This article discusses the development of the Gołdap Group, which is part of Sudovian culture, during the Migration Period. The graves from necropolises of that region (especially from the cemetery at Czerwony Dwór) have quite rich grave goods, which allows for a detailed chronological analysis. It is complemented by an analysis of the stratigraphy of features dug into the barrows. On this basis, five chronological phases in the development of the Gołdap Group, which existed from the early Phase D of the Early Migration Period until Phase E2 of the Late Migration Period, can be distinguished.
Journal:Archaeologia Baltica
Volumes 21-22 (2015): Horizons of Archival Archaeology, pp. 71–89
Abstract
The article summarises new investigations at the famous site of Linkuhnen and its material culture, which was excavated between 1928 and 1939, but never really published. The surviving finds from the cemetery, together with information collected from diverse archival sources, show a picture of a burial ground which was probably used from the second to the 11th century. The richness and the international references of the local material culture during the Viking Age point to an important role of the site in the network of trade and communication between the Baltic Sea, Scandinavia and Eastern Europe.
Journal:Archaeologia Baltica
Volume 10 (2008): Astronomy and Cosmology in Folk Traditions and Cultural Heritage, pp. 71–77
Abstract
In this article, we discuss the phenomenon of crescent-shaped pendants dating back to the Late Roman Iron Age and Early Migration Period (3rd – 6th centuries AD). Placed on horse’s foreheads, these crescent-shaped pendants evidently embodied a mythological link between the moon and the horse. The same link is clearly reflected in linguistic data and folklore right up until the 20th century. We draw special attention to a horse with a white mark on its forehead called laukas (adj.), laukis (noun) in Lithuanian, which derives from the I-E root *louk- ‘shining, bright’, as also does the Latin luna (< *louksnā). Considering the data as a whole, we propose an unexpected link between the Baltic and Roman traditions.
Journal:Archaeologia Baltica
Volume 8 (2007): Weapons, Weaponry and Man (In memoriam Vytautas Kazakevičius), pp. 377–386
Abstract
In Lithuania, iron smelting furnaces dating back to the Roman Iron Age and the Migration Period have been found in 20 places, not
withstanding that iron slag was found in numerous archaeological excavations concerning those periods. The discovered furnaces are positioned in three groups on the northeastern outskirts of a former settlement. The investigated iron smelting structures with a shaft furnace and a slag pit under a hearth could have been built in Lithuania from the first century BC to the fourth or fifth centuries AD. The fact that there are no iron artefacts in dozens of household pits may be explained by their small quantity and their high value, when things are not easily thrown out. A comparison of the pottery found in the settlement indicates that furnaces were built and used in the transitional period when coarse ceramics predominated: the fourth and fifth centuries were the boundary between the Late Roman Iron Age and the Migration Period.
Journal:Archaeologia Baltica
Volume 8 (2007): Weapons, Weaponry and Man (In memoriam Vytautas Kazakevičius), pp. 69–84
Abstract
Neither the sword burials of the Late Roman Iron Age, nor the combination of an axe and arrows in graves indicate the presence of in any particular region. A comparison of weapon burial practice associated with inhumation and cremation burial practice demonstrates beyond doubt that those differences which were identified in older publications reflect only overall changes in weapon burial practice over time. Some lance-heads and in particular the few spear-heads known show a close similarity to Scandinavian weapon types and indicate that weapon types became less specific for regions.