Archaeologia Baltica

The paper analyses symbolic warrior burials found in East Lithuanian barrows dated to the Iron Age. The discussed graves contain mainly weapons, without any human remains. Judging from the grave assemblages and the shapes of the weapons, it is supposed that higher-status individuals used to be buried symbolically more frequently. Stressing the male gender and the warrior status was the primary task when performing a symbolic burial.

The various ways of interpreting the meaning of battle-axes and swords as grave goods are discussed. Two Finnish Crusade Period (1050–1200AD) inhumation cemeteries (Kirkkomäki in Turku and Rikalanmäki in Halikko) are presented as a case study. Both swords and battle-axes in these cemeteries had several meanings: they were effective weapons, but also important symbols of the wealth and status of their owners and community. They also had other symbolic and magical dimensions, which were important in the burial ritual.

The Baltic traders’ stimulation for trading with foreign countries was caused by the shortage of iron, the necessity to obtain good arms, salt, metals for bronze manufacturing, and silver. Apart from traditional goods, like slaves, furs and honey, traders from Scandinavian and west Slavic centres were interested in rye, horses of local breeds, and Baltic ornaments. Aquatic routes up and down rivers were convenient and fast in winter. In Viking times, traders could reach the neighbourhood of Kaunas, trading there for several days, and get back to the Baltic Sea in about 20 days. Navigation away from Kaunas upstream included dugouts, primitive flat-bottomed boats and even rafts. Sailing up and down the river can be proved by information about sailing in Crusaders’ times (13th and 14th centuries). Travelling in foreign territories was dangerous, so traders were usually armed. Arms were discovered in about 60% of the so-called “traders’ graves” of Lithuanian coastal cemeteries.

For a long time the interest of many scholars has been focused on issues of the Viking (Varangian, Norman) presence in the Balkans. However, a series of strategic and tactical changes happened in warfare after the raids undertaken by the Russian-Varangian Knyaz (Prince) Sviatoslav in Bulgaria in the late tenth century AD. Therefore, special attention could be given to a series of new artefacts of north European (or Scandinavian) origin, which consists mainly of weapons and military equipment.

Three of the most remarkable Viking Period silver hoards found on Gotland form the topic of this paper. They all offer viewpoints upon trade, tribute and warfare in Gotland and the East Baltic area. The oldest of them (t.p.q. 870/1) was found in 1999 at Spillings in Othem parish. It illustrates the enormous influx of Arabic silver in its epoch, weighing more than 66kg, of which 17.5kg are made up of about 14,000 coins. Both of the other hoards were found at Ocksarve in Hemse parish, the first in 1920, the second in 1997. The hoard of 1920 i.a contains 112 Byzantine millaresia struck for Constantine IX Monomachos (1042–1055), probably part of the salary of a Gotlandic mercenary and ex-member of the Varangian guard. The second hoard (t.p.q. 999) is interesting from a metrological point of view, as it contains several interlinked payment spirals and bundles containing hack-silver. There is also a magnificent silver sword chape, probably a masterpiece from a Kievan workshop, with a graffito showing two crossed single-edged swords of J. Petersen’s type T, V or W.

The article is devoted to the history of tenth to 13th-century blade weapons in Belarus. The main tendencies in the evolution of blade weapons and the most important directions in military-technical contacts of the population of Belarus are defined.

The Rėkučiai defence installation is in the eastern part of Lithuania between two lakes in wooded country. The installation was comprised of a rampart and a ditch in front of it. This defence installation from the 12th and 13th centuries belongs to the most important fortified area of the newly developing Lithuanian state. It extended about 50 kilometres from east to west, and was built as a defence against the Polotsk-Pskov duchies and the Livonian Order. Analogous defence installations include Kovirke (“Cow Wall”), a lesser fortification within the well-known Dannevirke earthwork fortification complex, as well as the ramparts left by Prussian tribes.

The purpose of this paper is to report on the incidence of traumatic bone lesions among the population of the River Daugava area in Latvia. A total of 804 skeletons from four cemeteries were analysed. The data obtained indicates that the frequencies of cranial trauma in all the series are similar. Within each population there was a significant difference between males and females with regard to the frequency of traumas. Skeletal traumas of the inhabitants of the Daugava area are not connected exclusively with military conflict.

The subject of this paper is the inlay technique, namely the hammering of fine silver to an iron object specially grooved for the purpose, and early medieval Semigallian and Couronian military equipment decorated in this technique. This includes sword hilts, strap dividers and mounts made by Baltic smiths, and a unique armour plate. The study of the inlay technique permits the former silver decoration on objects to be reconstructed. The ornate Couronian sword hilts provide grounds for hypothesising that there was a specialist weaponry workshop at Talsi hill-fort.

In Lithuania, iron smelting furnaces dating back to the Roman Iron Age and the Migration Period have been found in 20 places, not