Archaeologia Baltica

This article surveys tendencies in Bronze Age social research in the Baltic countries. It marks a new departure in archaeological

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

The article presents aspects of the cultural function of Nordic Bronze Age hanging vessels, on the basis of their distribution and production in the Baltic Sea region. Depositions with hanging vessels and related objects show for some regions a similar understanding of the right use and ritual knowledge.

At the beginning of the Late Pre-Roman Period, various cultural transformations occurred on Polish territory induced by La Tène culture, and, to a lesser extent, by Jastorf culture circle stimuli. As a result of these influences, new cultures appeared: oksywie culture in the north of Poland, and Przeworsk culture to south of oksywie culture. Among oksywie culture sepulchral materials, many imported items can be identified, such as metal scabbards with crossbars decorated with three or more S-figures. These sheaths were found together with items imported from La Tène culture and roman territories. The article analyses the provenance and distribution of imported items. The authors try to define the origin of the scabbards, and show the interaction between oksywie culture societies and Celtic cultures.

Between 2000 and 2003, near Frienstedt, Kr. Erfurt, in central Germany, a settlement, graves, and what is presumably a cult site from the Roman Iron Age, were partly excavated. The habitation of the settlement started at the end of the first century AD, and ended around 400 AD. From the middle of the third century, ten inhumation graves were set out, surrounding a Bronze Age graveyard in a loose circle with a radius of about 120 metres. Two of these are little chambers of a ‘princely couple’. In the centre of the site are several shafts with a presumed ritual function. About 1,500 bronze fragments show a distinct connection with the Roman Empire in the third century, possibly in part due to Germanic soldiers recruited by the Roman army.

A shield boss and a shield grip with silver decoration were recently found in the Przeworsk culture cemetery at Czersk in the Piaseczno district in central Poland. The shield boss, type J.7, has three times three bronze thimble-headed rivets, covered with silver. The bronze shield grip has silvered rivet plates with thimble-headed rivets, decorative filigree studs, and openwork decoration. The technique that was used to produce this specimen is not clear, despite metallographic analysis. The shield has analogies in Scandinavia (Hunn, Radved, Brostorp) and the northern Elbian circle (Hamfelde). It was probably a parade shield, an international sign of the warrior elite in the Early Roman Period in the barbaricum.

A survey is proposed on two insufficiently researched aspects of late fifth-century clothing in southern Gaul and Hispania: multiculturalism and regionalism. Focusing on both aspects improves the understanding of a number of phenomena recorded in funerary contexts.

Charred microscopic plant remains, other than charcoal, uncovered in the contents of grave pits, provide information on the use of plants as grave goods and other aspects of the burial rite, as well as on the taxonomic composition of the plant cover of the cemetery and the landscape around it. This paper presents the results of an analysis and interpretation of such eco-facts from the Bogaczewo culture cemetery at Paprotki Kolonia site 1 in the Masurian Great Lakes District. All of the charred plant remains came from the contents of 87 grave pits with pyre remains and contents of urns, dated, in general, to the early Roman Period and phase C1. Thirty-six taxons of different kinds were represented among them, including cereals and wild plants of different habitats. An analysis of the age, sex, number of individuals and social status of the deceased, defined on the basis of the grave goods and the use of plants in the burial rite, showed no pattern. The only probable rule seems to be the fact of the domination of wheat among the cereals uncovered in grave pits. The interpretation of the function of plants put intentionally on the pyre in the burial rite showed that their use was connected with universal and complicated symbols of cereals and plant food. Wild plants might have been used in the rite for their medicinal or magic properties. Some plants discovered in the contents of grave pits might also have overgrown the sites of the pyres and their close vicinity. Their taxonomic set shows that at the time of the use of the cemetery at the Paprotki Kolonia site 1, its surface was deforested and overgrown with herbal plants.

Goods decorated in the Ring Decoration style are prevalent in Sambian-Natangian culture from the early phase of the Late Roman Period. Several types of adornment are known: with single or several hoops, and with a combination of wire and embossed foil. Ring Decoration types can be used as date markers, since they existed at fixed periods in time. Pieces decorated with rings can be assigned to the regions of the Vistula and the Baltic Sea islands, and can be considered evidence of contacts between the elites of Sambia, Scandinavia and Germania Libera.