Lietuvos istorijos institutas

The paper deals with bone material from the medieval Viljandi castle in South Estonia. Most of the animal bones belonged to domestic animals, specimens from game were rare. The material from the castle is not typical for food waste, probably it can be interpreted as butchering waste. In addition there seems to have existed a workshop of bone processing or weapon repairing somewhere in the vicinity of the investigated area. Up to now, approximately a hundred artefacts and about 500 pieces of bone working refuse have been recovered from the excavations. The working debris mostly consists of antler fragments; most of the artefacts are also made from antler.

The paper discusses bone and antler artefacts found during the excavations at Tartu Road 1 in Tallinn during 2011–2012. Most of the bone finds date to the 14th–16th centuries, the latest to the 18th–19th centuries. Both artefacts and working debris have been found, the most abundant material among the debris being waste from bead and button making. Antler artefacts and working debris were also found. Both the plot’s location and the house’s size and spatial division point to a public building. A guesthouse or tavern at a river next to a bridge could have been a suitable stopping place for itinerant craftsmen who manufactured their products on the spot. The few Modern Age items are common articles used in domestic households. The buttons and button making debris belong to the 18th century.

In this paper, we present the main results of interdisciplinary project that allowed us to formulate a new perspective on the economy of the Late Bronze Age in the Eastern Baltic region. New excavations at the Late Bronze Age fortified settlements of Garniai 1 (Utena district municipality) and Mineikiškės (Zarasai district municipality) lead us to analyse the economy of the communities in much greater detail and to formulate a more reliable economical model than before. This paper reviews the new results of archaeobotanical investigations of these fortified settlements, as well as δ13C and δ15N data of food remains in Late Bronze Age pottery, grains and animal bone collagen samples. These analyses allowed us to refine and clarify the likely dietary practices of consumers of certain products in the Eastern Baltic region. The paper also publishes new data on the elemental composition and lead isotopes of metalware, thereby adding to our earlier findings These studies show that metallurgy as a specialized activity did not play a significant role in the Late Bronze Age economy, but its emergence was driven by the economic changes of the period. In contrast, the production of high-level bone-antler artifacts reflects the activity of specialized craftsmen in Late Bronze Age settlements.