНОМАРЕВА
