Archaeologia Baltica

This article discusses issues related to pile-dwelling settlements in Lithuania. It offers a detailed study of the archaeological and osteological material found at the Žemaitiškė 2 pile-dwelling settlement, as well as palynological and radiocarbon research into the settlement’s cultural layer. The article discusses the wood anatomy of pile-dwellings, their dendrochronological dating, and the types of construction material. The studies show that the construction of pile-dwellings in Lithuania began in the Late Neolithic Age, whereas the tradition of living on pile platforms existed throughout the Bronze Age.

The bog offerings of the Balts dating back to the period from the first century to the first half of the eighth century, and found in the Nemunas-Daugava interfluvia, are studied as part of the panhuman experience, and as a result of the influence of the Germanic culture of a period covering the Roman Iron Age and the Migration Period. In the lands of the Balts, however, offerings in water turned into a self-contained phenomenon known until historic times. This article discusses the links between bog offering sites and sacred waters. It discusses the position of bog offerings in the archaeological complex, the composition of offerings and changes in them, and the main intentions of the offerings, which can be characterised as offerings of war booty (to the god of war, as proof of a warrior’s honour), the transfer of valuables into the transcendental space (give to get back), and communication with the gods and with ancestors (requests and tokens of gratitude).

The article deals with Viking Age and Late Iron Age (800–1200 AD) maritime cultural landscapes on Saaremaa, the biggest Estonian island. In the course of an extensive study there since 2003, a number of Late Prehistoric and Early Medieval harbour sites have been identified. The archaeological evidence from these places suggests different uses of the sites. In the article, three harbour sites have been chosen for closer analysis. These sites represent different kinds of harbours at a local or regional level, as can probably be found in many areas around the Baltic Sea.

This article concentrates on an analysis of an ancient lakeside landscape: how a big inland lake in Estonia (Lake Peipus in eastern Estonia) has affected the development of the settlement on its shores (the example of Kodavere parish). The lake is part of a landscape with different layers, some of them are mental, some are physical. The article tries to define the landscape and its layers, and to use the most suitable layer to describe a prehistoric lakeside landscape in Estonia.

The article deals with the research potential of inna along the coastline in Sweden and the Åland Islands. Very little research has been done on this kind of establishment in Sweden and Scandinavia. The inn on the island of Koffsan off Sweden and the inn on Rödhamn, Åland Islands, Finland, stand out as examples of what the sites and the archaeological material combined with written sources can tell us about the function of inns in society and about the food and beverages at these establishments. The author also discusses the possibilities to reinterpret some of the earlier results from the site on the Åland Islands.

It has always been technically and economically challenging to build constructions on a shoreline. For that reason, those constructions can be used and maintained for a long time, and today contain interesting archaeological information. Despite this, at the time of carrying out repairs, archaeologists are not usually consulted, and the history of a construction is seen as unimportant. However, with this case study of a log-barrier embankment from the early 20th-century Suomenlinna fortress, a new approach is available, challenging the way archaeologists collect data. The data collected from the site can be used together with the archaeological interpretation to aid in the plan for the reuse of the site.

This article treats a wide-ranging scientific project ‘The Evolution of the Baltic Sea and the Stages of the Earliest Human Settlement in the Southeast Baltic’ that started in 2009. The main research methods consist of multidisciplinary investigations of key archaeological sites and former glacial water-pools and bogs. The final result of the project is expected to be a model of demographic processes that occurred in the southeast Baltic during the Late Glacial and Early Holocene set against environmental changes.

The article presents the publication and an attempt at the analysis of the brooches from grave 165 of the Bol’shoe Isakovo (formerly Lauth) burial ground. These are special finds which produces pieces of animal-headed crossbow brooches of the Migration Period in Sambian-Natangian culture and the western Baltic region. Brooches from the grave of the Bol’shoe Isakovo burial ground should be one of the earliest examples of the animal style in the southeast Baltic, and an instance of contacts between northern Europe and the Sambian population in the Early Migration Period.

The Early Medieval Scalva region, situated on the Lower Neman,* was, it seems, already relatively densely populated in the Migration Period. The concentration of Migration Period cemeteries on the eastern outskirts of the later city of Tilsit might indicate this. The Am Philosophengang necropolis was one of these sites. Completely unknown until recently, the cemetery is now being ‘rediscovered’ on the basis of archive records