IN SEARCH OF A THEORETICAL ASSESSMENT OF BRONZE AGE SOCIETY IN THE BALTIC COUNTRIES

This article surveys tendencies in Bronze Age social research in the Baltic countries. It marks a new departure in archaeological scholarship in the region, and examines the influence of wider European theories on local Bronze Age research. The most important issue to be discussed is the uncritical application of theoretical models on east Baltic archaeology, without reference to the region’s specific culture. Thus, the Bronze Age social structure is reconstructed according to a priori formulated precepts. The article discusses the possible negative implications of such a transference of foreign theories, which leads to the prejudgement of results in regional archaeological studies. Special criticism is levelled at the application of the pyramid social model, which offers a false interpretation of Prehistoric social structures on the basis of recent research. We offer new alternatives in the sphere of societal studies, which pay most attention to processes whereby people dominate as individual agents, rather than to the classification of archaeological material according to the nature or implied value of such material. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15181/ab.v18i0.63 Key words: Bronze Age social investigations, theories, models, structures of society, social layers, hierarchical pyramid, perspectivity of social archaeology, Baltic countries

Animal Bones, Bone Artefacts and Bone Working at Late Bronze Age Fortified Settlements in North-Eastern Lithuania: Sokiškiai, Mineikiškės and Garniai I

The article discusses artefacts made of osseous materials found in the Late Bronze Age fortified settlement sites in north-eastern Lithuania. Earlier, Bronze Age bone items from three Lithuanian sites – Narkūnai, Nevieriškė and Ke­reliai – have been analysed more thoroughly. Of sites discussed here, Sokiškiai has been archaeologically investigated in the beginning of the 1980-ies. In recent years, research has been carried out on the fortified settlements of Mineikiškės and Garniai I. 14C AMS dates have been used to date new sites as well as to specify the dates of previously studied settlements. During this research, approximately half a hundred bone, antler and tooth objects were examined, and the material used to make them was determined, if possible up to the species and skeletal part. Among the materials used, bone predominated, antler was used less, and teeth were used in only a few cases. An overview is given of the common types of bone objects, the processing techniques used to make them and the uses of the objects. The majority of tools are chisels and scrapers, and awls and points, many of which could have been used as leather working tools. The third major group of finds is bone pins, which testify to the clothing fashion that needed pins for attachment. Comparing the finds of Late Bronze Age fortified settlements in Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and Byelorussia, greater similarity can be observed in certain types of bone artefacts in south-eastern Latvia, north-western Byelorussia, and north-eastern Lithuania

Sulaužytas kalavijas : tarp karybos ir ritualo

Straipsnyje, remiantis Zaostrovo (Kaliningrado sr., buv. Rantau, Kr. Fischhausen) pilkapyje rastu kalaviju, plačiame europiniame kontekste analizuojamas kalavijų laužymo fenomenas bronzos amžiuje. Šis fenomenas nagrinėjamas, vadovaujantis premisa, kad bronzinių dirbinių lūžiai buvo sąmoningos žmonių veiklos rezultatas. Morfologinis šiaurinėje Vidurio Europoje rastų kalavijų tyrimas parodė aiškius kalavijų lūžių dėsningumus, pavyzdžiui tai, kad į kapus paprastai būdavo dedami sulaužyti, o į lobius – sveiki kalavijai. Šie skirtumai sugestijuoja, kad jie buvo sąmoningai laužomi tam tikrų ritualinių tradicijų įtakoje. Tai susiję su bendraeuropiniu bronzos dirbinių deponavimo reiškiniu. Interpretacinėje straipsnio dalyje bandoma atsakyti į klausimą kodėl įvairiais būdais laužyti kalavijai. Surinkta medžiaga neleidžia abejoti, kad kalavijų fragmentavimas buvo susijęs su kultiniais ritualais. Svarbu pažymėti, kad tai tinka ir ginklų lobiams, kuriuose skirtingi kalavijų lūžiai turėjo atskiras reikšmes. Vargu ar šiuos lobius galima interpretuoti kaip karo grobio aukas, kadangi kalavijų lūžių ritmika itin taisyklinga. Atrodo, kad kalavijai buvo ne tiek karo sferos objektas, kiek atskirų visuomenės narių reprezentacinis simbolis. Galima manyti, kad ir Zaostrovo pilkapyje palaidotam mirusiajam teko garbė ne tik turėti prestižinį ginklą, bet ir būti išlydėtam į paskutinę kelionę pagal svetimus ir ypatingus papročius. Kartu tai buvo naujų kanonų plitimo Rytų Pabaltijyje pradžia, kurių atspindžiai aiškiai matomi daugelyje šio periferinę padėtį užimančio regiono archeologinių paminklų.Built around a sword discovered in the Zaostrov (Kaliningrad region, former Rantau, Kr. Fischhausen) burial mound, the paper analyses the phenomenon of breaking swords in the Bronze Age within a broad European context. This phenomenon is explored on the basis of a premise that breaking of bronze articles was a deliberate result of human activity. Morphological analysis of swords discovered in northern Central Europe has shown clear regularities in sword breaking, for example, it was common practice to place broken swords in graves and undamaged swords in treasures. These differences suggest that swords were deliberately broken under the influence of certain ritual traditions. This is linked with the pan-European phenomenon of depositing bronze items. The paper makes an attempt to answer the question why swords were broken in various ways. The collected material leaves no doubt that the fragmentation of swords was related with cult rituals. It must be noted that this also applies to treasures of weapons where different fragmentations of swords carried different meanings. These treasures can hardly be interpreted as war loot, since the fragmentation of swords is particularly regular. Swords appear to have been a representational symbol of individual members of the community rather than military objects. It may be assumed that the person buried in the Zaostrov burial mound had the honour of not only possessing a prestigious weapon but also of being laid to rest in accordance with foreign and special customs. At the same time, it marked the beginning of the spread of new canons in the Eastern Baltics

The spread and quantity of European hare in Vilnius town timberlands

There was conducted a research of European hare spread in Northern Vilnius region, while chosen 5 static areas for research (Verkiu park, Karolinishkiu forest, Vanagines forest, Sheshkines Ozo woodland and Kalnu park), during cold seasons in 2003-2004. The relative spread of European hare was rated quantifiable looking at the animals’ traces in the snow. Steps were counted in the ranges of 100 meters in various kinds of timberlands (firs, bushes, leafy forest, mixed forest, pines). There was noted that European hare lives in various static areas. The highest quantity of hare steps were found in Verkiu and Vanagines forests (0,52 step per 100 meters), lowest – Karolinishkiu park (0,24 step per 100 meters). European hare steps spread by the kind of timberland was the following: highest – bushes 28,7%, lowest – firs 6,1%. Looking for the European hare steps in Northern town areas, the steps nearest to the city centre were found in Sheshkine catchmen area (800 meters from Gedimino street). It is noted, that European hare is meaningful in the aesthetical kind of view and looking at it as a hare sort, it is advisable to preserve it in Vilnius town timberlands as well as open areas.Švietimo akademijaVytauto Didžiojo universiteta

Ar karys be ginklų yra ne karys? Keletas minčių apie Rytų Pabaltijo bronzos amžiaus karybą

Bronze weapons hint not only at the intensity and effectiveness of warfare in particular societies, but, even more, they may reveal the identity of warriors as a separate group within society. Over most of Europe weaponry is one of the important categories of material culture, although in some regions, like the Eastern Baltic, bronze weapons are a real rarity. There is no doubt that people fought wars here, but instead of bronze weapons they effectively used stone, bone or wooden weapons. Because of the scarcity of bronze weapons, defensive settlements, such as those known from Central and Southeast Europe, and warrior graves, warfare cannot be seen as an organizational principle of social ties per se. There is no reason to assume the existence of retinues or warrior aristocracies as fundamental social units in the Eastern Baltic. However, warfare or war ideology without the existence of the warrior as a social layer is simply inconceivable

To produce for use? Several meanings of unknown bronze casting mould (Dovilai, Klaipėda district)

The article describes the bronze axe mould, which has not been previously published and, referring to the regional and the European context, discusses the circumstances of its discovery. While raising the issues of intensity of metallurgy in the Bronze age, attempts are made to identify the function and importance of the said mould. In addition, manifestations of certain cultural phenomena of the Bronze Age in the Eastern Baltics are analyzed. The author of the article analyzes the bronze axe mould from Lithuania, the Dovilai settlement (Klaipėda area), which emerged in a museum in Berlin. The document of purchasing of the mould states that it was found in the bed of the Minija river, which allows not only for treating the mould as an ordinary moulding tool, but also viewing it in the cultural – sacral context. It was brought to the Baltic region as a rare and valuable object, and not as a tool for moulding, which, in its far away homeland performed its primary function. The article raises the question whether the Eastern Baltic region, in the first half of the Bronze Age, could have become one of the habitats of circulation of metals, whose bronze objects were preserved as huge representational values and later sacrificed according to the cult traditions, which existed throughout Europe at the time. The Eastern Baltic articles themselves and their complexes, showing the clear trends of their burying into the ground and drowning in rivers and swamps, evidence that this is not an artificial adaptation of a certain representational or cult direction of studies but an aspect of studying of the Bronze Age, related to a specific cultural factor, i. e. the deposition of bronze articles

Archaeology between legend and reality - coming back to the problem of the Šernai (Klaipėda region) statuette

The bronze statuette from Šernai is one of the most significant Bronze Age findings in East Baltic countries. Possible circumstances of the statuette origin have been surveyed and the European and Near East context of that time has been analyzed thoroughly. In spite of doubts about the circumstances of the statuette's appearance in Lithuania the author inclines to believe that this finding reflects the integration of the East Baltic region, as of an outlying periphery to the European socio-economic and intellectual processes in the Bronze Age

Ieškant teorinio bronzos amžiaus visuomenės Baltijos šalyse vertinimo

Article surveys tendencies in Bronze Age social research in the Baltic countries. It marks a new departure in archaeological scholarship in the region, and examines the influence of wider European theories on local Bronze Age research. The most important issue to be discussed is the uncritical application of theoretical models on east Baltic archaeology, without reference to the region’s specific culture. Thus, the Bronze Age social structure is reconstructed according to a priori formulated precepts. The article discusses the possible negative implications of such a transference of foreign theories, which leads to the prejudgement of results in regional archaeological studies. Special criticism is levelled at the application of the pyramid social model, which offers a false interpretation of Prehistoric social structures on the basis of recent research. We offer new alternatives in the sphere of societal studies, which pay most attention to processes whereby people dominate as individual agents, rather than to the classification of archaeological material according to the nature or implied value of such material

The formation and function dependence of tethered bilayer lipid membranes from temperature

The Formation and Function Dependence of Tethered Bilayer Lipid Membranes from Temperatur