Lietuvos archeologija

The article is devoted to the traditions and technological aspects of Bronze Age and Pre-Roman Iron Age burial pottery in the eastern Baltic. Three types of cemeteries were investigated – flat cemeteries, barrows and stone ship settings. In total, pottery from 13 cemeteries was analysed macroscopically, microscopically and in context. The results of the study show that funerary pottery had different meanings – urns, grave goods, and probably part of a general funerary rite not associated with specific graves. Urn burials followed the main trends of inhumation and cremation burials and were placed in either stone structures or pits. Grave goods – cups and medium-sized pots - were found in inhumations and cremations, mainly placed in the head area of the deceased. The techno-stylistics of the vessels indicate that although the clay paste recipes were similar to those used for household vessels, the funerary pottery did not follow the general trends in shape and surface treatment of household vessels. Analogies to some funerary pottery can be traced in the Sambian peninsula and Scandinavia.

The article presents the Trzciniec culture (Trzciniec cultural cycle), an Early and Middle Bronze Age archaeological phenomenon in Lithuania. It analyses various aspects of the concept and chronology of the culture and presents a history of the research in the culture’s territory. Priority is given to archaeological pottery, the main indicator for cultural identification. The article gives the main distinguishing features of the ceramic vessels, their types, their ornamentation, and their attribution to either the East-Trzciniec or West-Trzciniec culture. Finally the article analyses the Bronze Age cultural situation in the Eastern Baltic region and raises the question of whether the Trzciniec culture existed in Lithuania and in what form.

In 2020, the construction of a pipeline led to a rescue archaeological excavation at the 130–240 cal AD Roman Iron Age settlement site near Skudeniai. The discovered material from its brief occupation has provided substantial new data on unenclosed settlements in the Late Striated Ware Culture. The distinct posthole accumulations in the surveyed area make it possible to identify building locations and to analyse the settlement’s structure by differentiating between the domestic and economic activity zones. The collection of pottery from Skudeniai’s brief existence provided a better understanding of the differences between the contemporary pottery groups. The first ever application of the petrographic method in the analysis of this culture’s ceramics also yielded important results that led to a new classification system that established distinctions between the three contemporary pottery groups. The archaeobotanical material from Skudeniai is of great importance for understanding the development of agriculture as it is only the second Late Striated Ware Culture archaeobotanical assemblege from a chronologically pure context. The article also analyses issues related to non-ferrous and ferrous metallurgy and trade connections.

South-Eastern Lithuanian Stone Age pottery reflects the way of life, nutrition, social status, artistic expression, and intercommunity relationships of its creators and users. Natural conditions unfavourable for the survival of organic material and the intermingling of artefacts from different periods in sandy settlements limit the ability to precisely date and reconstruct the long, distinctive process of Neolithisation that began in the late 6th millennium bc. Analysing the traces of ceramic vessel use, the structure of the pottery, the coiling and decoration technologies, their changes and reasons, it is possible to understand better the traditions of the Forest Neolithic communities and the encounters of different influences in SE Lithuania.