Lietuvos istorijos institutas

During 2009–2010, the Scientific Research Department of the State Cultural Reserve of Kernavė conducted a field survey in the Neris valley, mostly on the first terrace above the floodplain, in the Karmazinai, Grabijolai, and Kernavė regions. Exploratory test pits were excavated roughly every 50 m and in the wider valleys, in several rows. In this way a segment of river bank about 16.5 km long was investigated and 23 unenclosed settlements from various Iron Age periods were found. The article’s aim is an analysis of the Iron Age settlements discovered during 2009–2010 in the context of the other archaeological sites in the regions. It attempts, with the help of this research, to illustrate the main stages in the habitation of the Neris valley and to discover the special features of the development of the social landscape and the network of Iron Age settlements. It investigates the possible connection of the settlements with the existing burial sites, i.e. barrow cemeteries. It attempts to discover the change in the functional meaning of the hillforts during the various periods of the regions’ habitation. And it analyses the chronology, size, special features of the environment, and other questions about the discovered settlements.

The article presents material from the archaeological investigation of Lithuanian post-war partisan bunkers that existed on the Mikniai family farmstead in Mėnaičiai village and on the Sajai family farmstead in Balandiškis village (Grinkiškis Eldership, Radviliškis District). Eight Lithuanian partisan commanders gathered and conducted meetings in the Prisikėlimas Military District staff bunker constructed under the granary on the Mikniai family farmstead in February 1949. The directive documents for the founding of the Union of Lithuanian Freedom Fighters (LLKS), its statutes, the leadership structure, and the districting system were approved in the meetings. On 16 February the partisan commanders signed the political LLKS Declaration proclaiming that the LLKS council was the supreme political organ of the occupied nation until an independent democratic Republic of Lithuania was re-established. From October 1949 to January 1950, the public section of the LLKS operated in the bunker constructed in the storage barn of the Sajai family farmstead in the autumn of 1949 and published the publication ‘Prie rymančio rūpintojėlio’. The article discusses the types of bunkers used by the Lithuanian partisans fighting against the Soviet occupation, the essential details of their construction, and the sources of information. Its aim is to determine how much archaeological investigations of such sites supplement, correct, and perhaps even change the historical information and that provided by witnesses.

Piliakalnių įtvirtinimai aprėpia ne tik gynybinę, bet ir socialinio statuso išraiškos funkciją, todėl jų įrengimo darbai, jų mastas galėtų būti svarbus požymis bandant išskirti galios centrus gyvenviečių sistemoje. Vadovaujantis šiuo požiūriu, straipsnyje analizuojami XIII–XIV a. Kernavės pilies, susidedančios iš keturių atskirų piliakalnių, įtvirtinimai bei juos įrengiant atlikti reljefo transformavimo darbai. Remiamasi specialiai šiuo tikslu 2018–2019 m. atliktais tyrimais – gręžiniais, georadaro profiliais, šurfais, taip pat ankstesnių metų kasinėjimais. Plačioje teritorijoje surinkti duomenys apie vietovės stratigrafiją leido ne tik rekonstruoti iki piliakalnių įrengimo buvusį paleoreljefą bei atliktas jo modifikacijas, bet ir atskleidė žmonių atliktų reljefo transformavimo darbų ir gamtinių geodinaminių procesų ryšį. Tyrimai parodė, kad piliakalnių įrengimas sukėlė didelio masto erozinius procesus, turėjusius lemiamą įtaką tiek pilies, tiek aplink ją įsikūrusio miesto raidai. Straipsnyje keliama hipotezė, kad Kernavės pilies ir miesto administracinės reikšmės praradimą XIV a. pabaigoje galėjo nulemti būtent žmonių veiklos sukelti eroziniai procesai.