Klaipėdos universitetas

Archaeological excavations in the Late Neolithic settlement of Iča were carried out in 1998 and 1989. Pre-war research of the Iča settlement was done by Eduard Šturms (1895–1959). The aim of this paper is to draw attention to the character of the Late Neolithic population. In total, an area of 463.5 square metres was investigated. Three cultural layers were discovered: Eneolithic, and Late Neolithic. Topography, stratigraphy and dwelling traces are described. Attention is paid to the demoted human burials, of which bones were found all over the excavated area. Flint, stone, antler and amber artefacts, 516 items altogether, were found in an area of 506 square metres. A small clay item, representing the breast of a female figurine, and a bone plate with an engraved anthropomorphic face, are of special interest. Amber ornaments, altogether 122 pendants, buttons, cylindrical beads, fragments of rings and discs, were found. The pottery was classified in three groups: Late Neolithic porous and corded Ware, as well as Eneolithic-Lubāna type. Radiocarbon data from five wooden samples allowed us to date the habitation of the settlement at Iča from 3320 to 2570 bc.

The horse bones found in Lithuanian habitation sites that date to the Late Neolithic and to the Early Bronze Age still do not indicate that these horses were ridden upon or used to plough the soil. However, horse bones have been found in Lithuanian territory only in those sites where bones of other animals that were domesticated have been found. This suggests that domesticated horses in Lithuania might have spread together with other domesticated animals by way of cultural diffusion during the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age.