The Map of a Chiefdom in the Upper Dnieper Area: Towards the Methodology of Spatial Reconstruction of Archaic Polities

The paper presents a schematic map of the Gnezdovo archaeological complex and a map of the hierarchy of settlements around it. Analysis of the spatial organization of the capital city and the sub-centres of the second level around it allows us to confirm the hypothesis of the existence of a medium-scale centralized polity in the Upper Dnieper area. The analysis of the elite burials (in “large mounds” and “wooden chambers”) allows to state the presence of the formed elite and to identify the type of this polity as a chiefdom or close to it territorial and functional analogue.

Keywords

chiefdom, medium-scale polity, people Rus’, Gnezdovo archaeological site, the 10th century, historical mapping

Acknowledgment

The article was prepared within the framework of the project of the Foundation “Humanitarian Research of the Federal State Scientific Research University Higher School of Economics” — “Historical and Anthropological Atlas «End of the Millennium»: an electronic and graphical atlas of historical and anthropological phenomena of the world-system(s) of the Old World in the 10th century”.

Received

25.06.2022

Publication date

17.10.2022

Number of characters

30025

Cite

GOST	Schavelev A., Fetisov A. The Map of a Chiefdom in the Upper Dnieper Area: Towards the Methodology of Spatial Reconstruction of Archaic Polities // ISTORIYA – 2022. – V. 13. – Issue 8 (118) [Electronic resource]. URL: https://history.jes.su/S207987840022563-8-1 (circulation date: 18.03.2025). DOI: 10.18254/S207987840022563-8
MLA	Schavelev, Aleksey, Fetisov, Aleksandr "The Map of a Chiefdom in the Upper Dnieper Area: Towards the Methodology of Spatial Reconstruction of Archaic Polities." ISTORIYA 13.8 (118) (2022) DOI: 10.18254/S207987840022563-8
APA	Schavelev A., Fetisov A. (2022). The Map of a Chiefdom in the Upper Dnieper Area: Towards the Methodology of Spatial Reconstruction of Archaic Polities. ISTORIYA 13(8 (118)) DOI: 10.18254/S207987840022563-8

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