Yurovichi. The site of primitive man.

At the beginning of the 20th century, village children began to bring huge bones to school that did not look like the remains of wild or domestic animals. These finds interested the director of the educational institution, Julian Popel, and he decided to organize the first excavations in the vicinity of Jurovichi. After the discovery of mammoth bones, the specialists of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus became interested in the area, who sent a scientific expedition to Yurovichi. The results of their work were amazing: bones, tusks, mammoth teeth, remains of other wild animals, including the extinct woolly rhinoceros, tools made of silicon, remains of ancient dwellings and foundations made of animal bones, as well as the remains of stone-lined campfires.

The age of the discovered site is more than 26 thousand years old, which refers to the Late Paleolithic. Scientists claim that an ancient settlement existed on this site for several millennia, until a glacier came to this part of Europe. With climate change, people had to move south to survive. When the glacier retreated, people returned to these lands, because the area was fertile: the rivers were full of fish, the forests abounded with wildlife, and from the natural elevation it was convenient to defend and monitor the herds.

For many years, scientific work was carried out at the parking lot. Almost 100 years after the first finds, in 2021, a unique open-air museum was opened on the territory of the ancient settlement. The museum's exposition includes an observation deck with a picturesque view of the Yurovichi neighborhood, a Cro-Magnon sculpture and a full-length mammoth figure, boulders with copies of cave drawings discovered on European territory, and an exhibition pavilion with a panorama reflecting the life of primitive people. The exhibition features tools, household items and bones of ancient animals.