Dregovichs

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The Dregovichs (Belarusian: дрыгавічы, dryhavičy, IPA: [drɨɣavʲiˈtʂɨ]; Russian: дреговичи́, dregovichi; Ukrainian: дреговичі, drehovychi) were one of the tribal unions of Early East Slavs, and inhabited the territories down the stream of the Pripyat River and northern parts of the right-bank Dnieper river (more exact extents of the tribe's domain are still unknown). The name of the tribe probably derives from the Old Ruthenian word дрегва or дрягва (drehva, or dryahva, which means "swamp") because the Dregovichs used to live in the marshlands.

The first known reference to Dregovichs is in the Primary Chronicle, where they are listed among the twelve nations. By the 12th century they were assimilated into the main East Slavic peoples.

The chronicles do not tell historians much about the Dregovichs. We only know that they had their own princely rule in the city of Turov. In the 10th century, the lands of the Dregovichs became a part of Kievan Rus and later—the Turaw Principality. The northwestern part of the land of the Dregovichs became a part of the Polotsk Principality.

The Dregovichs left some archaeological monuments of the 9th and 10th century along the Pripyat, such as the remnants of agricultural settlements and kurgans with incinerated bodies (unlike the kurgans of 11th–12th century with intact bones). There are sepulchral structures that look like small wooden houses with span roofs.

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