Lietuvos archeologija

The Vishtynetskaya 1 site on the NW shore of Lake Vistytis (Lith. Vištytis) was first excavated by Vladimir Ivanovich Timofeev in 1981. The mixed cultural layer produced finds from the Bronze Age, Neolithic, and Mesolithic. A 2012 excavation on top of the dune yielded a representative Mesolithic inventory without any Neolithic contamination. The flint assemblage contains types characteristic of the Janisławice (Rus. Yanislavitse) and Neman (Lith. Nemunas) cultures including trapezes, triangles, and retouched inserts, but no Wieliszew type points typical of the Janisławice or tanged points typical of the Neman culture were found. This has lead to the supposition that contacts between the population of the Northern Janisławice culture and the late phase of the Neman culture occurred in this area and resulted in the formation of assemblages like those described in the following article.

Tthe excavations conducted by the present author at Šventoji and Nida during 2006–2014, a survey of the earlier coastal Stone Age material, and new laboratory investigation results have allowed the beginning of agriculture on the Lithuanian coast and inland to be re examined. The obtained results show that Neolithisation did not last thousands of years in Lithuania and began not in the 5th or mid-6th millennium BC as had been thought before but was a comparatively rapid process that occurred as the result of the largescale migration of new inhabitants, the farmers and animal breeders of the Globular Amphora and Corded Ware cultures during 3200–2700 cal BC. The Lithuanian coast, owing to the richness of the lagoonal ecosystems was an exceptional location; at Nida and Šventoji distinctive Neolithisation trajectories with an important contributions by Globular Amphora culture immigrants and a mixed economy can be observed.

The article discusses a new Late Neolithic burial investigated in the Upper Neman region in 2014. A flat grave in the Corded Ware culture‘s range was found at the multi-period Drazdy 12 site in Western Belarus. The special features of the burial and grave goods correspond to the characteristics of the local ‘corded’groups as well as the Middle Dnieper culture. Some characteristics could have originated in the Globular Amphora culture‘s traditions. Based on the typological criteria, the burial was dated to the second half of the 3rd millennium BC.

The Nida site is an extensively investigated Neolithic settlement with extraordinary rich, Rzucewo culturematerial (3200–2400 cal BC). A special type of fint tool with polished edges is well known there and is characteristic to exclusively the Rzucewo culture. It has been called a polished ‘scraper’ by previous researchers with a strong affliation for utilitarian functions. However, no arguments for their use as a hide

This article presents an investigation of the classi'cation, chronology, production, and usage of the technical ceramics from the ‘Didysis’ Narkūnai Hillfort (Utena District, Leliūnai Eldership). An attempt to resolve the problem of classifying vessels as miniature cups or crucibles was made using XRF, microchemical qualitative, SEM/EDX, and x-radiography analyses. Based on the results, a significant quantity of the miniature cups previously interpreted as crucibles are now considered to be unrelated to metallurgical activities. The revision of these technical ceramics is prompting a reassessment of the itinerant metalworker hypothesis as the collection is sparse, indicating a specialized metalworking level and an episodic chronological character.

The article presents a classification of the pottery dated to PIII–B2/C1 and a spatial analysis of the pottery, bone, and metal artefacts found at the Narkūnai archaeological complex (Utena District, Leliūnai Eldership). First, a re-examination of Narkūnai’s prehistoric chronology was made using typological studies. Second, on the basis of 14 879 analysed potsherds and 1534 separately examined rim sherds, pottery styles were distinguished in the context of the development of early hillforts’ pottery. Last, by applying a behavioural archaeology theory, the paper analyses the formation processes of the cultural layers and the fragment of the representativity of the archaeological context. A spatial analysis allowed the fragment of the 2nd century palaeorelief to be distinguished, the abandonment process of a single building to be examined, and four asynchronous metallurgical activity areas in the ‘Didysis’ Narkūnai Hillfort to be identified. The latter reflections on prehistoric behaviour are discussed in the context of the appearance and abandonment of the early hillforts and the relationship of the local communities with early metallurgy in the East Baltic region.