Archaeologia Baltica

If you make your way through the Gotlandic landscape today, you can still see agricultural remains originating from cultivation that took place two-three thousand years ago. The once cultivated land displays itself as systems of conjoined plots surrounded by baulks. The concern of this paper is the social implications this kind of agriculture had during the Pre-Roman Iron Age (500 BC-AD). This was a time when the practice was conventional and field systems were part of people’s surroundings. How did an established, yet changeable landscape structure affect people, and what values, apart from strictly nutritional, did cultivation offer them?

Analysis of the osteological and archaeological material discovered at the Early Bronze Age settlement of Kretuonas 1C suggests that the settlement’s hunted game and reared animals were slaughtered within the settlement, not far from the dwellings. We analyse the butchering technology of the Early Bronze Age based on Kretuonas 1C’s osteological material. The tools used for butchering and the macroscopic analysis of the slaughtered artiodactyls’ axial skeleton and long bones enabled an assessment of split bone in the butchering area, as well as of chop and cut marks acquired during the butchering process.

The Funnel Beaker or Tricterbecher (TRB) occupation at Bronocice, southeastern Poland (Małopolska) was based on a mixed farming economy, the cultivation of cereals and the keeping of domesticated animals. A zooarchaeological analysis and interpretation of the faunal assemblage from three phases of Funnel Beaker occupation (3800-3100 BC) revealed significant trends and patterns in animal husbandry practices reflective of increasing social complexity and specialization. In comparison with other sites in southeastern Poland the faunal data from Bronocice stands out as unique among Funnel Beaker sites with the exception of Zawarża.

This article reviews current scientific evidence of food resources exploited in the Lithuanian Stone and Bronze Ages and presents the new direct, biochemical stable isotope evidence. Stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analyses were performed on 75 Stone and Bronze Age animal bone samples and 23 human bone samples. We discuss how the obtained values relate to diet and other evidence of diet, compare the obtained values with regional stable isotope data, and consider sociocultural implications.

The article is devoted to examine the importance of horse image in the poetic texts of various genre Lithuanian folk songs from different local ethnic regions. We find different meanings of the biological horse here, such as riding-horse, working horse, mare and jade here as the representatives in the special social context here. The general conclusion is made about horse as very important symbolic object with wide and deep its meanings in the poetic texts of Lithuanian folk songs.

The paper analyses a horses’ behaviour in Lithuanian narrative folklore texts: a horse’s reaction towards unusual environment, a horse as a predictor and a horse as a sign of wealth. Horse’s connection with burial and wealth – keeping beliefs as well as relationship with the beyond is emphasized too.

The article discusses the horse’s role as a building deposit in historical times. The focus is on Finland but a short overlook on the custom elsewhere in Europe (mainly Southern Scandinavia and the British Isles) is also given. The possible meanings attached to the horse in deposits are also presented.

Burials of riders accompanied by horses are of special significance for the Prussian antiquities. This mass tradition roots back to the early Roman time and existed, slightly modified, in this area till Prussia was conquered by the Teutonic Order in the 13th century. In other words, this tradition existed in the Baltic region for over 1000 years. A horse takes an outstanding position in the Baltic mythology similarly to that of other Indo-European peoples. Numerous documents prove the important role that a horse played in Ancient Prussians’ life. Wooden saddles were found in three horse graves in Aleika-3 cemetery. Two saddles were preserved in the form of wooden fragments with carved images, which were covered with polychromatic pictures (yellow, red, brown, and black colours were used in the painting). Rear saddle arch found in the grave 521 is painted with solar rosettes, but the main accent of the saddle arch is two horses galloping to symbol of the World Tree or anthropomorphic figure in the centre of the composition. The unique artefacts found in Aleika-3 burial ground provide principally new information for understanding the details of burial ceremony and daily life of the medieval Prussians.