According to archeological data, primitive man appeared on the territory of our country during the Early Paleolithic - Old Stone Age (approximately 700 thousand years ago). The settlement came from the south, as evidenced by archaeological finds. Thus, in the Zhitomir region and on the Dniester, traces of the presence of ancient people 500 - 300 thousand years ago were found. Sites of people of the Middle Paleolithic (100 - 35 thousand years BC) were discovered on the territory of Russia: in the Middle and Lower Volga and in other places.

In ancient times, the dominant ethnic groups on our territory were the Indo-Europeans and Finno-Ugric peoples. By the middle of the 2nd millennium BC. archaeologists attribute the separation of the Proto-Slavs from the Indo-European tribes. It was a group of related tribes; the monuments belonging to them can be traced from the Oder in the west to the Carpathians in eastern Europe.

The term “Slavs” itself has not yet been satisfactorily explained. Perhaps it is associated with the “word”, and this is how our ancestors could call themselves, unlike other peoples whose speech they did not understand (Germans). Obviously, the term “Slavs” did not arise immediately and did not suddenly become commonly used.

There is, however, another fact in Russian chronicles that is not recognized by official science. We are talking about an ancient Russian work known as “The Legend of Sloven and Rus and the city of Slovensk,” included in many chronographs of the Russian edition, starting from the 17th century.

It tells about the forefathers and leaders of the Russian (and all Slavic) people, who, after long wanderings around the world, appeared on the banks of the Volkhov and Lake Ilmen in the middle of the 3rd millennium BC. They founded the cities of Slovensk and Staraya Russa here and began impressive military campaigns: as stated in the original source, they went “against Egyptian and other barbarian countries,” where they instilled “great fear.”

The “Tale” also names the exact date of the founding of Slovensk the Great - 2409 BC. Three thousand years later, after being abandoned twice, its successor city, Novgorod, was built on the site of the first capital of the Slovenian-Russian state. That is why it was called the “new city” - because it was “cut down” on the site of the old one, by whose name the Novgorodians continued to be called “Slovenians” for a long time (the Nesterov Chronicle also knows them as such). Novograd also inherited the prefix “Great” from its predecessor.

In the second half of the 7th century. BC. Greek city-states appeared on the territory of the Northern Black Sea region. The most famous of them were: Olbia, Chersonesus, Panticapaeum, Tanais, etc.

According to the testimony of the “father of history” Herodotus (5th century BC), the oldest population of the Northern Black Sea region were the Cimmerians, who were forced out by the Iranian-speaking Scythians and, fleeing from the latter, fled along the eastern shore of the Black Sea to Asia Minor.

In the VI - IV centuries. BC. In the Northern Black Sea region, a powerful tribal union was formed, headed by the so-called royal Scythians, whose nomadic camps were located along the left bank of the lower Dnieper.

In the 5th century BC. Panticapaeum became the center of a large slave-owning power - the Bosporan Kingdom (5th century BC - 4th century AD).

In the 3rd century. BC. The Scythians were defeated by the Sarmatians - Iranian-speaking nomads who dominated the Northern Black Sea region until the 2nd century. AD

The Bosporan kingdom waged continuous wars with neighboring nomadic peoples. In the first centuries of our era, the slave-holding city-states of the Black Sea region became dependent on Rome.

K III century AD The crisis of the slave system clearly manifested itself, and in the 4th - 5th centuries. AD The slave-holding powers fell under the onslaught of the Goths and Huns.

At the beginning of our era, Pliny the Elder and Tacitus identified the ancient Slavs under the name “Vendi”. The ancient Slavs were also called Jordan and Alcuin in a later period (IV – 9th centuries).

During the era of the Great Migration of Peoples (IV - VIII centuries AD), large-scale movements of tribes (mainly from the east) led to significant changes in the ethnic and political map of Eurasia. This process was given a powerful impetus by the movement of the Hunnic hordes over vast areas from Mongolia to the Volga, falling in the 1st - 2nd centuries. AD

The concept of “Great Migration” should include the movement of the Goths from the Baltic to the Black Sea, as well as the synchronous and subsequent movements of the Germanic tribes to the west, and after them the Slavs to the Elbe in the west and along the East European Plain in the east.

In the 5th century The Slavs, moving east, reached the middle Dnieper, where they assimilated the local Iranians. Then the Slavs advanced beyond the Dnieper into the Desna River basin.

From the end of the 5th century. The beginning of the Slavic colonization of the Balkans is also observed, where they quickly assimilated the local Illyrians, Dolmatians and Thracians.

Byzantine writers of the 6th century. divide the Slavs into two groups. The western part of the Slavs was designated as Slavs (Slavins, Sklavii).

But, in addition, Byzantine writers of the VI - VII centuries. mention the Antes, whom they considered a special (eastern) group of Slavs. The Antes lived in the lower reaches of the Danube and Dnieper, where the Greeks encountered them. This habitat of the Antes is confirmed by the Gothic historian Jordan (VI century), who calls the Antes “the most powerful of the Slavs.” Byzantine writers regarded the Antes as the bravest of the Slavs. It should be noted that the Antes and Sklavins were at enmity with each other and the Byzantines skillfully took advantage of this, further pushing their northern neighbors into conflict.

At the end of the 6th - beginning of the 7th centuries. The Antes populated the Black Sea steppes from the lower reaches of the Danube to the Azov region. Here they were found by new newcomers from the east - the Avars, who partially conquered the Antes.

In the VI century. Turkic-speaking Avars (the Russian chronicle called them Obra) created their own state in the southern Russian steppes, uniting the nomadic tribes there. The Avar Khaganate was defeated by Byzantium in 625. The great Avars, “proud in mind” and in body, disappeared without a trace. “Pogibosha aki obre” - these words, with the light hand of the Russian chronicler, became an aphorism.

In the VI – VII centuries. The Slavic world is divided into 3 groups: southern, western and eastern. Byzantine historians associated the Eastern Slavs with the tribal union of the “Antes” (the settlement area from the Black Sea coast to the Dnieper), who were regarded as descendants of the Wends.

By the 6th century refers to the first mention in the sources of the term “Slavs”. The neighbors of the Slavs in the west were the eastern Balts, in the northeast - the Finno-Ugric tribes, in the Lower Volga - the Khazars, in the Black Sea region - the Pechengi and other Turkic tribes. Contacts with Scandinavia and Byzantium played an important role.

The largest political formations of the 7th - 8th centuries. in the southern Russian steppes there were the Bulgarian kingdom and the Khazar Khaganate.

In the 7th – 8th centuries. Eastern Slavs are developing the spaces of the modern center of Russia.

The settlement of the Slavs took place in the 6th - 8th centuries. in three main directions: to the south - to the Balkan Peninsula; to the west - to the Middle Danube and between the Oder and Elbe rivers; to the east and north along the East European Plain. Accordingly, the Slavs were divided into three branches - southern, western and eastern. The Slavs settled a vast territory - from the Peloponnese in the south to the Gulf of Finland and the Neva River in the north, from the Alpine Mountains, the middle Elbe and the Jutland Peninsula in the west to the Upper Volga, Middle Oka and Upper Don in the east.

The ancestors of modern Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians are the Eastern Slavs, Old Russian Finno-Ugric and Baltic tribes.

In the process of settling the Eastern Slavs across the East European Plain, their primitive communal system decomposed. It is known that starting from the 6th century. The Slavs repeatedly carried out military campaigns against the largest state of that time - Byzantium. But campaigns against Byzantium could only be undertaken by large tribal unions of the Slavs. These campaigns contributed to the enrichment of the tribal elite of the Slavs, which accelerated the collapse of the primitive communal system.

In the 7th – 8th centuries. Among the Slavs, the tribal community is replaced by a territorial (neighboring) community, private property and property stratification appear, power is concentrated in the hands of the tribal power of the nobility. The tribal unions of the Slavs immediately preceded the emergence of the state.

The chronicle names a dozen and a half such tribal principalities and their places of settlement. So, in the middle reaches of the Dnieper lived the Polyans, in the Pripyat River basin - the Drevlyans and Dregovichi, in the Sozh River basin (the left tributary of the Dnieper) - the Radimichi. Northerners settled in the basins of the Desna, Seymam and Sula rivers, in the interfluve of the Southern Bug and Dniester - the streets, between the Dniester and Pruttivertsy rivers. In the foothills of the Carpathians lived the "white" Xopats, and along the Western Bug - Dulebs, Volynians and Buzhans, in the upper reaches of the Western Dvina and Dnieper-Krivichi, in the middle reaches of the Western Dvina at the confluence of the Polot River - Polotsk, in the north, around Lake Ilmen and along the Volkhov River - the Ilmen Slavs, and in the Oka basin - the easternmost of the Slavic tribes - the Vyatichi.

Each of the unions had its own “princely”. The emergence of prince-leaders meant a transition to military democracy.

The squad was a special military organization. According to archaeological data and Byzantine sources, East Slavic squads appeared already in the 6th-7th centuries. The squad was divided into an older squad, from which came ambassadors and princely rulers who had their own land, and a younger squad, who lived with the prince and served his court and household. The warriors, on behalf of the prince, collected tribute from the conquered tribes. Such trips to collect tribute were called "polyudye". The collection of tribute usually took place in November-April and continued until the spring opening of the rivers.

The unit of tribute was the smoke (peasant household) or the area of ​​land cultivated by the peasant household (ralo, plow). With the advent of surpluses, it became possible to exchange agricultural products for handicraft goods; Cities began to emerge as centers of craft, trade and exchange, and at the same time as strongholds of feudal power and defense against external enemies.

The basis of the economic life of the Slavs was agriculture. It was extensive in nature. In forest-steppe areas, they burned the grass, fertilizing the soil with zola, and used the soil until it was completely depleted. The area was then abandoned until it was restored to natural grass cover. This farming system is called fallow farming.

In the forests, a slash-and-burn system was used: trees were cut down and used until they were exhausted.

Let us note that one of the factors determining the development of the Eastern Slavs was the great waterway “from the Varangians to the Greeks,” which connected Northern and Southern Europe. It arose at the end of the 9th century. The Slavs traded with the Byzantines, receiving metals, fabrics, salt, and luxury goods from them. The most developed lands of the Slavic world - Novgorod and Kyiv - controlled the northern and southern sections of the Great Trade Route. Collecting tribute from the tribes became such a profitable activity for the princes that it gave rise to the desire to unite in one hand the entire territory around the trade route, subjugating tribes close in language and culture.

The main role in the process of unification of the East Slavic lands was played by the tribes of the Polyans and Ilmen Slavs with centers in Kyiv and Novgorod. Moreover, the position of Kyiv was preferable, since it gave access to Byzantium, and Novgorod - only to the countries of Northern Europe, in the 9th century. significantly lagging behind her in development.

In most cases, cities were built on trade routes, such as the route “from the Varangians to the Greeks” or the Volga trade route, which connected Rus' with the countries of the East. Communication with Western Europe was also maintained via land roads.

The exact dates of the founding of ancient cities are unknown, but many of them existed at the time of their first mention in chronicles. The Tale of Bygone Years already names the cities of Kyiv, Chernigov, Smolensk, Lyubech, Novgorod, Pskov, Polotsk, Vitebsk, Rostov, Suzdal, Murom, etc. In total, by the 9th century. there were about 24 cities. Therefore, the Scandinavian newcomers called the Slavic land Gardarika - the country of cities.

Further, mysterious historical characters appear on the pages of the chronicle. Of course, this means the Varangians. In 859 they arrived “from overseas” in order to collect the tribute due to them from the Slavic and Finnish tribes; in 862 they were expelled - again “overseas”, but not for long: in the same year the Varangians returned again.

Great Migration

The first people on the territory of Russia – 100 thousand years ago. The first colonies founded by the Greeks appeared in the 7th-5th centuries. BC e. In the 5th century BC. e. Most of these colonies united into the Bosphorus Kingdom, which existed until the 2nd century BC. e.

To the north of the Greeks lived the Scythians - nomads.

On the territory of Azerbaijan in the 4th century BC. e. The Scythian kingdom was formed. In the 3rd century they were forced out to Crimea. They were defeated by the Goths (German tribes).

From the east, from beyond the Don, a new wave of nomads - the Sarmatians - rushed. In the 3rd - 7th centuries. n. e. During the era of the Great Migration of Peoples, Hunnic tribes or Huns poured into the territory of the Northern Black Sea region, and later between the Volga and Danube, emerging from the steppes of Transbaikalia and Mongolia.

In the 5th century AD e. they reached the borders of Northern France. After their defeat by the Gallic tribes, they return back, where they completely dissolve among the Turkic tribes.

In the 6th century, Turkic tribes reappeared from Mongolia, which in the middle of the 6th century formed the Turkic Khaganate, whose territories extended from Mongolia to the Volga.

Gradually, almost the entire population of Eastern Europe (the steppe part) underwent Turkization. In the forest-steppe zone, the Slavic and Finno-Ugric components are established. The Central Caucasus is home to an Iranian-speaking ethnic group, the Alans. In the Western Ciscaucasia in the 6th century, the Bulgars occupied a dominant position.

After the collapse of the Turkic Khaganate in the 80s of the 6th century, the state of Great Bulgaria was formed here, which existed until the first third of the 7th century: it collapsed under the blows of the Khazars. After the collapse, part of the population went to the southwest (Balkan Peninsula), where the state of Danube Bulgaria was formed. The other part went to the North Caucasus (modern Balkars). Another part moved to the northeast, to the region of the Middle Volga and Kama, where the state of Volga Bulgaria was formed. The Bulgars are considered the ancestors of modern Chuvash, partly Tatars, Mari, and Udmurts.

The Great Migration of Peoples is the conventional name for a set of ethnic movements in Europe in the 4th-7th centuries, which destroyed the Western Roman Empire and affected a number of territories in Eastern Europe. The prologue to the Great Migration of Peoples was the movement of Germanic tribes (Goths, Burgundians, Vandals) at the end of the 2nd - beginning of the 3rd centuries. to the Black Sea. The immediate impetus for the Great Migration of Peoples was the massive movement of the Huns (from the 70s of the 4th century). In the VI-VII centuries. Slavic (Slavins, Ants) and other tribes invaded the territory of the Eastern Roman Empire.

The Great Migration of Peoples and the Problem of Ethnogenesis of the Eastern Slavs.

1st century AD e. Tacitus spoke about the Veneds, who lived in the Western regions. Poland, Western Belarus and Western Ukraine. By Wends, scientists understood a people unknown to the ancient world who lived outside the borders of the state.

4th century BC e. – 7th century BC e. – The Great Migration of Peoples due to cold weather.

Origin of the Eastern Slavs.

The origin of the Eastern Slavs is a complex scientific problem, the study of which is difficult due to the lack of sufficiently complete written evidence about the area of ​​their settlement and economic life. It is reliably known that our ancestors in the I - VI centuries. n. e. occupied vast areas of Central and Eastern Europe. The works of ancient authors - Pliny the Elder and Tacitus (1st century AD) - report on the Wends living between the Germanic and Sarmatian tribes. Many modern historians see the Wends as ancient Slavs, still preserving their ethnic unity and occupying approximately the territory of what is now South-Eastern Poland, as well as Volyn and Polesie.

Byzantine historians of the 6th century. were more attentive to the Slavs, who, having strengthened by this time, began to threaten the Empire. Jordan elevates the contemporary Slavs - the Wends, the Sklavins and the Antes - to one root and thereby records the beginning of their division, which took place in the 6th-8th centuries. The relatively unified Slavic world disintegrated as a result of migrations caused by population growth and the “pressure” of others tribes, as well as interaction with the multi-ethnic environment in which they settled (Finno-Ugrians, Balts, Iranian-speaking tribes) and with which they came into contact (Germans, Byzantines). It is important to take into account that representatives of all groups recorded by Jordan participated in the formation of the three branches of the Slavs - eastern, western and southern. The most valuable information about the Slavs is provided to us by the Tale of Bygone Years (PVL) by the monk Nestor (beginning of the 12th century). He writes about the ancestral home of the Slavs, which he places in the Danube basin. (According to the biblical legend, Nestor associated their appearance on the Danube with the “Babylonian pandemonium,” which, by the will of God, led to the separation of languages ​​and their “dispersion” throughout the world). He explained the arrival of the Slavs to the Dnieper from the Danube by an attack on them by warlike neighbors - the “Volokhs”.

The second route of advance of the Slavs to Eastern Europe, confirmed by archaeological and linguistic material, passed from the Vistula basin to the area of ​​Lake Ilmen. Nestor talks about the following East Slavic tribal unions: the Polyans, who settled in the Middle Dnieper region “in the fields” and therefore were called that; the Drevlyans, who lived northwest of them in dense forests; northerners who lived to the east and northeast of the glades along the Desna, Sula and Seversky Donets rivers; Dregovichi - between Pripyat and Western Dvina; Polotsk residents - in the river basin Floors; Krivichi - in the upper reaches of the Volga and Dnieper; Radimichi and Vyatichi, according to the chronicle, descended from the clan of "Poles" (Poles), and were brought, most likely, by their elders - Radim, who "came and sat down" on the river. Sozhe (tributary of the Dnieper) and Vyatko - on the river. Oke; Ilmen Slovenes lived in the north in the basin of Lake Ilmen and the river. Volkhov; Buzhans or Dulebs (since the 10th century they were called Volynians) in the upper reaches of the Bug; white Croats - in the Carpathian region; Ulichi and Tivertsy - between the Dniester and the Danube. Archaeological data confirm the boundaries of settlement of the tribal unions indicated by Nestor.

It is known about the occupations of the Eastern Slavs that, while exploring the vast forest and forest-steppe spaces of Eastern Europe, they carried with them an agricultural culture. In addition to shifting and fallow farming from the 8th century. In the southern regions, field arable farming, based on the use of a plow with an iron share and draft animals, became widespread. Along with animal husbandry, they were also engaged in their usual trades: hunting, fishing, beekeeping. Crafts are developing, which, however, have not yet separated from agriculture. Of particular importance for the fate of the Eastern Slavs will be foreign trade, developing both on the Baltic-Volga route, along which Arab silver came to Europe, and on the route “from the Varangians to the Greeks,” connecting the Byzantine world through the Dnieper with the Baltic region.

Theories of the origin of the Slavs:

Autochthonous (Slavs have always lived in this territory);

Migration (resettlement of Slavs).

4th century BC e. - Danube. Pre-State The Power of Germanaric (the leader of the Goths), but it also included other peoples. This power existed under a treaty with Rome, but collapsed at the end of the 4th century as a result of the invasion of Rome by the HUNKS (led by Attila). It is obvious that Slavic tribes took part in this raid.

6th century - Jordan (Alan historian of Ossetia) began to talk about the Ants and Sklavins. He refers them to the Wends. In the 6th century, the Antes constantly attacked the possessions of Byzantium. V. set the Avars tribe against them - the Ants were defeated. After this, Viz defeated the Avars.

7th century - division of the Slavs into southern, western and eastern.

8th-9th centuries - tribal unions emerge - the Drevlyans and the Polyans. Each has temporary leaders - princes, squads, cities and a people's assembly - the veche.

The northern center of the Slavs is Novgorod (Slovenes).

The southern center of the Slavs is Kyiv (glades).

The question of the origin of the Slavs was raised back in the Middle Ages. In the Tale of Bygone Years (12th century), the monk Nestor expressed the idea that the original territory of settlement of the Slavs was the Danube and the Balkans, and then the Carpathian region, the Dnieper and Ladoga.

According to the “Bavarian Chronicle” (XIII century), the ancestors of the Slavs were ancient Iranian-speaking peoples - Scythians, Sarmatians, Alans.

The beginning of the scientific development of the question of the origin of the Slavs dates back to the first half of the 19th century, when the Czech scientist P. Safarik, having analyzed information about the Slavs from ancient authors and the Gothic historian Jordan, put forward a hypothesis according to which the ancestral home of the Slavic peoples was the Carpathian region.

Research by linguists in the first half of the 19th century showed that the Slavic languages ​​belonged to the Indo-European language family, on the basis of which it was suggested that there was an Indo-European community that included the ancestors of the Germans, Balts, Slavs and Indo-Iranians, which, according to the Czech historian L. Niederle, disintegrated at the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC. The Balto-Slavic community that emerged as a result of this collapse in the 1st millennium BC was divided into Baltic and Slavic.

The domestic historian and philologist A. A. Shakhmatov believed that such an Indo-European community existed in the Baltic Sea basin. First, the ancestors of the Indo-Iranians and Thracians who went south left it, and then the Slavs separated from the Balts, settling in the 2nd century AD, after the Germans left the Vistula, in the rest of Eastern Europe.

In the first half of the 20th century, foreign and domestic archaeologists made an attempt to clarify which archaeological cultures can be considered Proto-Slavic and what territory the Slavs occupied at different stages of historical development.

According to P.N. Tretyakov, the proto-Slavic culture was the culture of the Corded Ware tribes, who migrated at the turn of the 3rd to 2nd millennia BC from the Black Sea region and the Carpathian region to Central Europe, as well as to the north and east.

The following cultures were actually Slavic: between the Vistula and the Dnieper - Trzciniec (3rd quarter of the 2nd millennium BC), on the territory of Poland - Lusatian (XIII-IV centuries BC) and Pomeranian (VI-II centuries BC), on the Vistula - Przeworskaya, in the Middle Dnieper - Zarubinetskaya (both - the end of the 1st millennium BC).

In the 2nd-4th centuries, as a result of the movement of Gothic tribes to the south, the territory occupied by the Slavs was cut into two parts, which led to the division of the Western and Eastern Slavs. Having taken part in the great migration of peoples, the Slavs at the end of the 5th century, after the collapse of the Huns, also settled in the south of the European continent.

Some chronological clarifications of the origin of the Slavic peoples were made by modern American researchers (G. Treger and H. Smith), according to whom, in the 2nd millennium BC, ancient European unity broke up into the ancestors of southern and western Europeans (Celts and Romanesque peoples) and northern Europeans (Germans , Balts and Slavs). The Northern European community collapsed in the 1st millennium BC, when the Germans first emerged from it, and then the Balts and Slavs.

The historian and ethnographer L. Gumilyov believed that in this process there was not only a separation of the Slavs from the Germans, but also their union with the German-speaking Rus, which allegedly happened during the settlement of the Slavs in the Dnieper region and the region of Lake Ilmen.

Thus, the question of the origin of the Slavs is so complex and confusing that it is hardly possible to present a true picture of the distant past due to the lack of written sources of that time

Peoples and ancient states on the territory of Russia.

Man began to separate from the animal world 3 million years ago. The periodization of human history at the stage of the primitive communal system is divided into 3 stages depending on the material of the tools. Stone Age (3rd millennium BC). Among different peoples in different regions of the Earth, the appearance of certain tools and forms of social life did not occur simultaneously. There was a process of formation of man and the formation of human society. During the Early Stone Age - Paleolithic (700 thousand years ago), man entered the territory of Eastern Europe. Settlement came from the south. Traces of the presence of ancient people have been found in Crimea, Abkhazia, Armenia, in Central Asia (southern Kazakhstan, Tashkent region), in the Zhitomir region and on the Dniester. Great Glacier. 100 thousand years ago, a significant part of Europe was occupied by a huge glacier up to 2 km thick. The harsh climate affected the development of mankind. The emergence of articulate speech, the clan organization of society, and religious ideas date back to this time (fear of the forces of nature and the inability to explain them were the reasons for the emergence of pagan religion). During the Late Paleolithic period (35-10 thousand ago), the melting of the glacier ended and a climate similar to the modern one was established. The use of fire, the development of tools, the regulation of relations between the sexes. Traces of the first long-term settlements have been discovered. A higher form of organization of society is coming - the clan community (this is an association of people of the same kind who have collective property and run a household based on age and gender division). Works of art from the Late Paleolithic have been preserved in the Southern Urals. In the Mesolithic they began to use the stone axe, an invention of the bow. Fishing was added to hunting and gathering. The domestication of animals began: the dog was tamed, followed by the pig. Eurasia was finally populated: man reached the shores of the Baltic and Pacific Oceans. Depending on the natural and climatic conditions, various types of economic activity have developed in Eastern Europe and Siberia. Cattle-breeding tribes lived in the steppe zone from the middle Dnieper to Altai. Farmers settled in Ukraine, Transcaucasia, Central Asia, and southern Siberia. Hunting and fishing is typical for the northern, forested regions of the European part and Siberia. The historical development of individual regions was uneven. Cattle-breeding and agricultural tribes developed more quickly. Agriculture gradually penetrated into the steppe regions. Among the sites of farmers in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, one can distinguish Neolithic settlements in Turkmenistan (near Ashgabat), in Armenia (near Yerevan), etc. Bronze Age (3-1 thousand BC): Humanity received a new impetus in the historical development by mastering the production of metal. On the territory of our country, the development of those tribes that lived near deposits of copper and tin accelerated. On the territory of Eurasia, such tribes lived in the regions of the North Caucasus, Central Asia, the Urals and Siberia. The transition to metal tools led to the separation of pastoral and agricultural tribes. The role of men in production has increased. There was a unification and consolidation of clans into tribes. Large cultural communities began to emerge. Scientists believe that these communities corresponded to the linguistic families from which came the peoples who currently inhabit our country. The largest language family is Indo-European. It took shape on the territory of modern Iran and Asia Minor, spreading to Southern and Eastern Europe, Asia Minor and Central Asia and in the region of the Hindustan Peninsula. Subsequently, the Indo-European language family split into several branches: in the south and southeast - Iranians, Indians, Tajiks, Armenians, etc.; in the west - the current Germans, French, English, etc.; in the east - the Balts and the distant ancestors of the Slavs. The second large language family - the Finno-Ugric (current Finns, Estonians, Korels, Khanty, Mordovians, etc.) has long occupied the territory from the Kama region to the Trans-Urals, from where its tribes settled to the European north, the Volga region and Western Siberia. The ancestors of the Turkic peoples lived in Central Asia, from where they began their advance to Eastern Europe and further to the west. The peoples of the Iberian-Caucasian language family have lived in the mountain gorges of the North Caucasus since the Bronze Age to the present day. The Koryaks, Aleuts, Eskimos and other peoples settled in the territory of Eastern Siberia and Northeast Asia and have lived here to this day. The origin of peoples (ethnogenesis) is one of the complex issues of science; This is a long process, taking several millennia. By the middle of the second millennium BC. archaeologists attribute the separation of the Proto-Slavs from the Indo-European tribes. It was a group of related tribes; the monuments belonging to them can be traced from the Oder in the west to the Carpathians in eastern Europe. The process of decomposition of the primitive communal system in different regions of Eurasia did not occur simultaneously. In the southern regions, the decomposition of the primitive communal system occurred earlier, which led to the emergence of slave states in Central Asia and Transcaucasia, in the Volga region. Numerous nomadic tribes lived on the territory of the Northern Black Sea region, experiencing the stage of disintegration of the primitive communal system. This process took place most quickly among the Iranian-speaking Scythians, where a class society took shape. Herodotus (5th century BC) calls the entire population living north of the Black and Azov Seas Scythians. It is possible that the Scythians also included part of the Slavs who lived in Middle Transnistria (Scythian plowmen, or Borysthenes, from the ancient name of the Dnieper - Borysthenes). The Scythians were characterized by the development of patriarchal slavery associated with primitive communal relations. The property stratification among the Scythians reached significant proportions, as evidenced by the treasures found in the burial mounds of the Scythian kings. In the VI-IV centuries. BC. The Scythians united into a powerful tribal union. A strong Scythian state emerged with its capital in Scythian Naples (near Simferopol). During excavations of Scythian Naples, archaeologists discovered significant reserves of grain. Scythian farmers grew “the best wheat in the world” (Herodotus). Grain from Scythia was exported to Greece. The cities of the Black Sea region copied the structure of the Greek world. Ancient slavery, in contrast to slavery in eastern despotism and patriarchal slavery of peoples who were at the stage of disintegration of the primitive communal system, was based on a high level of development of commodity production. The craft has developed significantly. As a result of the wars, the number of slaves increased, which all free citizens had the right to own. Free citizens played a big role in governing the country in ancient states. Almost all the city-states of the Black Sea region were slave-owning republics. Behind the fortress wall rose majestic temples, residential and public buildings. In the first centuries of our era, the slave-holding city-states of the Black Sea region became dependent on Rome. K Sh century AD The crisis of the slave system clearly manifested itself, and in the 4th-5th centuries. AD The slave-holding powers fell under the onslaught of the Goths and Huns. Slave labor became unprofitable during the transition to iron tools. The invasion of barbarian tribes completed the fall of slave-owning civilization. Iron Age (from the 1st millennium BC): The transition of peoples to a class society was facilitated by the beginning of the manufacture of iron tools (at the turn of the 1st millennium AD). The widespread occurrence of iron deposits in the form of bog ores, its low cost compared to bronze, and the higher productivity of iron tools led to the displacement of bronze and stone products. The use of iron gave a huge impetus to the development of productive forces, led to the separation of crafts from agriculture, they began to produce products not only to order, but also for exchange, which meant the emergence of commodity production. The widespread occurrence of iron in our country dates back to the 1st millennium BC. The advancement of agriculture to the north from the warm climate zone led to the fact that on the lands where our distant ancestors, the Slavs, lived, prerequisites for the emergence of private property also began to appear; a class society arose, which required the organization of social relations, and, as a natural result, a state took shape.

Ethnogenesis of the Eastern Slavs, East Slavic tribes from ancient times,

The homeland of our ancestors is Eurasia. After last During the great Voldai glaciation, a mild climate established over the vast territory of Europe, where the Indo-Europeans lived, from the Atlantic to the Ural Range. conditions. The most important occupations of the Indians were hunting and gathering. Approximately 10-12 thousand years ago, natural conditions changed significantly, a significant cooling of the climate occurred, caused by the sliding of the Scandinavian ice sheet, cat. divided the previously unified natural-climatic Europe into 2 parts: Western and Eastern. Wild animals, cat. Indian tribes hunted and began to make seasonal migrations, going to the tundra in warmer months to escape insects. Hunters also migrated after the animals. Thus, in place of the former tribal unity, tribal isolation and differentiation arose. Ecologist. the crisis led to a transition from consuming forms of economic management to producing ones (Neolithic revolution). Languages ​​related to Indo-European are Indian, Greek, Chinese, Arabic, Celtic, Germanic, Baltic, Slavic, Armenian, Albanian. Study of ancient ancestors of the Slavs is based on a comparison of historical data. linguistics with precisely dated archaeological research. An important role is played by the arguments of time, indicators of the occurrence of important processes in the cultural and social spheres, imprinted in words and cultural indicators. Based on historical analysis. dialectology was able to establish that the ancestral Indo-Kaya cultures. community noun in 4-5 thousand BC - 3 thousand AD. The Indians began to actively colonize neighboring lands, often displacing local tribes. According to the scientist Lampricht, in 2g. BC. Germanic peoples emerged from the Indian community. A little later, speakers of the Baltic languages ​​separated from them. Baltic tribes settled a vast territory, including Verkh. The Dnieper region and the southern coast of the Baltic Sea. The territory of settlement of the Balts in the west was limited by the Dniester and Lower Vistula rivers, as well as the upper reaches of the western Dvina and Oka in the east. Scientists have not been able to determine the actual Proto-Slavic archaeological culture, the existence of cats. can be dated back to 2 thousand BC. however, it has been established that a single Baltic community of tribes existed for 1.5 thousand years. Around 500 BC. the unified Baltic community of tribes was divided into 3 groups: 1) Western (Prussians, Yatvingians, Sels, Guments); 2) middle (Livs, Aukshaits, Sklavs); 3) Dnieper (ancestors of the Chronicle Golyad) At about the same time, Slavic tribes separated from the Baltic tribes: 1) southern (ancestors of the Bulgarians, Macedonians, Slovenes, Serbs, Croats) 2) western (ancestors of the Slovaks, Poles, Czechs) 3) eastern ( ancestors of Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians) For many centuries, the Baltic and Slavic tribes actively contacted each other. At the final stage of the struggle, Dr. China with Turkic language. The nomadic Xiongnu formed the Huns tribe in the Urals. In 351, the Xiongnu turned northwest from China. walls, under the onslaught of the Huns, the Xiongnu forced out the German-speaking Goths, the Iranian-speaking Alans and part of the Sormatians, settling the Azov region and Crimea. In the 3rd century. the Goths settled the Roman Empire. In 375, the Huns invaded Europe. There was no mention of the Balts and Slavs at this time; they were excluded from the formation of Western European civilization. The beginning of the image of the state among the East Slavs dates back to the 6th century. At this time, large intertribal alliances arise. The main source of the story is “The Tale of Bygone Years” by Nestor.

PEOPLES AND ANCIENT STATES ON THE TERRITORY OF RUSSIA

1. Languages ​​of the peoples of Russia and neighboring states

Problems of the origin of peoples and ethnic communities are among the most complex. As a rule, the beginning of the formation of ethnic communities is associated with distant eras of the primitive communal system, when writing had not yet appeared. It is known that the main difference between one ethnic community and another is language. Therefore, modern science divides all peoples living on Earth into large linguistic families. The territory of the Russian Federation and the Commonwealth of Independent States is inhabited by peoples of the Indo-European, Ural, Altai, and Caucasian language families.

One of the largest is the Indo-European language family. It includes Romanesque, Germanic, Baltic, Slavic, Iranian groups. Scientists believe that the peoples of the Indo-European family originate from one forefather - the Aryans. The Aryans lived in Asia, on the Iranian hills, from time immemorial. Over time, the Aryans moved south and west. Gradually they settled in the territory of modern Iran, Asia Minor, Southern and Eastern Europe, Central Asia and the Hindustan Peninsula. In the 2nd millennium BC. they formed a single cultural community that corresponded to the Indo-European family. Subsequently, this family split into several groups: Romanesque (French, Italians, Spaniards, Romanians, Moldovans will descend from it), Germanic (Germans, English, Swedes, Danes, Norwegians), Iranian (Tajiks, Afghans), Baltic (Latvians, Lithuanians) , Slavic (Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians).

Another large language family is Uralic. It is divided into Finno-Ugric and Samoyed groups. The peoples of the Finno-Ugric group (Finns, Estonians, Karelians, Udmurts, Maris, Komi, Mordovians, etc.) have long occupied the territory of the northern half of the East European Plain - between the Baltic Sea and the Urals, from there its tribes settled in the European North, in the Volga region and Western Siberia. The peoples of the Samoyed group (Nenets, Nganasans, Selkups) occupy the tundra regions of the European part of the country and Western Siberia, the lower reaches of the Yenisei, and the south of Taimyr.

The Altai family includes the Turkic (Chuvash, Tatars, Bashkirs, Nogais, Kumyks, Karachais, Balkars, Kazakhs, Uzbeks, etc.), Mongolian (Buryats, Kalmyks), Tungus-Manchu groups (Evenks, Evens, etc.). The history of the Turkic peoples is closely connected with the history of the Eastern Slavs. The ancestral home of the Turkic peoples is the steppes of Central Asia. At the beginning of the Iron Age, they penetrated north, into Siberia, the Urals, Central Asia, and the Caucasus. During the era of the great migration of peoples, they began their advance to Eastern Europe and further to the west.

Peoples of the Caucasian language family have lived in the mountain gorges of the North Caucasus since the Bronze Age. It includes Kartvelian (Georgians), Abkhazian-Adyghe (Abkhazians, Kabardians, Circassians, Adygeians, Circassians, Adygheans) and Nakh-Dagestanian (Chechens, Ingush, Avars, Darginians, Lezgins, etc.) groups.

2. The ancient world and ancient peoples on the territory of Russia and adjacent regions

Modern humans (Homo sapiens) appeared on the territory of our country in the Black Sea region and in the south of Central Asia approximately 30 thousand years ago. At that time, the central and northern regions of the European part of Russia were covered with a glacier. Primitive people were engaged in hunting, gathering, and fishing. As the climate warmed and glaciers melted, primitive people began to settle from the southwestern and southern regions to the north and east. By the Y millennium BC. people penetrated to the upper reaches of the Volga and into the territory of the modern Baltic states and Karelia, and in the 3rd - 2nd millennium BC. - to the Barents Sea and to the southern regions of Siberia (to Baikal), after which they began to gradually move towards the north of the Asian part of the country.

The southern regions, due to favorable natural conditions, were significantly ahead in their development of other parts of European and Asian territory. The development of material production, an increase in population and the growth of property inequality led to the decomposition of the primitive communal system, which did not occur simultaneously in different regions of Eurasia. At the turn of the 3rd and 2nd millennia BC. Slave states arose in Transcaucasia, Central Asia and the Black Sea region. It is important to note that they all appeared in the south and developed independently of each other for a long time. The general events of their history were most often caused by the invasion of the same foreign conquerors. These states had no contact with the western and central regions of the European part of Russia, where a thousand years later the foundations of ancient Russian statehood began to form. Contacts with this territory were hampered by mountains or semi-deserts lying in the way, as well as a wide strip of steppes where warlike pastoral tribes roamed. From the first centuries of our era, the steppes became the main route for large nomadic hordes to penetrate from Asia into Europe, often destroying everything in their path.

State of Urartu. In the 9th century BC. in Transcaucasia, around Lake Van (now in Turkey), the state of Urartu was formed from several dozen Armenian tribes. By the middle of the 7th century. the state occupied the territory from Lake Sevan in Armenia to the upper reaches of the Tigris and Euphrates and became one of the significant states of the Ancient East. Urartu was engaged in agriculture and gardening using artificial irrigation. Cattle breeding was widely developed. The cities of Urartu were fortified with walls and towers made of huge stones. Skilled artisans made tools, household utensils, weapons, and expensive gold jewelry from clay, copper and iron. The state of Urartu had to constantly wage defensive wars with neighboring Assyria, which sought to enslave Urartu. The state reached its peak by the middle of the 8th century. BC, but in the 6th century. after the invasion of the Scythians, the state perished. The Armenian tribes became the basis for the Armenian kingdom that later formed here.

To the west of it, the Colchis kingdom was formed from Georgian and Abkhaz tribes, and to the north - the Georgian kingdom of Kartli (Iberia). Somewhat later - in the 4th century BC. - the state of Albania arose on the territory of northern Azerbaijan.

Peoples of Central Asia. The history of the peoples of Central Asia goes back centuries.

In the middle of the 1st millennium BC. Three states arose here: Sogdiana (Zerafshan basin), Bactria (southern parts of modern Tajikistan and Uzbekistan) and Khorezm (in the lower reaches of the Amu Darya).

In the 5th century BC. Transcaucasia and Central Asia briefly came under the rule of the Persian Empire. In the 4th century. these areas were conquered by Alexander the Great. There were large and powerful cities here: Khojent, Samarkand. The population was engaged in agriculture, cattle breeding, and crafts. There was a developed irrigation system.

The Arab conquest (VII - VIII centuries AD), which brought with it Islam, had a significant influence on the history of Transcaucasia and especially Central Asia. In the Caucasus, Islam spread among the ancestors of Azerbaijanis and other peoples of the Eastern and Northern Caucasus. Armenians and Georgians, who had established Christianity in the first centuries of our era, staunchly resisted Islamization, but some groups of Georgians (Adjarians, Ingiloi, etc.) were later converted to Islam. In Central Asia, Islam gradually became the main religion of the entire population. In socio-economic terms, the Arab conquest coincided with the emergence of feudal relations and partly contributed to this process.

After the collapse in the 9th century. The Arab Caliphate created a number of feudal states in Transcaucasia. In the 11th century During the struggle against the Seljuk Turks who penetrated into Transcaucasia from Central Asia, the unification of Georgian lands took place, which culminated under David the Builder with the creation of a single Georgian kingdom with its capital in Tbilisi. This kingdom reached its socio-economic and cultural prosperity under Queen Tamara (late 12th - early 13th centuries). At that time, the borders of Georgia included most of Armenia (with its capital Ani) as a vassal state. To the north of it were the Abkhazian kingdom and independent Kakheti, to the east (on the territory of Azerbaijan) were the Albanian kingdom and a number of other feudal states, the largest among which was Shirvan (with its capital in Shemakha).

In Central Asia, after the collapse of the Arab Caliphate, several states arose (Samanids, Karakhanids, etc.), the largest among which was Khorezm. The Shahs of Khorezm managed to repel the invasion of the Seljuk Turks and extend their power by the 13th century to almost the entire territory of Central Asia, as well as to the southern Caspian regions, including part of Azerbaijan.

Greek colonies. In the 1st millennium BC. The ancient Greeks began to explore the shores of the Black Sea. Greek colonization reached its greatest extent in the 6th - 5th centuries. BC. At this time, in the Northern and Eastern Black Sea and Azov regions, the Greeks created such large cities - colonies as Tiras (the mouth of the Dniester), Olvia (Ochakov region), Chersonesos (Sevastopol region), Feodosia, Panticapaeum (Kerch region), Tanais (the mouth of the Don) , Phanagoria (Taman Peninsula), Dioskuria (Sukhumi region), Fasis (mouth of Rion).

In the 5th century BC. Panticapaeum became the center of a large slave-owning power - the Bosporan Kingdom (5th century BC - 4th century AD), which covered a significant part of the Azov region. Trade, agriculture, cattle breeding, fishing, and handicraft production actively developed here.

Greek city-states copied the structure and way of life of the Greek world. Almost all of them were slave republics. Slaves were acquired as a result of wars, and all free citizens could own them. Large land holdings developed here, producing grain, wine, and oil. Crafts were at a high level, which was greatly facilitated by widespread trade.

The Greek colonies maintained trade and cultural ties with the Scythian tribes who lived in the Black Sea and Azov steppes and with the Caucasian peoples.

At the turn of our era, the Greek colonies were subjected to repeated attacks by nomads, and in the 3rd century, when the great migration of peoples began, they all ceased to exist.

Scythians. To the north of the Greek Crimean settlements lived numerous nomadic Scythian tribes. They created a vibrant and unique culture that left a deep mark on the history of the peoples of the southern part of Eastern Europe and the regions of Western and Central Asia. The earliest mentions of the Scythians are contained in written sources. The “Father of History,” the Greek historian Herodotus (5th century), dedicated the fourth book of his history to them. He called the Iranian-speaking tribes Scythians who occupied the space from the mouth of the Danube, the Lower Bug, the Dnieper to the Sea of ​​Azov and the Don. During this period, the Scythians were in the process of decomposing the primitive communal system, and a class society was taking shape. On the territory of the former USSR, the Scythians were among the first to create their own state.

Following the example of Herodotus, according to the method of farming, the Scythians are usually divided into Scythian nomads and Scythian ploughmen. Scythian nomads roamed the Lower Dnieper region, Crimea, and the Azov region. On the right bank of the Lower Dnieper lived Scythians - plowmen. They lived in half-dugouts, the depth of which did not exceed 1 m. The Scythians - plowmen cultivated wheat, flax, hemp, and raised cows, sheep, goats, and pigs. Grain from Scythia was exported to Greece. They were engaged in various crafts, the most important of which was metallurgy. Scythian plowmen were also engaged in bone carving, weaving, and pottery.

The Scythian nomads were cattle breeders. They left the most famous treasures and burials, which allow us to judge the level of their development. Horse breeding played a major role among the Scythians. The horse was the favorite and main animal, and its image was a favorite and integral decoration of many Scythian products.

Since the Scythians constantly changed camps, they developed a special type of dwelling - a felt yurt placed on a wagon.

In the VI - IV centuries. BC e. The Scythians united into a powerful tribal union. In the 3rd century. BC. on its basis a strong Scythian state emerged with its capital in Scythian Naples (Simferopol region). From the point of view of political structure, the Scythians represented a military democracy. Power belonged to the military assembly. At the head of the tribe was the leader - the king, he was considered the supreme military leader. The Scythian tribal nobility was fabulously rich, owned a huge number of slaves and had strong power. Slavery among the Scythians reached significant proportions. Not only prisoners of war, but also free people from subordinate tribes became slaves. In the event of the death of the king, the royal convoy was also killed in order to serve the master in the other world. The Scythians adopted from the Greek aristocrats a passion for accumulating gold and its obligatory placement with the deceased.

By the 3rd century. BC e. the general situation in the Northern Black Sea region has changed significantly. The troops of Alexander the Great dealt a crushing blow to the Scythians. The territory of the Scythians is greatly reduced and is limited only to the Crimean Peninsula. Relations between the Greek city-states and the Scythians are deteriorating. From the east, the Scythians begin to push back the Sarmatians. At the beginning of the 3rd century. AD The Goths came to the Northern Black Sea region. They destroyed the Scythian cities. The final defeat of the Scythian state was carried out by the Huns, who appeared on the Crimean Peninsula in the 70s. IV century AD

The Great Migration of Peoples in the 3rd - 4th centuries. In the III-IV centuries AD. The time of struggle between hundreds of barbarian tribes and neighboring states began. This period of world history is also called the great migration of peoples. Barbarians from the steppes and forests conquered rich southern cities and settled in new places. This process contributed to the collapse of the Roman Empire and Byzantium. At the same time, he had a great influence on the formation of the Romanesque, Germanic and Slavic peoples.

The migration of peoples proceeded in two directions. Tribes of Celts, Germans, and later Slavs moved from northwestern Europe to the south and southwest. Hordes of nomads moved from the east from Asia to the west. In the 4th century. AD nomads - the Huns - traveled from the Great Wall of China to France, the Alans - the ancestors of modern Ossetians - from the North Caucasus to Spain. At the same time, Germanic tribes visited the Black Sea, Italy, and northern Africa. Beginning of the 6th century characterized by the strongest pressure of the Slavs on Byzantium. Byzantine historians describe the invasion of the empire by Slavic troops and its settlement by Slavic colonists.

Modern science has come to the conclusion that all the diversity of current space objects was formed about 20 billion years ago. The Sun - one of the many stars in our galaxy arose

10 billion years ago. Our Earth, an ordinary planet in the solar system, is 4.6 billion years old. It is now generally accepted that man began to separate from the animal world about 3 million years ago.

The periodization of human history at the stage of the primitive communal system is quite complex. Several variants are known.

The archaeological diagram is most often used. In accordance with it, the history of mankind is divided into three large stages depending on the material from which the tools used by man were made (Stone Age: 3 million years ago - the end of the 3rd millennium before

AD; Bronze Age: from the end of the 3rd millennium BC. - I millennium BC

AD; Iron Age - from the 1st millennium BC

STONE AGE

Among different peoples in different regions of the Earth, the appearance of certain tools and forms of social life did not occur simultaneously. The process of human formation was underway (anthropogenesis, from the Greek.

"anthropos" - man, "genesis" - origin) and the formation of human society (soschugenesis, from the Latin "sopietas" - society and

Greek "genesis" - origin).

The most ancient ancestors of modern man resembled apes, who, unlike animals, were able to produce tools. In the scientific literature, this type of ape-man is called homo habilis - a skilled man. The further evolution of the habilis led to the appearance 1.5-1.6 million years ago of the so-called Pithecanthropus (from the Greek "pithekos" - monkey, "anthropos" -

man) or archanthropes (from the Greek "achaios" - ancient). Archanthropes were already people. 300-200 thousand years ago, archanthropes were replaced by a more developed type of person - paleoanthropes or Neanderthals

• (at the place of their first discovery in the Neanderthal area in Germany).

During the Early Stone Age - Paleolithic* (approximately 700 thousand,

years ago) man entered the territory of Eastern Europe. Behind-

the village came from the south. Archaeologists find traces of the presence of ancient people in the Crimea (Kiik-Koba caves), in Abkhazia (not far from Sukhumi -

Yashgukh), in Armenia (Satani-Dar hill near Yerevan), as well as

in Central Asia (southern Kazakhstan, Tashkent region). In the Zhitomir area

and on the Dniester, traces of people being here 500-300 thousand years ago were found.

Great Glacier. About 100 thousand years ago, a significant part of the territory of Europe was occupied by a huge glacier up to two kilometers thick (since then the snowy peaks of the Alps and Scandinavian mountains were formed). The emergence of the glacier affected the development of mankind. The harsh climate forced man to use natural fire,

and then extract it. This helped a person survive in extreme cold conditions. People learned to make piercing and

cutting objects (stone knives, spearheads, scrapers,

needles, etc.). Obviously, the emergence of articulate speech and the clan organization of society dates back to this time. The first, still extremely vague, religious ideas began to emerge, as evidenced by the appearance of artificial burials.

Difficulties of the struggle for existence, fear of the forces of nature and

the inability to explain them was the reason for the emergence of the pagan religion. Paganism represented the deification of the forces of nature,

animals, plants, good and evil spirits. This huge complex of primitive beliefs, customs, and rituals preceded the spread of world religions (Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, etc.).

During the Late Paleolithic period (35-10 thousand years ago), the melting of the glacier ended and a climate similar to the modern one was established.

The use of fire for cooking, the further development of tools, as well as the first attempts to regulate relations between the sexes significantly changed the physical type of man. Exactly to

This time includes the transformation of the skilled man (homo habilis)

into homo sapiens (homo sapiens). Based on the place where it was first found, it is called Cro-Magnon (Cro-Magnon area in France). At the same time,

obviously as a result of adaptation to the environment in the conditions of the existence of sharp differences in climate between different regions of the globe

"Paleolithic - ancient Stone Age (from the Greek "palaios" - ancient, "cast" -

stone). Accordingly: “mesos” - average, “neos” - new; hence the Mesolithic,

The existing races (Caucasian, Negroid and Mongoloid) were also formed.

The processing of stone and especially bone and

horns. Scientists sometimes call the Late Paleolithic the "Bone Age." TO

Finds from this time include daggers, spearheads, harpoons, yokes with an eye, awls, etc. Traces of the first long-term settlements have been discovered. Not only caves, but also

huts and dugouts built by man. Remains of jewelry have been found that make it possible to reproduce the clothing of that time.

During the Late Paleolithic period, the primitive herd was replaced by a higher form of social organization - the clan community. Ro-

A family community is an association of people of the same kind who have collective property and run a household based on age and

sexual division of labor in the absence of exploitation.

Before the advent of pair marriage, kinship was established through the maternal line. At this time, women played a leading role in the household.

which determined the first stage of the clan system - matriarchy, which lasted until the time of the spread of metal.

Many works of art created in the Late Paleolithic era have reached us. Picturesque colorful rock carvings of animals that were hunted by people of that time (mammoths, bison,

bears, deer, horses, etc.), as well as figurines depicting a female deity, were discovered in caves and sites in France, Italy, and the Southern Urals (the famous Kapova Cave).

In the Mesolithic, or Middle Stone Age (10-8 thousand years ago),

new advances were made in stone processing. The tips and blades of knives, spears, and harpoons were then made as a kind of inserts from thin flint plates. A stone ax was used to process wood. One of the most important achievements was the invention of the bow, a long-range weapon that made it possible to more successfully hunt animals and birds. People learned to make snares and hunting traps.

The dog was tamed, followed by the pig. Eurasia was finally populated: man reached the shores of the Baltic and Pacific Oceans.

At the same time, as many researchers believe, people came from Siberia through the Chukotka Peninsula to America.

Neolithic revolution. Neolithic - the last period of the Stone Age (7-5 ​​thousand years ago) is characterized by the appearance of grinding

and drilling stone tools (axes, adzes, hoes). To items

handles were attached. Since this time, pottery has been known.

People began to build boats, learned to weave nets for fishing,

Significant changes in technology and forms of production at this time are sometimes called the "Neolithic Revolution". Its most important result was the transition from gathering, from appropriating economy

to the producer. Man was no longer afraid to break away from his habitual places,

could settle more freely in search of better living conditions, exploring new lands.

Depending on the natural and climatic conditions in the area

Eastern Europe and Siberia have developed different types of economic activity. Cattle-breeding tribes lived in the steppe zone from the middle Dnieper to Altai. Farmers settled in the territories of modern Ukraine, Transcaucasia, Central Asia, and southern Siberia. The hunting and fishing economy was typical for the northern, forested regions of the European part and Siberia. The historical development of individual regions was uneven. Cattle breeding developed more quickly

and agricultural tribes. Agriculture gradually penetrated into the steppe regions.

From among the sites of farmers in Eastern Europe and

Central Asia can be distinguished by Neolithic settlements in Turkmenistan

(near Ashgabat), in Armenia (near Yerevan), etc. In Central Asia in

IV millennium BC The first artificial irrigation systems were created. On the East European Plain, the oldest agricultural culture was Tripolye, named after the village of Tripolye near Kyiv (3rd millennium BC). Tripolpe settlements were discovered by archaeologists on the territory from the Dnieper to the Carpathians. They were large settlements of farmers and cattle breeders, whose dwellings were located in a circle. During excavations of these villages, grains of wheat, barley, and millet were discovered. Wooden sickles with flint inserts, stone grain grinders and other items were found. The Trypillian culture dates back to the Copper-Stone Age - the Eneolithic (III-1st millennium BC).