The Dregovichs or more correctly
Dregovichi (
Belarusian ?????????,
Dryhavicy,
IPA&_160;
[dr??av?i't??];
Russian ?????????, Dregovichi;
Ukrainian ?????????, 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 (the borders of the tribe's domain are still not eastablished to this day). The name of the tribe probably derives from the
Old Ruthenian word
?????? or
?????? (drehva, or dryahva, which means "swamp") due to the fact that the Dregovichs used to live in the
marshlands.
The first known reference to Dregovichi 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 Dregovichs left some archaeological monuments of the 9th and the 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). One could find sepulchral structures that look like small wooden houses with span roofs.
The principal city of the Dregovichs was Turaw. Other cities included Slutsk, Kletsk and Drutsk, all in the territory of the modern Belarus.
