Archaeologia Baltica

Presented here are results of analyses of excavated skeletal material from the early modern period in Tartu, Estonia, for evidence of syphilis. Our understanding of the incidence of syphilis in Estonia, and the causes of its spread, are discussed. All of the skeletal samples that were positively identified for syphilis included evidence of bone lesions on the cranium. Percentages of remains with signs indicative of syphilis were found at a rate of 0.50%, which accords with a figure of 0.77% from Britain for the same period. Evidence presented suggests that syphilis was a problem not only in the metropolitan area of Tallinn, but also in the less populous cities of Estonia. It is concluded, given that the excavation sites represent different dates from the period, that syphilis was a significant health problem in early modern Tartu.

The article gives a brief overview of recent achievements in the study of Djakovo-type sites located in the Moskva river basin. The chronological time frames are from the eighth to seventh centuries BC to the sixth to seventh centuries AD. The most important inferences are based on the results of the excavations of the Djakovo hill-fort carried out from 1981 to 1987. The abundant finds correspond well to the radiocarbon dates. Two peaks of human activity at Djakovo-type sites occurred in the fifth to the third centuries BC and the first to the fourth centuries AD. Agriculture and cattle breeding formed the economic basis. Bronze ornaments and clay cult artefacts prove the idea that the population of the Moskva river basin had a tribal identity in the first half of the first millennium AD.

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.

Female graves, which contain a wholly unfeminine or male-related grave inventory, and not only a single item, are discussed in this paper. The main intention is not to describe in great detail these graves, but rather, by removing them from the context, to approach them as possible archaeological evidence of cross-dressing. Drawing on different historical parallels, a tentative explanation is suggested following two supposed inspirations for cross-dressing: cross-dressing by military consideration, and cross-dressing by cultural consideration.

In this article, some new approaches to Taurapilis prehistoric site, situated in the Utena district in Lithuania, are proposed. As a projection of a taurus horn on the ground in a water form, Lake Tauragnas was the principal factor shaping the particular prehistoric space and determining its status. In this way also, the origins of the Taurapilis Central Place, dated to the fifth or sixth centuries, are explained.