Ancient oaks revealed what happened a century before the appearance of the fortress on Menka

A scientific article with new data was published in the authoritative international journal Dendrochronologia (Elsevier publishing house) by a group of Belarusian researchers, including employees of the Institute of Experimental Botany and the Institute of History of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus Maxim Yarmokhin, Vitaly Motsny, Vitaly Lukin, Alexander Pugachevsky, and head of excavations Andrei Voitsekhovich, noted the Telegram channel "De facto. Belarusian Science".

And if determining the date of the rampart's construction is the fixation of a specific date in history, then a deep analysis of the wood allowed scientists to see the entire process of the settlement's development in dynamics.

An important aspect is the very fact of the publication of these data in a journal of the level of Dendrochronologia. This means that the methodology of Belarusian researchers underwent rigorous peer review.

Anomaly in the forest: what the oaks were silent about since 910

For the construction of defensive structures, our ancestors used enormous oaks, whose age at the time of felling reached 170 years. This means that these trees grew near the settlement throughout the 10th century and became involuntary witnesses to what was happening around them. To decipher this chronicle of nature, scientists analyzed the synchronicity of tree growth.

Usually, trees in the same forest grow synchronously and are subject to general climatic conditions: in a favorable year, all develop wide rings, while in a dry year, narrow ones.

However, researchers discovered a strange anomaly in the wood on Menka. In the period from approximately 910 to the 980s, the synchronicity of growth in the studied samples sharply breaks down. Instead of a single rhythm, different trees show sharp growth spurts or, conversely, signs of suppression and mechanical damage at completely different times.

Scientists unequivocally interpret this dendrochronological data as evidence of strong and prolonged anthropogenic impact. A sharp acceleration in the growth of an individual tree usually means that its "neighbor" was cut down, allowing the surviving tree to gain access to more light and nutrients.

This directly indicates that people actively cut down the forest for timber or cleared territory for fields. In addition, lifetime wounds that later healed were recorded on the tree trunks. This is a sure sign that economic activity was taking place in the immediate vicinity — perhaps livestock was grazing, forest roads were being laid, or the first dwellings were being built.

Павялічыць

This period of ecological "turbulence" continued from the first decade of the 10th century right up to the very moment of the fortress's construction at the end of the century.

The city did not emerge on empty land

This discovery fundamentally changes the perception of Minsk's early history. It proves that the grand construction of a mighty fortress in 997–998 was not the beginning of life in this area.

The construction of the walls became a logical stage in the development and strengthening of an already existing large settlement, which had been forming and actively developing for at least 80-90 years prior.

People settled on the banks of the Menka and Dunaj rivers long before some order transformed the rich settlement into an impregnable bastion. This refutes possible theories that the fortress was built "in a clear field" exclusively as a military outpost. People already lived here, who had been farming for decades, changing the landscape, and preparing resources.

Павялічыць

It is possible that these data indirectly confirm the hypothesis that Rahneda and Izyaslav might have been exiled not to an empty place where Zaslavl was built for them (which is mentioned in sources much later, only in 1127–1128), but to the settlement on Menka, which, as we now know, was later fortified with walls.

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