Excavations in the agro-town of Kamen confirm: Western Slavs were present here

In a recent interview, renowned Belarusian archaeologist Bubenko shared that in 1998, she and her students participated in excavations at the Kamien settlement in the Lepel district of the Vitebsk region.

Some of the materials found there were studied and published by the archaeologist, while others were awaiting their time. Recently, Tatiana Bubenko was sorting through the findings and noticed pottery uncharacteristic of the local lands. From the fragments found, she reconstructed a whole pot and realised it was Western Slavic pottery. The historian consulted with colleagues from the Academy of Sciences, and they confirmed the information.

What do these findings indicate? They suggest that Western Slavs from the territory of Poland advanced into and settled our lands.

To find even more materials, Tatiana Stanislavovna, after almost 20 years, returned to the excavations in the Lepel region with student volunteers.

The archaeologists set up camp directly at the Kamien settlement – in the centre of a large hill, offering a beautiful panoramic view. A church once stood here; steps that once led to the temple have survived to this day, and a cross has been erected.

"The Kamien settlement has been known since the 1950s," stated Tatiana Bubenko. "Judging by the archaeological finds, this territory was inhabited during the Early Iron Age, and life continued here until the Late Middle Ages. This is evidenced by the discovered remnants of artefacts, coins, and pottery."

According to the archaeologist, in the 19 years since her last visit, the terrain had changed, and everything had become overgrown with bushes, making it difficult for the volunteers to determine where to dig.

"In the centre of our ancestors' settlement, there was a ritual site – a square, possibly a granary," explained Tatiana Bubenko. "Residential houses were located on the slope, closer to the edge of the platform. That is why we are digging here. Furthermore, we had to retreat further to avoid disturbing the burials, of which there are about forty near the former church – we found them back in 1998."

The archaeologists arrived at the settlement for just a couple of weeks. During this time, they needed to excavate a significant area to find dwellings; they have already discovered the remains of a stove-heater.

“The dwelling of that time was a semi-dugout, heated by a stone stove,” the archaeologist noted. “And its dimensions, judging by everything, will be considerable: about 6-7 meters in length and 3-3.5 meters in width. I hope we manage to fully excavate it, and then we will have a complete understanding of how our ancestors lived here in the early Middle Ages.”

Among the volunteers working at the excavation are students from the Faculty of History of VSU named after P.M. Masherov, and lecturers Dmitry Kovalenko, Pavel Tokarev, Yulia Bakhir – who are also, incidentally, graduates of this faculty. The work of the archaeologists is supervised by Tatyana Stanislavovna.

Tatyana Bubenko selected her team carefully, inviting those people with whom she was ready to go on an expedition. Therefore, despite their different ages, like-minded individuals set off for Kamien, who, as the archaeologist put it: “came here not to relax, but to find something.”

And after just a few days of excavation, they have something to be proud of. The team has already discovered a flint arrow tip, several Old Russian awls of the 10th-12th centuries, and a couple of spindle whorls (weights for a hand spindle).

While we were at the settlement, the volunteers brought Tatyana Bubenko several fragments of pottery.

“Here it is – pottery of the Western Slavs,” Tatyana Stanislavovna commented. “You see how thick the walls of the pot were? And the bottom could even be more than a centimeter thick. Another characteristic feature is fine ribbing, not a wavy ornament like ours.”

For now, all finds are being wrapped in paper and labelled, then they will be placed in boxes for storage. Half of the discoveries will remain in Lepel, possibly to be transferred to the local museum.

Of course, the life of an archaeologist is not easy: sleeping in tents, cooking food over an open fire, and a large part of the day is spent on hard physical labor at the excavation site. Thanks to the local residents of the village of Kamien: they are always ready to help. If a scythe or saw is needed – they provide it, if phones need charging – no problem. Thus, thanks to joint efforts, the earth reveals its secrets to archaeologists.