Res Humanitariae

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.

“Gray customs system” is an illegal practice of getting goods across the border without official customs approval. Such practice makes a negative impact on Russia-China economic relations and is, therefore, considered as a barrier for bilateral economic relations between Russia and China. In this context, the paper examines the problems occurred due to the gray customs system and the action taken to mitigate this problem. The research method used for this article is the case study method referring to secondary data, scholarly literature and reports.

The article analyses proverbs that mention bread. The aim is to reveal how bread is treated in Lithuanian proverbs, and to provide an analysis of the image of bread. It analyses Lithuanian proverbs in which bread is treated as a meal, as well as symbolic meanings and the personification of bread. Stylistic analysis, interpretation and description methods are used in the preparation of the article. Material published in the compendium ‘Lithuanian Proverbs and Sayings’ was mostly used.

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.

The article discusses the horse’s role as a building deposit in historical times. The focus is on Finland but a short overlook on the custom elsewhere in Europe (mainly Southern Scandinavia and the British Isles) is also given. The possible meanings attached to the horse in deposits are also presented.