Archaeologia Baltica

This paper integrates archaeological, environmental and isotopic data from Roman Iron Age

The Early Bronze Age in Lithuania, and especially the final part, saw the most important changes in the structure of the

This article discusses issues related to pile-dwelling settlements in Lithuania. It offers a detailed study of the archaeological and osteological material found at the Žemaitiškė 2 pile-dwelling settlement, as well as palynological and radiocarbon research into the settlement’s cultural layer. The article discusses the wood anatomy of pile-dwellings, their dendrochronological dating, and the types of construction material. The studies show that the construction of pile-dwellings in Lithuania began in the Late Neolithic Age, whereas the tradition of living on pile platforms existed throughout the Bronze Age.

The horse bones found in Lithuanian habitation sites that date to the Late Neolithic and to the Early Bronze Age still do not indicate that these horses were ridden upon or used to plough the soil. However, horse bones have been found in Lithuanian territory only in those sites where bones of other animals that were domesticated have been found. This suggests that domesticated horses in Lithuania might have spread together with other domesticated animals by way of cultural diffusion during the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age.

This paper describes traces of human activities in the lower reaches of the River Jägala (North Estonia) from the Mesolithic till the Middle Ages. Attention is paid to the conditions essential to life and how people adjusted to them in the Prehistoric period and the Middle Ages. Also, the topic of the ritual landscape is discussed and the possible religious and ritual significance of the landscape analysed. This paper also tries to find an answer to the question whether people in Prehistoric times were only guided by economic considerations, or if there were also other aspects that attracted them near the banks of the River Jägala.