Klaipėdos universitetas

The article discusses the evolution of the earliest buildings in the urban environment of Kaunas Old Town. Archaeological research has revealed clear traces of wooden buildings in Medieval Kaunas dating from the turn of the 14th and 15th centuries and from the early 15th century. The earliest buildings of this type, with basements, were in line with the planned urban structure of the town. They were found in some blocks of the southern part of the Old Town, on the western part of Market Square, and by the main street. In all cases, the traces found are very similar. The wooden buildings and their locations in the newly planned town reveal the initial stages in the town’s growth. Masonry houses evolved in Kaunas in several stages. Churches, the first public buildings, appeared in the newly founded town. The next stage is associated with the early development of masonry public buildings from the mid-15th century to the first half of the 16th century. The earliest brick houses emerged in various locations in the urban space.

Abundance of horse graves and very expressive horse-offering rituals are well known in the Central region of Lithuania. But principally the new material has been obtained after the investigations of burial ground in Marvelė. Horse graves are usually found separate from human graves, composing special parts of “horse graveyards” in the cemeteries. Arrangement of these parts with horse graves are related to local micro-landscape. The natural and cultural elements with memory signs embody the environmental cosmology and are involved into the mythology. The horse burial places suggest the ceremonies of public displays. The horse becomes a contributor which helps to cross the border between mythological spaces.

The battle-knife is quite a familiar weapon in Lithuanian archaeological material. The functional characteristics are more important than the length of knife for making decisions about the battle-knife. By appreciating the archaeological material from Marvelė cemetery (central Lithuania), we can observe the process of change in the form of the battle-knife during the Late Roman Period.