Lietuvos istorijos institutas

The article presents material from the archaeological excavations at Aþuðilë barrow cemetery. During 2000–2007, 12 badly disturbed mounds were excavated in it. They were ringed with pits or ditches and some of them had stone kerbs. Cremations with grave goods or the remains of disturbed burials and isolated finds were discovered in the barrows. The majority of them date to the 8th–9th centuries.

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.

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.