Archaeologia Baltica

The article presents the data from Kakliniškės 7 settlement site, discovered and excavated in 2020 during the construction of the gas pipeline. The rich and representative collection of pottery and archaeobotanical material gathered in the site have provided valuable data on the hitherto unknown 4th century BC in Lithuania. Pottery such as that found at Kakliniškės 7 has not previously been identified, and is therefore referred to here as Kakliniškės Ware. These are pots with slightly curved walls, rounded shoulders and vertical rims, featuring a striated surface topped with an additional coarse layer. The defined attributes of this new type of pottery have allowed the identification of the same ware in other settlement and burial sites in southeastern Lithuania and the Trans-Nemunas region. All of these settlement sites share some common features; most likely they are the sites of short-lived farmsteads belonging to highly dispersed settlements. Such data allow us to hypothesise a hitherto unidentified cultural group that briefly spread in southern Lithuania in the 4th century BC. This challenges the prevailing model of a static cultural development and a homogeneous material culture in the 1st millennium BC in all of eastern Lithuania. Our data show that the cultural situation here was much more dynamic than previously thought.

In the excavated Padure (Beltes) hill-fort in Latvia, cultural layers from the Late Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age (Stage 1), and the middle Iron Age and the Late Iron Age (Stage 2), were detected, which, besides the archaeological material typical of that period, provided abundant zooarchaeological material. This article presents the investigation data from the zooarchaeological material of both stages: the data relate to the butchering techniques used, and the identification of the composition of the faunal species. The investigation was carried out in the bioarchaeological laboratory of the Institute of Baltic Region History and Archaeology at Klaipėda University. As is proven by the investigation, the ratio of domestic animals to hunted wildlife in the two periods compared is not identical. In the second period of habitation of the hill-fort, the number of cattle and sheep/goats decreased, while the number of swine and especially of horses increased. The article also deals with characteristics of butchering techniques of domestic animals and wildlife in both periods of the habitation of the hill-fort, and changes identified in the meat processing. In the second period, the level of processing resulted in greater amounts of meat suitable for food, due to the technical properties of the raw material and the nutritional and commodity value.

In this review of pollen data from the South Swedish uplands, evidence is presented of colonisation and strong agricultural expansion during the 11th to 13th centuries, followed by farm abandonment and land use change during the 14th to 15th centuries. The latter is associated with the Black Death and the late medieval crisis. Pollen data show that abandonment in the uplands resulted in the regrowth of woodland, but also in land use change from cereal growing to grazing. Similar cycles of agricultural expansion and decline are identified also from earlier periods during the Iron Age, which highlights the sensitive character of upland agriculture and settlement.

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.

In the article a survey is given of the information about horse and its exploitation in the Late Bronze Age in Estonia. Concerning the archaeozoological material the finds of horse bones in the Late Bronze Age are discussed. The analysis of finds discusses the bone artefacts connected with the exploitation of horse and artefacts made from horse bones.