Fifty-eight Stone Age buildings discovered at 31 settlement sites are currently known in Belarus. Our attention is focused on 21 pit-houses, which are presumably dated to the 4th millennium BC and were found at 13 sites in southern Belarus. They are mainly related to the Eastern Polessye and Upper-Dnieper cultures of the Dnieper-Donets cultural complex, as well as to the Neman culture. Analysis of the shapes, sizes and constructive features of these pit-houses revealed both similarities (size up to 11 m2, depth ca. 0.3–0.5 m and the presence of rounded fireplaces without stones) and differences (rectangular or oval shapes for the Eastern Polessye culture and rounded for the Upper-Dnieper culture). Analogues of the Belarusian building remains exist on the territories of Ukraine and Lithuania. The distribution of these pit-houses indicates an architectural tradition that differs significantly from the second geographically well-defined pit-house area from the 4th millennium BC, which is located in Finland, north-western Russia and the northern coast of Estonia.
Comprehensive multidisciplinary research was held in 2018–2019 at Nebyshino 1 site located in the Dokshitsky district, Vitebsk region, Belarus. The analysis archaeological materials obtained during excavations made along the mineral edge of the butte and in the peaty part of the settlement were supplemented by archaeobotanical study, analysis of the osteological materials, and radiocarbon dating of wood and bone remains from the cultural horizon. The analysis of Nebyshino 1 flint artifacts and synchronization with the dating of the osteological samples made it possible to consider the preboreal and boreal periods as the main stages in the functioning of the settlement. The flint collection of Nebyshino 1 displays similarities with the flint inventory of the Zamosh’e settlement (Verkhnedvinski district, Vitebsk region), located in the basin of the Western Dvina. The cultural attribution of the archaeological materials of Nebyshino 1 presupposes that the site is related to the Kunda culture. At present time the absolute chronology of Nebyshino 1 site can be considered within the framework of the Preboreal — Atlanticum, since the lower chronological boundary (the second half of the Alleroid — Late Dryas) requires archaeological and palynological confirmation. The upper boundary of the settlement is determined by two dates corresponding to the second half of the Atlantic period, and by the presence in the cultural horizon a small number of fragments of Early Neolithic pottery of the Narva culture.
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