Lietuvos istorijos institutas

The article investigates the social organisation of the societies that left the East Lithuanian barrow culture. It makes a comparative analysis of osteologically identified adult male and female burials. The burial rite elements that indicate an individual’s status were defined in the study: the construction of the barrow, the construction of the grave, burial in an individual or collective grave, burial in a new or previously created barrow, the number of artefacts, the number of artefact types, and the imputed value of the sets of grave goods. A survey of the burials reveals five interconnected status dimensions, namely sex, age, achieved status, ascribed status, and chronological change.

This article surveys grave goods found in Žviliai and Pagrybis Cemeteries in the Upper Jūra region (West Lithuania) as symbols of gender. Using the WinBASP software seriation tool, male and female types of grave goods were distinguished as well as types common to both genders. The author seeks to detect changes and continuity in the burial traditions for males and females in respect to the tradition of placing specific types of grave goods in burials from the three periods (Late Roman Iron Age, Early Migration Period, Late Migration Period). If grave goods are regarded as gender symbols, their choice for males and females probably reflects areas of ‘masculinity’ and ‘femininity’ in real life. This phenomenon can be confirmed with the help of Baltic, Germanic, and Slavonic mythology sources in which the domains of the gods and humans are intertwined.