Klaipėdos universitetas

The article deals with characteristics of the cultural landscape of archaeological sites of Dollkeim-Kovrovo (Sambian-Natangian) culture dating from the Roman Period. The study is based on a spatial analysis, and is built on the currently known information, drawn from prewar archives, publications, research from the second half of the 20th century, and on the results of field surveys conducted by the author. GIS-based techniques were applied. The archaeological sites from the Roman Period located on the eastern border of Dollkeim-Kovrovo Culture in the valleys of the River Pregolja and the River Dejma are the focus of attention. In order to carry out a comparative analysis, information on the burial grounds of the ‘cultural core’ on the Samland Peninsula is used. The spatial layout of the burial grounds and settlements is analysed. As a result, a pattern for the spatial evolution of Dollkeim-Kovrovo culture in the Roman Period and the testing of the hypothesis of the existence of ‘contact zones’ in the West Balt cultural circle are proposed for consideration.

Disc brooches of Dollkeim-Kovrovo culture attributed to the Early Roman Period are characterised by the complicated archaeological context. Distant analogies in Roman disc brooches, the different morphology and technique leave open the question of their origin. This article proposes an analysis based on the verification of archival data, publications and surviving archaeological items from the collection of the former Prussia-Museum.

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.

The article presents the publication and an attempt at the analysis of the brooches from grave 165 of the Bol’shoe Isakovo (formerly Lauth) burial ground. These are special finds which produces pieces of animal-headed crossbow brooches of the Migration Period in Sambian-Natangian culture and the western Baltic region. Brooches from the grave of the Bol’shoe Isakovo burial ground should be one of the earliest examples of the animal style in the southeast Baltic, and an instance of contacts between northern Europe and the Sambian population in the Early Migration Period.