New evidence of initial agriculture in the Western Dvina basin

Multidisciplinary investigations targeted at the evidence of the initial agriculture were conducted by Russian and Byelorussian researchers in 2004–2005 in the Vitebsk area. They included palynological and paleobotanical investigation of the peat bog, located close to the Early Iron Age Luzhesno hill-fort. The botanical and pollen analyses controlled by radiocarbon dating provided the full sequence of vegetation development for the entire period of Holocene. The occurrence of cultivated cereals (wheat cf. Triticum sp. and rye cf. Secale sp.) as well as weeds is acknowledged starting with the final stage of the Subboreal period (mid–2nd millennium BC), much earlier than had been previously thought. The common occurrence of rye and wheat corresponds to the final stage in the hill-fort's existence (4th–7th centuries AD).