Lietuvos istorijos institutas

The article describes the archaeological excavation conducted on Utenos Street in Ukmergė during 2007–2008. The finds are presented in the context of Ukmergė’s social – economic and political development in the 18th century. It also reviews the general situation of the city’s historical and archaeological investigation, acquainting the reader with the digital reconstruction method used in recreating 18th-century household ceramic vessels.

The article’s authors seek to initiate a scientific discussion in a scientific research direction that is entirely new in Lithuanian archaeology. They think that geological research in Lithuania and archaeological discoveries in Central, Northern, and Eastern Europe provide a basis for a hypothesis that Lithuania’s territory was inhabited significantly earlier than the post-glacial period, and that it is possible to find traces of hominids older than Homo sapiens by conducting purposive, systematic longterm scientific research. The work surveys the theoretical premises for the archaeological investigation of the Middle and Late Pleistocene (800–10 thousand years BP) in Lithuania, the archaeological finds and research in Europe, the work by geologists and archaeologists in investigating Merkinë Interglacial palaeolakes in Lithuania, and the perspective of interdisciplinary research in this direction.

In 2010, 25 samples of burnt food remains, charcoal, human and animal bones, and ceramics taken from 14 prehistoric sites in Lithuania were dated using AMS and conventional 14C and OSL methods. The obtained dates force the dating of the Neolithic and Early Metal Age ceramic types and styles to be changed by several hundred to several thousand years. On the basis of the new data, the Textile ceramic phenomenon began in East Lithuania circa 4000 cal BC. The Narva type ceramics in the Šventoji region are somewhat earlier (3660–3520 cal BC) than the Globular Amphora style ceramics on the coast and in West Lithuania (3450–2920 cal BC). The dates of the Pamariai Rzucewo culture ceramics (3940–3540 cal BC) confirm the hypothesis that the start of this phenomenon is earlier than the Corded Ware culture in Europe. The first chamotte Corded Ware style date indicates a 2840–2570 cal BC period while the first absolute date (760–515 cal BC) connected with Žalioji (Bratoniškės) type ceramics, supports the hypothesis that such ceramics were used in the Late Bronze Age, not in the Early Bronze Age. Human bones from three cremation urns were dated to 790–380 cal BC. The AMS 14C dates, obtained from burnt food remains, must today be judged cautiously due to the freshwater reservoir effect, which has not yet been investigated in Lithuania, but which could have aged them several hundred years. Two OSL dates obtained from Nemunas type potsherds indicate a 2400 500 cal BC period, but due to large errors they are not reliable.

During 2011–2012 the Research Council of Lithuania financed project ‘Prehistory of the Curonian Spit: a methodological aspect of complex research’ was implemented in the Curonian Spit. The work’s aim was to find an effective archaeological investigation method for the search for prehistoric sites and the complex investigation of sites in an aeolian sedimentation environment. This article’s aim is to present the project’s achievements in the field of methodology. Seven field evaluation methods were tested to the S of Nida and at Alksnynė: GPR profiling co-ordinated with test pitting, systematic test pitting, unsystematic test pitting, field walking together with shovel test pitting, unsystematic shovel test pitting, and hand augering and mechanised coring. Field walking proved to be the most effective strategy, but its employment is greatly restricted by surface visibility. Systematic test pitting proved to be an unsuitable evaluation method in a dynamic aeolian sedimentation environment. GPR profiling co-ordinated with augering rather than test pitting holds great potential, but the search for paleosoils and lagoon shores that have been covered by aeolian deposits should be made first rather than the search for archaeological finds or settlements. In the search for new archaeological sites the experience acquired in modelling the prehistoric relief in the vicinity of already known archaeological sites should be especially useful.

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

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.

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.