Lietuvos istorijos institutas

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.

Priešistorinių žmonių palaikų stroncio izotopų santykio analizė (87Sr/86Sr) leidžia įvertinti jų mobilumą ir identifikuoti pirmos kartos imigrantus, tačiau jos potencialas stipriai priklauso nuo tiriamo regiono geologijos heterogeniškumo ir biologiškai prieinamo stroncio 87Sr/86Sr santykio variacijos pažinimo. Lietuvos archeologijoje stroncio izotopų analizė pirmą kartą panaudota tik 2019–2020 m. Šiame straipsnyje aptarsime šio metodo taikymo galimybes pietryčių Baltijos regione, kurias iliustruosime Donkalnio ir Spigino akmens amžiaus kapinynų buvusiose Biržulio ežero salose tyrimu.

This article presents the results of traceological analyses of bone points and harpoon heads discovered at hunter-gatherer-fisher sites 1, 3, 4, 6 and 23 in Šventoji, coastal Lithuania, c. 3500–2700 cal bc. The data obtained through the studies were used to interpret technological processes and operational chains resulting from the production of these artefacts, as well as in answering questions surrounding the function of some specimens. Another important result of the presented research is the confirmation, thanks to an SEM-EDX analysis, of the presence of an inlay in the decoration visible on one of the harpoon heads.

Šventoji 2/4, which is situated on the Lithuanian coast, is among the most important East Baltic Stone Age sites due to the extraordinary preservation of archaeological finds in waterlogged gyttja and due to extensive excavations ongoing since 1967. This paper presents the results of excavations in 2014 and subsequent laboratory analyses. This new research has allowed for the revision of the site’s chronology and function as well as provided valuable environmental data. In 3200–2700 cal BC the site was used as a fishing station constructed in the deepest part of the shallow lagoonal lake. Remains of various fishing gear and other human waste left during fishing expeditions accumulated there. Enormous amounts of cranial fish bones left during the initial processing of the catch that was carried out directly at the fishery indicate that cyprinids, pike, and zander were mostly caught at the site. The site most likely continued to be used in similar way during the beginning of the Neolithic, although Globular Amphora culture fishermen did not process fish on the site and transported the entire catch to dwelling sites instead.

Šventoji 43 is one of eight Comb Ware culture sites known in Lithuania at present. The site was excavated in 2013 and 2014 and revealed a homogeneous pottery assemblage, which was classified as Comb Ware and was radiocarbon dated to 3900–3650 cal BC. As a result of this dating, it has been found that Comb Ware is the oldest pottery type to have been produced in coastal Lithuania. In fact, the pottery assemblage of Šventoji 43 also suggests that Comb Ware originates from a distinct phase in the pottery sequence of coastal Lithuania that both predates all other phases from Šventoji pottery bearing sites and has not been previously recognised in other assemblages. Zooarchaeological analysis has revealed that the site was occupied during the early spring and mostly used for fishing zander and pike in the lagoonal lake and for hunting seals and forest game. The unique character of the flint industry, which combined hard hammer percussion and bipolar knapping that resulted in the production of microliths on irregular blades, suggests that the local Šventoji 43 community had Mesolithic roots. Furthermore, this evidence supports the hypothesis that Comb Ware had reached Lithuania through intense contact between East Baltic hunter-gatherers rather than due to a mass migration of the population from the Northeastern Baltic. The much wider distribution of Finno-Ugric hydronyms, compared to that of Comb Ware sites gives an impression that some other Subneolithic pottery types in addition to Comb Ware might have been produced by Finno-Ugric speaking people.