Archaeologia Baltica

Flints from the Late Bronze Age (Roman Period?) Naudvaris cemetery (in the Jurbarkas district) and the Iron Age Kernavė settlement (in the Širvintos district) in Lithuania were analysed functionally and from other points of view. The results are presented in the context of key issues on flint processing and use in Lithuania and Poland during the first millennium BC and the first millennium AD when metals were available.

At the end of the Neolithic and during the Early Bronze Age, trans-regional exchange networks were already functioning in Europe, many of them covering the entire continent. One consequence of them was the rise of multi-directional ties between groups, and exchange on a scale which transcended individual culture groups. One exchange route that was in existence at the end of the Neolithic was associated with the distribution of amber. It followed the line of the River Vistula, from the Bay of Gdańsk to its headwaters. During the Early Bronze Age, this situation underwent a change. Drawing on older and more recent findings from the Mazury Lake District, I have tried to make the case for the existence during this period of an alternative communication route which traversed the Mazury region of northeast Poland.

The fortification character of the double-ring palisade-structure of Ridala is discussed here. A crucial factor is the legend of the decline and desertion of the site, due to an outside attack. Bone arrowheads as possible explanations for this attack theory are examined, and the events behind the palisade-structure and inhabitation (formation, duration and break-up) are reconsidered. In the end, the function and purpose of the palisades are regarded as being of a symbolic character (religious and political) rather than sanctioned by military threats.

This paper discusses Bronze Age exchange contacts in Latvia. Changes in the directions of contacts and the nature of the exchange are investigated, looking back at the Neolithic for comparison, and at developments in the Early and Late Bronze Age, focussing on the routes by which bronze arrived and the mechanisms by which objects spread. In the Late Neolithic, directional commercial trade is observable, something that is no longer characteristic of the Early Bronze Age, but which appears again in the Late Bronze Age, when bronze-working centres, which had an important role in the regulation of social relations, developed along the River Daugava. During all of these periods, a prestige chain remained in existence.

This study focuses on artefacts with serrated edges made of scapulae occurring in assemblages from Late Bronze Age fortified settlements in Estonia. They have usually been interpreted in Estonia as flax-working tools; but recently some doubts have been raised about this use. The article gives an overview of these finds both in Estonia and elsewhere, and discusses possible areas of their use.

This article draws a comparison between the Stone Age zoomorphic and anthropomorphic images that have been found in present-day Lithuania and similar finds from across the Baltic region. Both the attribution of these artefacts to archaeological cultures and their dating are discussed. The article raises the question whether the different archaeological culture that each article belongs to is reflected in its form and style. The article also questions if the concept of archaeological culture is necessary when writing about Stone Age art.