Veronika V. Murasheva^1,*, Andrey V. Panin^2,3,**, Alexey O. Shevtsov^1,***, Nadezhda N. Malysheva^1,****, Elya P. Zazovskaya^2,*****, Nataliya E. Zaretskaya^2,4,******

¹State Historical Museum, Moscow, Russia
²Institute of Geography RAS, Moscow, Russia
³Geography Faculty of M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia
⁴Geological Institute RAS, Moscow, Russia

*E-mail: vmurasheva@mail.ru
**E-mail: a.v.panin@igras.ru
***E-mail: ao.shevtsov@gmail.com
****E-mail: nadezhda-malysheva@mail.ru
*****E-mail: zaszovsk@gmail.com
******E-mail: zaretsk@igras.ru

Keywords: the period of Rus state formation, early town centres of Rus, calibration of radiocarbon dates, wiggle matching method.

The issue of dating the emergence of the Gnezdovo archaeological complex that functioned during the Rus state formation period is the subject of decades-long discussion between the supporters of two versions – the “early” (the 9th century) and the “late” one (the 10th century). Given the blurred dating of most artifacts and the absence of a dendrochronological scale for Smolensk region, the site chronology was clarified with radiocarbon wiggle-match dating. Felling dates for four tree trunks were obtained, three of which belong to the earliest stratum of the occupation deposit. The results made it possible to date the settlement foundation to no later than the last quarter of the 8th century which reconciles a number of contradictions accumulated during the study of the site.

DOI: 10.31857/S086960630012627-8