Around 1000 years AD, the confluence of the Neris and Vilnia rivers was densely populated by the Striped Ceramics culture, which had a half a hectare fortified settlement on the Gediminas' Hill. This culture tribes were common throughout present-day Lithuania, east of the Šventoji River and in the western part of Belarus. The direct descendants of this culture are believed to be a Baltic tribe – the Aukštaitians (). According to a prominent researcher of Vilnius history Antanas Čaplinskas, who researched the surnames of Vilnius residents in the archive documents of the city, the oldest surviving surnames of Vilnius residents are Lithuanian. Pagan Lithuanians mostly lived at the northern foot of Gediminas' Hill and in the Crooked Castle.