А COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE HISTORY OF SLAVIC ETHNIC GROUPS OF THE PAGAN PERIOD: THE TRIBES OF SOUTH-EASTERN AND NORTHERN RUS

The paganism of the ancient Slavs is not in itself a unique phenomenon in the world history of cultures, it is a Slavic variant of the universal pagan massif, but the variant is unique. This is a whole worldview, that is, a holistic system of ideas about the world and man's place in it. However, in science this topic is insufficiently studied, which attracts many researchers, becoming a topical issue. In the historical literature, one of the central is the problem of the origin of the people (ethnogenesis). Clarification of the question of the ethnogenesis of the Eastern Slavs is the first link in the process of restoring the pedigree of the Ukrainian nation. Therefore, the article analyzes the first written references to the Slavs, which were left by ancient Roman, Byzantine authors, the compiler of the Tale of Bygone Years. On the basis of comparison of archeological and written sources the area of settlement of separate East Slavic tribes is traced. Material evidence of burial practices that existed in the Slavic environment, in particular mounds, is characterized. During the early medieval period of the history of the Eastern Slavs, the genesis of the burial rite can be traced to the northerners, Vyatichi, Radimichi, Smolensk-Polovsk and Pskov Krivichi. The archeological artifacts and features of cremation described in the article provide grounds to assert the separate development of these tribes, which was due primarily to the geographical factor. Given the above, the opinion is substantiated that the territory of residence of the Eastern Slavs was divided into four large segments: the forest zone of the Dnieper right bank, the southern, southeastern and northern zones. It was within these limits that the life of the early medieval pagan Slavic tribes took place, which was characterized by a set of original cultural features.