We know that there were human inhabitants of Ukraine from the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age on. We can be sure too that the site of Kiev was inhabited during the ages for there has been found a Paleolithic settlement in Kiev itself. Yet only an enthusiast would hold that this settlement was Ukrainian in the sense in which it is used to-day. Scholar after scholar has commented upon the fact that some of the early dwellings of the Neolithic Period bear striking resemblances to the poorer types of Ukrainian peasant homes. They have noted that the figures on the vase of Chertomlyk and on other remains from the Scythian period, approximately the fourth century B.C., show physical types which are still met with in Ukraine. At the same time the accounts of the Greek authors and the names of the Scythian rulers which they have preserved have nothing Slavonic about them. This is not surprising. It is often forgotten that the ancient conquerors usually formed a relatively small and compact group who extended their control over the native populations. In part they killed or enslaved the people. In part they fell under the influence of the women of the conquered tribe. But there were rarely concerted and consistent attempts to wipe out completely the original population. Undoubtedly through the ages there remained in Ukraine descendants of the earliest inhabitants, but they were completely submerged in the changing culture that developed through the centuries. Perhaps we are on firmer ground when we come to the periods after the sixth century, when the Slavonic tribes began to appear in the area. The Byzantine historians speak of the Antae and the Veneti and make it clear that they did speak Slavonic. Yet even these names are replaced by many others and we can hardly decide which of them finally attained the mastery. The Chronicles give us many names and allude to various differences in culture and traditions but we know too little about any of them to determine exactly what these differences really meant. [Illustration: Taras Shevchenko in 1840 (Self portrait)] [Illustration: PROF. MICHAEL HRUSHEVSKY] It was apparently the Rus’ of Kiev who finally were able to extend their control over the other Slavonic tribes and to organize the new state. The moving spirit in this seems to have been a group of Scandinavians but they could not have been numerous enough to displace the Slavonic character of the people. It was not long before the rulers came to have Slavonic names, like Svyatoslav. In the tenth century he sought to extend his control over the northern Balkans and may have dreamed of moving his capital south of the Black Earth region. Yet he was finally killed by the Pechenegs, perhaps at the instigation of the Byzantine emperor, John Tsimiskes. After that, though there might be outbreaks between Constantinople and Kiev, relations were on the whole peaceful.