Klaipėdos universitetas

Burials of riders accompanied by horses are of special significance for the Prussian antiquities. This mass tradition roots back to the early Roman time and existed, slightly modified, in this area till Prussia was conquered by the Teutonic Order in the 13th century. In other words, this tradition existed in the Baltic region for over 1000 years. A horse takes an outstanding position in the Baltic mythology similarly to that of other Indo-European peoples. Numerous documents prove the important role that a horse played in Ancient Prussians’ life. Wooden saddles were found in three horse graves in Aleika-3 cemetery. Two saddles were preserved in the form of wooden fragments with carved images, which were covered with polychromatic pictures (yellow, red, brown, and black colours were used in the painting). Rear saddle arch found in the grave 521 is painted with solar rosettes, but the main accent of the saddle arch is two horses galloping to symbol of the World Tree or anthropomorphic figure in the centre of the composition. The unique artefacts found in Aleika-3 burial ground provide principally new information for understanding the details of burial ceremony and daily life of the medieval Prussians.

This article analyses symbolic horse burial rites in the East Lithuanian Barrow Culture of the tenth–eleventh centuries. Single imitative inhumations and cremations are the dominant forms of horse cenotaphs. A variety of group imitative burial forms also was practiced. Funerary rites for symbolic and actual horses were coexistent, and no chronological or spatial differences between them are observed. Grave goods in burials of symbolic horses indicate lower status. Imitative burials of horses were carried out by those who had no resources for the sacrifice of the animal itself as a grave good. The social implications of horse burials or symbolic burials gained substantiality along with growing military activity and social stratification.

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.