Lietuvos istorijos institutas

This article is dedicated to Gimbutas’ approach to prehistoric amber and the results of her hypothesis for 21st-century archaeology. Amber is one of the constant threads in her research but hypotheses about amber have yet to be summarized. It is our aim to discuss the assessment of Gimbutas’ studies of amber in a non-exhaustive format, which can help to understand the focal points of her research, especially the chronological changes of amber utilisation from the Mesolithic to the Bronze Age. We w will discuss Gimbutas’ proposals in respect to the amber routes and interpret her ideas from the perspective of recent research. We will also discuss the question of the possible utilisation of amber from western Ukraine’s Klesov deposit, which is very similar to succinite. This article focuses especially on the question of how we can understand the meaning of amber in the Bronze Age and suggests the idea that amber had a symbolic rather than economic value in the local Eastern Baltic societies.

Straipsnis skirtas aptarti iki šiol Lietuvoje detaliau nenagrinėtam antriniam daiktų panaudojimui. Pavyzdžiu pasirinkti geležies amžiaus pentiniai kirviai ir kapliai, kurie buvo deformuoti ir perdaryti, pakeičiant jų funkciją. Nepaisant korozijos, atrodo, kad tiek kirviai, tiek kapliai prieš persukimą buvo naudoti. Kirvių ir kaplių gamybos technologija panaši, o juos persukti nesunku. Tačiau vargu ar galima šį veiksmą paaiškinti tik praktiniais motyvais. Straipsnyje bandoma išaiškinti galimas tokios transformacijos priežastis. Persukti kirviai ir kapliai nagrinėjami kaip žmogaus elgsenos pavyzdžiai, atskleidžiantys ne tik funkcinius, bet ir socialinius, komunikacinius bei psichologinius antrinio daikto panaudojimo aspektus.

The SE Baltic Bronze Age is characterized by a lack of indigenous metalwork traditions as it had been a time when metal finds were predominantly imported or were cast locally, but in foreign styles. This paper analyses the bronze casting remains found in the SE Baltic and discusses the role of these production sites within a wider European network. Through typological identification of the negatives in casting moulds, we assess predominantly Nordic artefact casts, in which the production of KAM (Kel’ty Akozinsko-Melarskie) axes was distinguished at a higher frequency. We hypothesize that several coastal regions were temporarily settled by people of Nordic origin who participated in an exchange with local SE Baltic communities via itinerant bronze production. Foreign settlement areas as indicated by stone ship burials are known in Courland and S Saaremaa as well as in N Estonia and the Sambian Peninsula. From these territories, further communication was developed with local communities settled mostly in enclosed sites in coastal areas and inland, in the vicinity of the River Daugava, the SE Latvian and NE Lithuanian uplands, and the Masurian Lakeland.