NEOLITHIC UKRAINE: A REVIEW OF THEORETICAL AND CHRONOLOGICAL INTERPRETATIONS

This paper reviews the Neolithic period in Ukraine. First, the author analyses what the term ‘Neolithic’ actually means in Ukraine. The paper demonstrates the absence of a universal definition for Neolithic, through a review of some ‘Western school’ archaeological traditions. The term Neolithic is de-emphasised in relation to the study of early cereal cultivation in Ukraine, providing a general understanding of the concept. The paper introduces the main archaeological Neolithic cultures of Ukraine, by presenting their chronological frameworks, areas of distribution and key characteristics. Particular attention is paid to the main chronological pitfalls in the region.Key words: Neolithic, Ukraine, archaeological cultures, ‘Western Neolithic’, ‘Eastern Neolithic’, chronology, pottery, food production.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15181/ab.v20i0.81

The First Farmers of Ukraine: an Archaeobotanical Investigation and AMS Dating of Wheat Grains from the Ratniv-2 Site

Pirmieji Ukrainos žemdirbiai: Ratniv-2 objekto archeo-botaniniai tyrimai ir kviečių grūdų datavimas radioaktyviosios anglies metodu (AMS) Šiame straipsnyje pateikiami archeobotaninių tyrimų rezultatai iš Ratniv-2 archeologinio objekto, esančio Vakarų Ukrainoje, priklausančio linijinės juostinės keramikos kultūrai. Augintų kultūrinių augalų ir piktžolių įvairovė atspindi įprastą linijinės juostinės keramikos kultūros gyventojų augintų augalų racioną, kuris labai panašus visuose šios kultūros paplitimo regionuose. Datavimas gautas tiesiogiai tiriant kultūrinius augalus, aptiktus Ratniv-2 objekte, parodė, kad ši kultūra išplito iki pat Ukrainos jau pirmoje savo stadijoje, tai yra gerokai anksčiau nei prieš tai manyta. Nauji archeobotaniniai duomenys ir datavimo rezultatai, pristatyti šiame straipsnyje, padėjo eliminuoti anksčiau pateiktas teorijas apie žemdirbystės laikotarpį ir geografinę kilmę Ukrainoje. Tikėtiniausia, kad linijinės juostinės keramikos kultūros gyventojai yra pirmieji, vertęsi žemdirbyste Ukrainos teritorijoje

Medinio pastato Vilniaus Žemutinės pilies teritorijoje paskirtis ekofaktinių tyrimų duomenimis

[straipsnis ir santrauka lietuvių kalba; santrauka anglų kalba] Straipsnyje siekiama nustatyti, kokia buvo 2014–2015 m. Vilniuje, Valdovų rūmų rytinio korpuso šiauriniame priestate, vykdytų detaliųjų archeologinių tyrimų metu aptikto medinio dviejų patalpų, 5 × 2,7 m dydžio pastato galima panaudojimo paskirtis. Tikslui pasiekti pasitelkti ekofaktinių tyrimų metodai, kurių didžiausia dalis skirta archeobotaninių duomenų analizei. Šioje neabejotinai atvejo studijoje duomenys interpretuojami archeologinių, archeobotaninių, archeoparazitologinių, vabzdžių liekanų tyrimų ir vieno iš mikromorfologijos – sferolitų analizės tyrimų fone

Population Diet and Palaeoenvironment in the 16th–18th c Rusų str. 5 Vilnius: Insights from the Archeobotanical Analysis and Historical Sources

The article presents the results of archaeobotanical research from Vilnius, Rusų str. 5. The waterlogged sediment samples were taken from various archaeological contexts dated between the 16th–18th centuries. The abundance of botanical material and large diversity in plant species revealed the diet of past Vilnius inhabitants, the past use of diverse fruit species brown in orchards and in the forest, as well as exotic plants that were likely imported all the way from the southern Europe. The local ruderal vegetation infers of the past local environment at the excavated site

Modernių metodų panaudojimas Luokesų polinių gyvenviečių tyrimams

The discoveries of the remains of polar villages in Lithuania were commenced to be announced already at the beginning of the 20th century however the specific evidence of their existence was presented almost one hundred years later. Polar settlements of the end of the Bronze Age and the early Iron Age were discovered in the Eastern Lithuania, the Molėtai district, the Luokesai lake. That was not only a discovery of a new type of settlements, which co-existed together with barrows, but also a unique possibility to get to know the organic remains of people’s activities, which perfectly survived in water and details of building structures, which quite frequently do not survive in terrestrial settlements. During the archeological examinations of pole settlements, performed during the previous several years plentiful archeological materials were collected and geo-archeological, dendro-chronological, archeo-botanical and micro-morphological studies were performed. The use of aero-photographs for the examination of pole settlements of Luokesai allows for finding the perspective locations for studies, avoiding the unnecessary intervention into the archeological monument, provide the possibilities to reconstruct the fluctuations of the levels of water in the lake and search for other objects of similar character. The studies were aimed at providing answers to the following questions: who and why inhabited the pole settlements, what the pole settlements looked like and what was their size, what were the natural conditions during the time period of shaping of pole settlements, what were the occupations and everyday life of their residents, etc.

Gyvenimas virš vandens ar sausumoje? Pedologinių metodų taikymas Rytų Lietuvos bronzos ankstyvojo geležies amžių povandeninės Luokesų gyvenvietės tyrimuose

Lake dwellings are a well-known phenomenon in European prehistory. Two submerged sites in Lake Luokesai (Luokesai I and Luokesai II) are the only known lake dwellings from the Bronze Age and Early Iron Age in Lithuania. Soil analysis methods aimed to answer some crucial questions connected with Lake Luokesai's inhabitants during the period of the occupation of Luokesai I

Ežero gyventojai - žemdirbiai. Luokesų ežerinės gyvenvietės archeobotaninių tyrimų duomenys

The archaeobotanical investigation of a Lake Luokesai settlement I core sample has resulted in the extraction of useful pollen and macrobotanical data. Interpretation of these two sets of data has provided some mutually supporting conclusions concerning the palaeoenvironment, human diet and human activities at this site.At present two lake settlements are known in Lithuania, discovered in 2000 in the Luokesai lake in Molėtai district, dated the end of the Bronze Age – the beginning of the early Iron Age. In Summer of 2005 the core of the length of 29 cm and diameter of 7 cm of the pollen of pole settlement 1 of Luokesai and the remains of the plants, preserved in the water were taken for studies. The archaeo-botanical studies showed that the climate on the shores of the Luokesai lake changed from more moist and warm to more cold and dry. Human activities on the shore of the Luokesai lake are evidenced by the pollen and the seeds of plants, related with cultivable fields and pastures. The discovered wheat (Triticum dicoccum) grains and glumes evidence that the inhabitants of the shores of the Luokesai lake were engaged in agriculture. The plenty of crop pollen in the settlement has shown that the crops could have been grown on the shore near the settlement and flailed on the territory of the settlement. The natural environment, favourable for farming (the open lakeside space) could have been one of the main reasons, which determined the choice of the people to inhabit the shores of the Luokesai lake. Apart from the wheat, other types of plants were identified, such as strawberries, hazel, cowberries and wild garlic, which evidences the importance of picking to the inhabitants of the shores of the Luokesai lake

The Possible geographic margin effect on the delay of agriculture introduction into the East Baltic

Since domesticated plants moved from moderate Mediterranean climates in south-west Asia where their domestication took place to different latitudes and altitudes, these species have had to endure both genetic and morphotypical changes. Upon reaching the East Baltic, crops like wheat and barley were exposed to a different environment consisting of a continental climate with very distinct seasonal patterns, different soils, vernalization and photoperiod patterns that were crucial for plant development and growth. In this paper I take previously postulated ideas on the delay of agriculture in north-west Europe and the Alpine region of Eurasia to suggest that similar reasons could have been responsible for the delay of cereal cultivation in the eastern Baltic region. Here I argue that the slow introduction rate of cereal cultivation occurred not only due to human choice, as alternative wild resources were available, but due to the time it took for crops to adjust to environmental changes. In addition, the establishment of an ultimate crop species package was an important development that allowed better plant adaptation to novel environmental conditions and the reduction of crop failure. In this publication the term “geographical margin” is used not in the sense of climatic hostility and difficulties for human subsistence but rather from the perspective of plant species of south-west Asian origin