INFORMATION NAS of Belarus for the drying stand, which is planned to stretch on the archaealagic complex on the river. Mentsy
1. General information.The archaeological complex, known as the settlement on the Menka River, is shaking from the fortified settlement of Detinets, four settlements, posads and several kurgan groups, which have already been completely plundered. The settlement is located on the right bank of the Menki River (a right tributary of the Ptichi River). It consists of two parts-a small and a large settlement. The small Settlement is located on a promontory formed by the confluence of the Danube Stream and the Menka River. It has an oval platform measuring 80 x 16 m, low ramparts surround it on three sides. The large settlement adjoins the small one from the south-eastern side. The size of its site is 120 x 120 m. The settlement is surrounded on all sides by a rampart 8-12 m high, in which there are three gaps.
Four settlements are located around the settlement. Settlement 1 is directly connected to the settlement from the southeastern side and is separated from it by a moat. Its area is approximately 9 hectares. Settlement 2 is located on the western side of the settlement, on the opposite, left bank of the Danube stream. Its area is not more than 10 hectares. The other two settlements are located on the left bank of the Menka River. These settlements are separated by a ravine, probably the bed of a dried-up stream. The area of settlement 3 is approximately 6 hectares, and settlement 4 is 4 hectares. Today, settlement 1 is being opened up, the rest have fallen under the construction of the secondary village of Gorodishche.
For the first time in the settlement in the 19th century. P. M. Shpilevsky drew attention. In 1930, the settlement was surveyed by the local historian A. Ryneisky, who described it and made a plan. The first archaeological research in the 30s of the 20th century was carried out here by A. N. Levdansky and A. D. Kovalenya. Archaeological excavations of the settlement were restored in 1954 by A. G. Mitrofanov (an area of 160 m2 was investigated). A more extensive study of the complex was conducted in 1963-64, 1967-68 by E. M. Zagorulsky (an area of more than 600 m2 was studied). In 1969, M. A. Tkachev carried out a sweep of the western profile of the Southern rupture of the bolshoy Gorodishche shaft. From 1975 to 1983. The Menka River complex was studied by G. V. Shtykhov (an area of more than 2,500 m2 was studied). From 1996 to 2000, the study was conducted by Yu. A. Zayats (an area of 236 m2 was studied). In 2011-12, 2018, and 2020-23, the archaeological complex was studied by A. V. Voitekhovich (an area of 830 m2 was studied).
As a result, it was found out that the territory where the archaeological complex on the Menka River is located has been inhabited since the Mesolithic era (8-5 thousand years BC). Life here continued in the Neolithic and the Bronze Age (5-2 thousand years BC), as evidenced by the finds of stone axes. During the Iron Age, a small settlement was built. Open settlements appeared in the 19th century. In the tenth century, the settlement served as a trade and craft center for a large rural district. It is assumed that at the turn of the first and second millennia A.D. A large hillfort was built and the settlement acquired the main features that were inherent in the early Medieval city - a fortified detinets, which was joined by unfixed posts. Perhaps, at that time, the settlement, together with the district, was part of the Polotsk land. This may be evidenced by the finds of donets pots with the image of a trident, the ancestral sign of Prince Izyaslav Vladimirovich, the son of Princess Rogneda of Polotsk. Most scientists believe that the settlement on the Menka River is the chronicle city of Minsk, the center of the Minsk volost of Polotsk, which got its name from the Menka River. It is with this settlement that the events of 1067 are associated, according to the “tales of bygone years”: “in the year 6575 (1067). Vseslav son of Bracheslav raised an army in Polotsk, and occupied Novgorod. The three Yaroslavichs, Izyaslav, Svyatoslav, Vsevolod, gathered their warriors and marched against Vseslav in the bitter cold. And they came to Minsk, and the Russians closed in the city. These brothers took Minsk and killed all the husbands, and captured their wives and children and went to Nemiga..." the decline of the settlement began in the late XI-early XII centuries, when a new city was built at the confluence of the Nemiga River with Svisloch, and the Minsk volost became an appanage principality.
Life in the village was restored in the 14th century, when the feudal manor narrowed on the territory of the settlement, and the settlement itself turned into a small town. In the INCL Metric, a place called Gorodishche is mentioned under 1547. At various times, the estate was owned by representatives of the Statkevich, Polubinsky and Pischalov families. One of the last owners of the estate was Rudolf Pischallo.
2. A large hillfort.The large hillfort adjoins the small hillfort on the southeastern side. The size of its site is 120 x 120 m. The settlement is surrounded on all sides by a rampart 8-12 m high, in which there are three gaps, two of which were entrances to the territory of the settlement. There are traces of a ravine on the southern and eastern sides, and the northern part of the rampart is surrounded by the marshy floodplain of the Menki River. It is assumed that the ramparts were built at the turn of the first and second millennia A.D., when the Minsk volost became part of the Polotsk land. Log cabins built of oak logs were found in the lower part of the embankment of the shaft. The log cabins were located in two or three rows to each other along the shaft route. Inside, they were densely packed with sand and loam. The original height of the log defensive wall was 4 m, and the width of the original rampart was 14 m. There were wooden battle galleries at the top. In the XI century. These fortifications were destroyed by fire and the rampart was rebuilt at least twice. The site of the settlement was significantly damaged during the construction of the stadium in 1967. In its southern part, the cultural layer was almost completely destroyed. As a result of archaeological research, ruins of kilns, fragments of stucco and circular pots, fragments of clay amphorae, slate spinning wheels and pieces of slate, glass beads, metal jewelry, tools and household items were found. In the XI century. The large hillfort probably served as a fortified fortress of the ancient city.3. Small Settlement.The small Settlement is located on a promontory formed by the confluence of the Danube Stream and the Menka River. It has an oval platform measuring 80 x 16 m (an area of 0.12 ha), low ramparts up to 0.3 m high surround it on three sides. Previously, the site of the small settlement was also separated from the large settlement by a low rampart, this rampart is now invisible. The settlement was built by the population of the hatched ceramics culture in the Iron Age at the turn of the millennia BC and millennia AD Later, in the V-VIII centuries. it was used as a repository by representatives of the tribes of the Banzer culture. It is worth noting the discovery of beads from Egyptian faience of the II-III centuries. In the tenth century, the settlement could be used as a Detinets of the surrounding settlement. A large number of singed grains indicate the XI century. grain stocks were stored here. As a result of the research, stone millstones, slate spinning wheels, glass beads, stucco and circular tableware, metal jewelry, tools, household items, horse-drawn equipment and weapons items were found. Of the latter, it is necessary to note the discovery of the tip of the scabbard of the ball.4. Cemetery.In 1975, traces of underground cemeteries were discovered in the northwestern part of settlement 1. At that time, 18 skeletons were examined. Adults and children were buried there. In 2012, 5 more graves were investigated. All of them were in shallow pits buried in the cultural layer of the settlement. The skeletons were lying on their backs with their heads stretched out to the West. The dead had no inventory. As a result of the study of neighboring sites, it was found out that all the graves found belong to cemeteries that functioned in the XV-XVI centuries in this part of the settlement. A whole pot was found near the graves, in which, probably, a memorial dish was brought to the cemetery.
5. Settlement 1.Settlement 1 is directly connected to the settlement from the southeastern side and is separated from it by a moat. Its area is approximately 9 hectares. It stretches from west to east along the high floodplain terrace of the right bank of the Menka River. On the western side, the settlement lies on the high right bank of the Danube stream. As a result of many years of research, traces of manor buildings of the X-XI centuries have been found. Ruins of stoves, underground and utility pits have been preserved. Traces of a workshop that was engaged in the manufacture of spinning wheels from Ovruch slate (slate) have been traced. As a result of the research, numerous fragments and whole forms of molded and circular pots were found, including fragments of a richly ornamented amphora, fragments of clay pans. Stone products are represented by whetstones, slate spinning wheels and millstones. Numerous finds are glass beads of the X-XI centuries, brought from the countries of the East. The finds of silver Arabian dirhams coins and weight weights of various sizes testify to the developed trade. In addition, women's jewelry (pendants, temple rings, rings, bracelets) and elements of men's costume (fibulae, asparagus, belt linings), objects of Christian worship (crosses) made of non-ferrous metals were found. Many iron products are represented by knives, flints, tools, keys, agricultural implements, etc. Items of horse equipment (spur, stirrup, shackles, whip parts), arrowheads, rings from chain mail are sold. The found items demonstrate that artisans, merchants, and representatives of the militia lived in the settlement. This population composition indicates the urban nature of the habitat.
6. Settlement 2.Settlement 2 is located on the west side of the settlement, on the high right bank of the Menka River and the left sloping bank of the Danube stream. Its area is no more than 10 hectares. The settlement first began to be studied in 2020. As a result of the research, traces of manor buildings and craft production complexes were discovered. Objects and materials related to the early stage of settlement of this territory in the 19th century by the Slavic population were found on the gentle bank of the Danube stream. In particular, fragments of stucco pots of the population of the Luka-Raykovets and Romany cultures were identified. In other parts of the settlement, traces of Potter's activity and handicraft tools for stone processing have been found. Among the numerous fragments of Pots from the second half of the tenth to the beginning of the eleventh century, the bottom of a circular pot with the image of a trident, the ancestral sign of Prince Izyaslav Vladimirovich, the son of Princess Rogneda of Polotsk, was found on one of the objects. Other materials include clay and slate spinning wheels, glass beads, women's jewelry and men's costume items made of non-ferrous metals, iron accessories and household items. Not far from the confluence of the Danube stream with the Menka River, traces of a jewelry workshop operating in the second half of the XI-early XII centuries were discovered. As a result of the conducted research, matrices for the manufacture of belt linings, a fragment of a ring with a bar, spigots, fragments of crucibles and a clay casting frame, and ingots of non-ferrous metals were found. In addition, numerous lead trade seals with images of princely signs, saints, and letters were found. One of the seals with the image of a sword belonged to Prince Vsevolod of Grodno. In addition, belt linings, Arabic silver dirhams coins, and weight weights of various weights were found. All the materials found indicate a well-developed handicraft industry and active trade both with neighboring principalities and with more distant countries.7. The manor.In 2022-2023, during a study of the excavation in the southern part of the rampart of a large settlement, traces of a burnt-out building belonging to the manor complex were found. The wooden building, which housed a tile stove, was embedded in the shaft. It disappeared as a result of a fire in the second half of the 17th century and was never restored. The ruins of the furnace, which was made of brick inside and decorated with green-fuel tiles from the outside, fragments of the burnt floor and beams have been preserved from the building. The fire was covered with debris from the 17th and 19th centuries. As a result, fragments of clay, fuel and steaming dishes, flower pots, fragments of glass bottles, fragments of earthenware plates, including those made at the Sverzhenskaya Manufactory, fragments of all kinds of tiles, iron and non-ferrous metal products, coins, etc. were found.
