Beloozero

ancient Russian city on the right bank of the Sheksna River, located near Lake Beloe, the river’s source.

The city is mentioned in a chronicle under the year 862. The original inhabitants of Beloozero were members of the Ves’ tribe. During the tenth and 11th centuries Beloozero was drawn into the orbits of Novgorod and Kiev; in the 12th century it was connected with the territory of Rostov-Suzdal’. Beginning in 1238 it was the center of the Beloozero Principality and became a major trading and crafts center. Excavations by L. A. Golubeva during the years 1949–52 and 1957–65 have revealed a settlement inhabited by the Ves’ in the ninth and tenth centuries, which preceded Beloozero. Also discovered were urban structures dating from the 11th through the 13th centuries, such as street pavements, house foundations, administrative buildings, and the workshops of craftsmen. Examples have been discovered of artistic carving on bone, stone, and wood, drawings done on birchbark, weights for spindles, amphorae with individual letters and inscriptions, and imported products. At the end of the 14th century the town was moved 17 km to the west, to the site of present-day Belozersk.