Dregovichians

(possibly from driagva or drega, swamp), a tribal federation of eastern Slavs living along the Pripiat’ River and in the more northerly regions of the right bank of the Dnieper, the exact borders of which have not been established. Archaeological monuments of the Dregovichians from the ninth and tenth centuries found along the Pripiat’ include remnants of agricultural settlements, burial mounds that indicate that cremation was practiced, and small fortified towns. Burial mounds from the 11th and 12th centuries show that by this time the Dregovichians interred their dead; some burial structures took the form of small wooden houses with gabled roofs. The chronicles offer no information on the history of the Dregovichians. It is known only that in early times they had their own principality whose chief city was Turov on the Pripiat’. In the tenth century the lands of the Dregovichians were incorporated into Kievan Rus’, later becoming the main territory of the principality of Turov. The northwestern border region became part of the principality of Polotsk.