...The children played here long before the building of the Egyptian pyramids.

…Some kind of pits in the yard. Maybe for rubbish? And the eyes of archeologists burn with curiosity. This "rubbish", the silicic splinters, drives them mad. The owner of the country house, which is situated near the Neris, doesn’t even imagine how lucky he is. He might be the owner of the most ancient town house in the world, ten thousand years perhaps!

But the luckiest person in such a situation is Aleksej Luchtan, the docent of the archeology department of the Vilnius University. He is the discoverer. As far back as 1986 it was him who disinterred the most ancient capital of the Lithuanian principality, the mythical Lithuanian Troy, about which a lot of different legends exist and which was the object of archeologists for many years. And it was also him who, according to the godsend, estimated the year of its downfall — 1930. The crusaders destroyed proud town of the foremen. And the date of birth was promptly pushed deep into the ages. And when, after having dug whole the town with the pavement and roads, they reached the lonely, the only country house, which stood on the bank of the river, they found the deepening, that show the signs of the dwellings of the Stone age, just in the yard. So was it. The scientists found out that here some kind of the northern wigwams stood. A lot of splinters of silicic hand-made – knifes, axes, tips for the arrows, scrapers were found. The children played here long before the building of the Egyptian pyramids.

At the time of flourishing this town numbered about five thousands inhabitants. But today Kernave is a small settlement situated near the valley where the capital was found. Nobody could even imagine that beneficial meadows hide such a remarkable mystery. It was tried to find the ancient town near Kernava, not coming down to the low-lying place. These picturesque places have always attracted both the toilers and the conquerors, what in its turn explains the realities of today.

…But they had been digging around and near. And the capital was found with the help of… specialists in meliorations. Once Luchtan’s colleagues called him and declared, that in the trench near the river some kinds of the stones are.

- At first I decided that the mysterious medieval road passes through the swamp, Aleksej remembers. Such ways led out of the castles meandering under the water. The remainders of the fortress were found on the hills, but we didn’t manage to find the tracks of the town…

But after the drainage works were stopped, and the archeologists began their mission, took off a layer of sand, it became clear: this was the yard faced with masonry. Then thee street with the wooden carriageway.

And it was clear that the people just like us, with the same fortunes and misfortunes, lived there. The town of foremen was founded by the first settlements. Everything began with the silicic hand-made, which were found in the ancient town house. In the same yard, just in the center, the remainders of the oven of II, III century, which was used for the roasting, were found. Here, as everywhere around, other finds, of the XIII-XIV centuries, were also revealed – mostly the articles of professional activities. Jewelers, farriers, tailors and shoemakers lived there.

- Some kind of a factory section, which was revealed in one of the yards, gives evidence about high level of craft development in the XIII-XIV centuries, - A.Luchtan tells. – Here mass production of the jewellery was carried out.

A lot of things are just like those ones, which were found in Novgorod, the archeologist says. And this gives the evidence about communication between nations, interrelation of cultures, economies.

And here is a strange burial the head and a hand are separated from the skeleton>

- She is the witch. They behaved towards her in order not to let her cause a lot of harm after the death.

- According to the finds, it was very prestigious to have import things in the house. The large amount of Syrian Byzantine glass was found. And here is the unique godsend – glass-ring, obviously made one of the provinces.

Roman dinar gives evidence about tight economical relations with all the civilized world of that time. But why had life in these settlements been freezing for ages? This turned out to be of no mystery. Here are the remainders of the settlements of the V century and the traces of fire. A large amount of the three-ply tips for arrows were found.

- The hordes of Huns under the leadership of Attila passed with the mortal blow, - A. Luchtan explains.

Tips are the traces of invasion. They are revealed up to central Lithuania.

After the invasion life in these places died for a long time. And then it flourished again.

- But in 1390 the inhabitants burnt up their own town in order not to give it to the crusaders, - the archeologist says.

And this is the evidence of strength of mind and pride of forefathers. Ancient Kernavians decided to fight till the end. But the fortress fell, and its defenders perished. The traces of fires and the tips of the arrows are the evidence about the next tragedy.

However, Kernave revives, but in another appearance: well-known farmers live there now. And spirit of the forefathers is hovering over those places not only by way of the legends…