Klaipėdos universitetas

This article returns to the question of whether Christianity in Europe in the High Middle Ages necessarily precluded the cremation of corpses. The question is addressed focusing on the Livs, a West Finno-Ugric society, who lived in the east Baltic region, before they adopted Christianity and during the early period of Christianisation. The authors combine archaeological expertise with interpretations of historical sources to explore the late cremations of the Livs and, in particular, to analyse two female cremations from the cemetery at Ogresgala Čabas, located near the mouth of the River Daugava. Cremations dominated in the initial phase of Daugava Liv culture in the lower reaches of the Daugava in the second half of the tenth century before they were replaced by inhumations by the middle of the 11th century, especially in female graves. The article deals with the late cremations of the Livs from the late 11th to the 13th century, when they became very rare and took on a different form. Taking into account references to the practice of cremation in exceptional cases of deaths in foreign lands in written sources about the Livs, the article agrees with researchers who believe that not all cremated corpses should be immediately and unconditionally associated with paganism.

Briefly presented in this paper are the results of the 2007 and 2008 excavations at the complex of ancient sites at Ogresgala Čabas. Particularly significant discoveries were made in the Liv cemetery site, which presented a surprising diversity of grave practices, among which particularly significant are the stone circles surrounding the graves, the offerings of artefacts, the sacrifice of a horse and possible sacrifice of a woman. Considering the horse graves at Ogresgala Čabas, in the cemetery adjacent to Daugmale Hillfort and the offerings of horse body parts at cemeteries in the Lower Daugava area, it seems that the horse played a greater role in Liv mythological belief and ritual than has been assumed hitherto.

In The Chronicle of Henry of Livonia there is a description of “divine trial” in Turaida (Latvia), where the “horse of destiny” was used to decide the fate of Christian preacher in the Turaida brother Theodoric. The overall depiction of the trial bears strong likeness to Germanic traditions account of which comes from as early as the writings of Tacitus, in 98. However, the historical context shows similar patterns of mythological thought both with the Livs, the Balts and Germanic tribes. Also similar is the role of the horse in the mythology of these peoples.