Smolensk and the Varangians according to the archaeological data

The historical and archaeological sources from the Viking period which concern the city of Smolensk and the large cemetery at Gnyozdovo by the river Dnieper are discussed.

The author examines the most important find groups and grave types and asserts that extremely few specific Scandinavian traits are to be found.

His conclusion is that Smolensk was founded by the Slavs before the Gnyozdovo cemetery was established. The fact that only a few Scandinavian graves are known from the tenth century and none from the ninth and eleventh must mean that only small groups of Scandinavians had settled in the Smolensk area and these were rapidly assimilated with the Slav groups.