Lietuvos istorijos institutas

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.