Klaipėdos universitetas

In 2018, during reconstruction works at the central square of the town of Kupiškis and the subsequent archaeological investigation, 153 coins dating to the 17th to 20th centuries were found. Usually only coins of the lowest denomination and value are found during such investigations, but most of the coins found at the central square in Kupiškis were attributable to the medium denomination coin type. It has been established that the majority of the 17th-century coins (125 pieces) belonged to a coin assemblage or hoard which was scattered before the reconstruction of the square. Based on the historical and numismatic data, it has been assumed that this set of coins was hidden around 1709 to 1710, when the country was devastated by the plague, and that it would likely have belonged to a keeper of a shop that used to stand at the market square. The composition of the said collection of coins was typical of the monetary circulation of that period, with some unique features as well. Compared to other finds, the assemblage contained a larger number of lower medium denomination coins and considerably fewer higher denomination coins. This suggests that the owner of the money was engaged in retail trade. The assemblage is also characterised by a larger number and diversity of Swedish coins. This unique feature can be explained by the fact that in the 17th and 18th centuries the region of Kupiškis was famous for flax cultivation and trade.

Michał Eustachy Brensztejn compiled the ‘Archaeological Inventory of the Kovno Gubernia’ in 1907. The manuscript was not published, and only in 2010 was it discovered in the archives of the State Archaeological Museum in Warsaw. The Lithuanian Institute of History and the State Archaeological Museum in Warsaw initiated a project to publish the ‘Inventory’ as the third part of the Ostbalticum project. This paper gives some preliminary insights and a short description of the manuscript as a source for Lithuanian archaeology. It analyses the sources used by Brensztejn, describes the process of identification of place-names, discusses the reliability of the records and the novelty of these data, and shows some characteristic mistakes that the author of the ‘Inventory’ made. A puzzle of artefact collection from Jagminai is presented as a brief case study. Thanks to the oral tradition recorded by Brensztejn, the identification of the site was possible.

Female graves, which contain a wholly unfeminine or male-related grave inventory, and not only a single item, are discussed in this paper. The main intention is not to describe in great detail these graves, but rather, by removing them from the context, to approach them as possible archaeological evidence of cross-dressing. Drawing on different historical parallels, a tentative explanation is suggested following two supposed inspirations for cross-dressing: cross-dressing by military consideration, and cross-dressing by cultural consideration.