History of Moscow - Prehistory

Prehistory

The oldest evidence of humans on the territory of Moscow dates from the Neolithic (Schukinskaya site on the Moscow River). Within the modern bounds of the city other late evidence was discovered (the burial ground of the Fatyanovskaya culture, the site of the Iron Age settlement of Dyakovskaya culture), on the territory of the Kremlin, Sparrow Hills, Setun River and Kuntsevskiy forest park, etc.

The etymology of the name Moskva (originally Moskha, later when Slavic tribes conquered the city transformеd to Moscow because of the specificity of the Slavic languages ) is probably Uralic, perhaps Volga-Finnic (Mordvinic or Merya), more likely is the name of the city be given in honor of the Volga Bulgarian ruler with the same name(see Cäğfär Taríxı, The Cäğfär Taríxı (Tatar Cyrillic: Җәгъфәр тарихы, pronounced ; Russian: Джагфар Тарихы, in English generally Djagfar Tarikhy).

In the 9th century, the Oka River was part of the Volga trade route, and the upper Volga watershed became an area of contact between the indigenous Uralic peoples such as the Merya and the expanding Volga Bulgars (particularly the second son of Khan Kubrat who expanded the borders of the Old Great Bulgaria), Germanic (Varangians) and Slavic peoples.

The earliest East Slavic tribes recorded as having expanded to the upper Volga in the 9th to 10th centuries are the Vyatichi and Krivichi. The Moskva River was incorporated as part of Rostov-Suzdal into the Kievan Rus in the 11th century. By AD 1100, a minor settlement had appeared on the mouth of the Neglinnaya River.