SKOMANTAI HILL-FORT IN WESTERN LITHUANIA: A CASE STUDY ON HABITATION SITE AND ENVIRONMENT

Hill-forts are visually distinct archaeological monuments of the Lithuanian landscape; despite excavations that have recently become more intensive, more often than not we still make judgments of hill-forts on the basis of their surviving image, which is assumed to reflect the final stage of their existence. Usually our knowledge about the size of the settlement at its foot, its planigraphy, and of course chronology, is too slender to make any conclusions. By employing complex non-destructive research methods (palynological, geochemical, lithological and geomagnetic analysis, as well as 14C and thermoluminescence dating), the article discusses the time of the rise and the abandonment of Skomantai hill-fort and settlements, the hierarchical relations with the hill-fort as an object forming the settlement structure of the neighbouring area, both settlements at the foot of the hill, and the surrounding burial grounds and monuments, all of which make up a micro-region. As the economic model of the community and the social structure of society changed, the relations between the hill-fort and the settlements changed, as did the purpose of the hill-fort.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15181/ab.v17i0.55 Key words: western Lithuania, Skomantai, hill-fort, settlements, micro-region, human activity, non-destructive research methods, 14C dating, thermoluminescence dating

Vėlyvojo ledynmečio gamtinės aplinkos raida Lietuvoje

A detailed description of the Late Glacial environment was attempted through an interpretation of pollen data and lithologi-cal records in the sequences with 14C chronologies. Pollen data suggests that during the pre-Allerod time (>11.9I4C kyr. BP) tree-less vegetation flourished in the area where sedimentation in freshwater bodies with a high water level was dominant. The formation of Betu/a and Pimis predominating forest (11.9-11.8'4C kyr. BP) coincides with the increasing representation of the organic constituent in investigated sequences. Palaeobotanical records show some improvement of the climatic conditions since the middle of the Younger Dryas cold event (10.5-10.414C kyr. BP). Sedimentation in oligo-mesotrophic nutrient-rich lakes with a rather high water level was typical for the end of the Late Glacial

Vėlyvojo ledynmečio gamtinės aplinkos raida Lietuvoje

A detailed description of the Late Glacial environment was attempted through an interpretation of pollen data and lithologi-cal records in the sequences with 14C chronologies. Pollen data suggests that during the pre-Allerod time (>11.9I4C kyr. BP) tree-less vegetation flourished in the area where sedimentation in freshwater bodies with a high water level was dominant. The formation of Betu/a and Pimis predominating forest (11.9-11.8'4C kyr. BP) coincides with the increasing representation of the organic constituent in investigated sequences. Palaeobotanical records show some improvement of the climatic conditions since the middle of the Younger Dryas cold event (10.5-10.414C kyr. BP). Sedimentation in oligo-mesotrophic nutrient-rich lakes with a rather high water level was typical for the end of the Late Glacial

Gamtinės aplinkos kaitos ypatumai vėlyvojo ledynmečio ir holoceno laikotarpiu

Population migration and settlement in the territory of contemporary Lithuania have long attracted the interest of specialists of various fields of science. Migration and sedentary way of life was inevitably related to changes in natural environment. Paleobotanical research of interglacial flora allows presuming that natural conditions, i.e. a rather warm and wet climate, were favourable for people to live in the territory of contemporary Lithuania. First inhabitants settled down in surrounding non-glacial territories 0.5 million years ago. The establishment of flora composition and change based on the paleobotanical research of sediment is one of the key methods allowing to estimate the character of natural environments in various stages of the late glacial period and the Holocene. The article discusses the results of the paleobotanical research of sediments. Based on vast data collected during research, the article claims that natural environments in the territory of Lithuania during the late Glacial period and the Holocene changed intensively. Changes in the climate, flora and hydrological conditions obviously influenced the life of people living in these territories. According to archaeologists, first inhabitants arrived to the territory of Lithuania and settled down here after the melting of the youngest glacier of the late Nemunas glaciation, which started in the post-glacier period. The post-glacier environmental conditions changed more than once, and all this influenced changes on flora. This was the period when man tried to better adjust to the existing natural environment, and later, during the Holocene period, he started changing this environment seeking to develop the conditions more convenient for him

Archeobotanika Lietuvoje : makrobotaniniai ir palinologiniai tyrinėjimai

Mūsų žinios apie ankstyvąjį augalų panaudojimą ir žemdirbystės raidą Lietuvos teritorijoje daugiausia remiasi netiesioginiais tiktai keleto gyvenviečių tyrimų rezultatais: atsitiktinai pastebėtomis sėklomis, kultūrinių augalų pėdsakais žiedadulkių (mikrobotanikos) diagramose, žemdirbystės įrankių egzistavimu. Šie duomenys gali duoti bendrą žemės ūkio ir jo raidos vaizdą, tačiau tos raidos specifika ir chronologinės bei geografinės charakteristikos lieka neaiškios. Sistemingi archeobotaniniai tyrinėjimai gali užpildyti šią spragą. Sistemingi kompleksiški makrobotaniniai bei palinologiniai tyrinėjimai archeologiniuose objektuose iki šiol Lietuvoje nebuvo atliekami. Šiame darbe pateikiami pirmieji bandymai siekiant pagrindinio darbo tikslo – preciziškiau papildyti interpretacijas apie augalų vaidmenį žmonių ūkio sistemoje bei apie tos ūkio sistemos raidą Rytų Baltijos regione. Straipsnyje aprašomi sėklų, riešutų ir vaisių makrobotaniniai radiniai iš dviejų archeologinių neolito ir bronzos amžiaus paminklų: Kretuono gyvenviečių serijos Šiaurės Rytų Lietuvoje ir Turlojiškės gyvenvietės Pietvakarių Lietuvoje. Žemaitiškės 2 gyvenvietėje buvo paraleliai paimti ir ištirti makrobotaniniai bei žiedadulkių pavyzdžiai. Palinologinė analizė Turlojiškės durpyne nebuvo tiesiogiai susijusi su archeologine stovyklaviete, nes tyrimų vieta buvo nutolusi nuo perkasos kelis šimtus metrų, todėl šių tyrimų rezultatai atspindi bendrą regiono raidą. Paleobotaninių tyrimų rezultatai Turlojiškėse kartu su archeologine ir osteologine informacija patvirtina žemdirbystės ir gyvulininkystės egzistavimą regioneOur knowledge about the early use of plants and the development of agriculture in the territory of Lithuania is mainly based on indirect results of the studies of several settlements: accidentally noticed seeds, traces of cultural plants in pollen (microbotany) diagrams, and the existence of farming tools. These data may provide a general picture of agriculture and its development; however, the specifics of that development as well as chronological and geographical characteristics remain vague. Systematic archaeobotanical investigations may fill this gap. Systematic complex macrobotanical and palynological investigations in archaeological objects have not been carried out in Lithuania so far. The study presents the first attempts to achieve the main aim – to update the interpretations of the role of plants in the human economic system and of the development of that system in the Eastern Baltic Region more precisely. The paper describes macrobotanical findings of seeds, nuts and fruits from two archaeological monuments of the Neolithic Era and the Bronze Age: the series of Kretuonas settlements in North-Eastern Lithuania and Turlojiškė settlement in South-Western Lithuania. Macrobotanical and pollen samples were taken at Žemaitiškė 2 settlement and examined. Palynological analysis in Turlojiškės peatbog was not directly related to the archaeological campsite, because the site of investigation was located at a distance of several hundred metres from the canal, thus the results of these investigations reflect the overall development of the region. The results of paleobotanical investigations in Turlojiškės together with archaeological and osteological information confirm the existence of arable and livestock farming in the region