Klaipėdos universitetas

This article presents an analysis of the spatial structure and the chronological development of Opstainis, Vilkyškiai Iron-Age hill-fort settlement, on the basis of archaeological and geomagnetic survey data. It has been ascertained that the hill-fort and the settlement were inhabited throughout the first millennium AD. The currently available scientific research data from Opstainis, Vilkyškiai Iron-Age hill-fort and settlement (half-sunken building or pit houses, oval-shaped and pear-shaped flatbottom household pits, and shards of handmade pottery decorated with cross-shaped imprint ornaments) serve as indications of contacts between the inhabitants of the lower reaches of the River Nemunas and the southwest Baltic Sea region in the second half of the first millennium AD.

The article looks at possible ways and origins of cultural influence by the example of the pottery production of the New Jerusalem Monastery in the 17th and 18th centuries. It tells about the pottery of the New Jerusalem Monastery, and an attempt is made to trace signs of the influence of different craftsmen, and the situation in general for the development of pottery production and its special features.

Favourable conditions for the development of towns in northern central Lithuania occurred only as late as the 15th and 16th centuries. In the 16th and early 17th centuries, some settlements developed into small towns of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. It was at this time that a mixed urbanistic system with a radial street network and a rectangular market square formed. The absolute majority of 16th to 18th-century buildings in the towns of the Šiauliai Crown Estate, just as in most of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, were built of timber. Only from the early 17th century did the construction begin of brick buildings intended for religious or public purposes (such as the town hall in Joniškis). A more distinct separation between the development of towns can be made on the basis of the specific features of finds. These are finds related to trade, handicrafts and business: coins and hoards of coins, certain types of pottery, tiles, and work tools related to specific handicrafts, products and materials.