Archaeologia Baltica

The article discusses a hoard of Late Bronze Age artefacts recently discovered near the River Venta in western Latvia. This is only the seventh Bronze Age hoard from Latvia. The find consists of eight to nine whole and fragmentary bronze artefacts. This publication describes the circumstances of discovery and presents an analysis of the artefacts, their chronology and metal composition, seeking to place the hoard within the general context of Late Bronze Age Europe. The objects constituting the Liedikas hoard have been conserved and are held at Kuldīga District Museum.

This paper presents the findings of a research project aimed at reconstructing the subsistence

The Baltic Sea Region (BSR) appears as a specific space in which ports, maritime transport and the entire shipping cluster are crucially important. The BSR is one of the most heavily trafficked seas in the world, and maritime transport has contributed to its prosperity. After the collapse of the USSR, the Baltic Sea recovered its role as a contact and transit area. The opening up of the eastern shore to the market economy has brought about the reactivation of its maritime system, which over the years never stopped being a major element in the production of regional integration. Discourses on Baltic unity are often based on the importance of maritimity and maritime trade, but there is also a significant regional diversity in the shipping industry. Nowadays, the emergence of new directions in specialisation, and of new decision makers in ports, allows for new expectations and issues for Baltic ports. The author shows how, in this special Baltic context, ports and maritime stakeholders interact, participating in regional development and integration, but also by pursuing differentiated trajectories.

Physical and chemical parameters were measured in a mostly freshwater estuarine lagoon in the SE Baltic. Present paper demonstrates an attempt to trace the sources and analyse the seasonal and spatial patterns of distribution of POC, DIC and DOC in the Curonian lagoon mostly by the isotopic content in different forms of carbon. Samples were collected in 2012-2014 in 9 stations in the Curonian lagoon including riverine and marine input/output stations. Riverine inputs and summarizing outflow to the Baltic sea locations (Nemunas river delta and Klaipeda channel stations were sampled monthly, while POC, DIC and DOC samples in other stations were collected on a seasonal basis. The observed results allow easily differentiate between estuarine and riverine POM samples, while the differences in DOC δ13C content between sampling stations were found to be not statistically reliable. The high biological productivity of the Nemunas river along with the minor contribution of the Baltic Sea inflows to the overall hydrodynamics of the lagoon explain similarity of content between riverine and estuarine material in the spring and autumn. However, the δ13C content of DIC and DOC could serve as indicator of external inputs only in connection with seasonal water residence variations.

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.