THE BALTS by Marija Gimbutas Thames and Hudson London 1963 5 CONTENTS List of Illustrations ............................................ 6 Foreword ........................................................... 11 Introduction ....................................................... 13 I Linguistic and Historic Background ................. 21 II Their Origins ..................................................... 37 III The Bronze and the Early Iron Age of the Maritime Balts ................................................... 54 IV The Bronze and the Early Iron Age of the Eastern Balts ..................................................... 91 V The “Golden Age”............................................. 109 VI The Baltic “Middle Iron Age” .......................... 141 VII The Balts Before the Dawn of History .............. 155 VIII Religion ............................................................. 179 Notes ................................................................. 205 Bibliography ...................................................... 214 Sources of Illustrations ...................................... 224 The Plates .......................................................... 227 Notes On the Plates ........................................... 269 Index .................................................................. 277 6 ILLUSTRATIONS All images have been omitted from this PDF version of the book, in order to make the size of the file smaller. If you would like to see them, they are all available on the HTML version of this book, which can be found at http://www.vaidilute.com PLATES 1. Ancient Prussians: bronze relief 2. Corded and pinched pottery from Finland 3. Grave goods of Battle-Axe culture 4, 5. Bronze pin and axe 6. Bronze flanged axe 7. Bronze axe with semicircular edge 8. Late Bronze Age socketed axe 9. Late Bronze Age spearhead 10. Urn with necklace design 11. Face-urn with amber bead ear-rings 12. Face on an urn from Poland 13. Urn with engraved horse. Stela with sun symbol 14, 15. Urn with symbolic scene 16. Sheepskin coat from Masuria 17. Hill-fort, southern Lithuania 18. Man’s grave goods, western Lithuania 19. Necklaces from central and eastern Lithuania 20. Fretworked belt separator 21. Fretworked fibula 22. Woman’s grave goods, western Lithuania 23. Woman’s grave goods from double grave 24. Woman’s grave goods from double grave 25. Double grave, Kaunas, Lithuania 26. Elk in silver plated bronze 27, 28. Silver-plated bronze fibulae 29. Gold-plated plaques 30. Silver-plated plaque 31. Details of horse’s head gear 7 PLATES 32. Bronze fibula with enamel incrustation 33. Bronze fibula with enamel inlay 34. Pendants with enamel inlay 35, 36. Bronze pendants with enamel incrustation 37, 38. Fibulae with enamel inlay 39, 40. Fibulae with enamel inlay 41. Bronze bracelet with enamel inlay 42. Bronze bracelets with enamel inlay 43. Enameled ornaments from central Russia 44. Silver fibula and enameled plaque 45. Chest ornament from woman’s grave 46. Chest ornament 47. Silver bow-fibula 48. Silver bracelet 49. Silver necklace 50. Silver neck-ring 51. Snake-headed silver fibula 52-54. Axe, spearhead and shield umbo 55. Man’s grave goods, western Lithuania 56. Silver-coated bronze pendant and bronze pin 57. Woman’s grave goods, central Lithuania 58. Woman’s chest ornament 59. Bronze necklace 60. Silver neck-ring 61. Bronze horseshoe fibula 62. Horseshoe fibula 63. Massive bronze bracelet 64. Man’s bracelet 65. Parts of leather belts. Belt with bronze plates 8 PLATES 67. Instruments for girdle-twisting 68, 69. Swords of Viking type 70. Horse’s bridle 71, 72. Details of horses’ graves 73, 74. Silver-plated iron bridle 75, 76. Silver-plated iron stirrup 77, 78. Hill fort, western Lithuania 79. Roof poles topped with sun and moon symbols FIGURES 1. Map: Baltic tribes and provinces c. A.D. 1200, p. 23 2. Map: area of the Baltic river names, pp. 30-31 3. Map: expansion of Kurgan culture, p. 39 4. Map: distribution of physical types, p. 47 5. Proto-Baltic variant of Corded pottery, p. 50 6. Reconstruction and plan of house, p. 51 7. Stratified barrow, Samland, p. 53 8. Map: principal amber routes, p. 58 9. Snake-headed stone hoe, p. 60 10. Map: distribution of Baltic culture in Bronze Age, p. 63 11. Map: distribution of stone hoes and bronze artifacts, p. 64 12. Classical Baltic Late Bronze Age barrow, p. 67 13. Ornaments from Samland, p. 70 14. Ornaments from Samland, p. 71 15. Barrow in western Lithuania, p. 72 16. Temple ornaments and pendants, p. 73 17. House-urn, p. 74 18. Face-urns, p. 75 19. Necklace from Face-urn period, p. 76 20. Solar motifs on face-urn lads, p. 77 21. Engravings on face-urns, p. 78 9 FIGURES 22. Bone comb, p. 80 23. Plan of fortified village, northern Poland (ancient Prussia), p. 81 24. Map: Baltic Early Iron Age groups, p. 83 25. Pot-covered urn grave, p. 84 26. Urns in stone cists, p. 85 27. Barrow containing large stone cist, p. 87 28. Geometrically decorated Prussian urns, p. 88 29. Urns from Samland, p. 89 30. Early Bronze Age Fat’janovo pot, p. 93 31. Late Bronze Age and Iron Age pots, p. 96 32. Plans of houses, eastern Baltic hill-fort village, p. 104 33. Eastern Baltic Early Iron Age hill-fort, p. 105 34. Pins from Early Iron Age hill-fort, p. 106 35. Weapons and utensils from Eastern Baltic fortified villages, p. 107 36. Map: Baltic lands in Roman period, pp. 110-11 37. Warrior’s grave in tree-trunk coffin, p. 112 38. Sudovian farmer’s grave, p. 115 39. Iron scythe from Latvia, p. 116 40. Female head and neck ornaments, p. 127 41. Bronze fibulae with cast pin, p. 128 42. Bronze fibula with chains, p. 129 43. Chest ornaments, p. 130 44. Fretworked belt parts, p. 131 45. Neck-ring with pendants, p. 133 46. Bronze fibula shaped to resemble animal, p. 135 47. Bronze fibula with silver-plated foot, p. 146 48. Star and sun motifs on fibulae, p. 146 49. Owl-head fibula, p. 147 50. Map: The Balts after the Slavic expansion, p. 151 10 FIGURES 51. Silver-plated crossbow fibula, p. 156 52. Bronze necklace with pendants, p. 160 53. Ornamented bracelets, p. 161 54. Iron knife in bronze scabbard, p. 162 55. Gold-plated ornament on horse bridle, p. 165 56. Plan of Jersika hill-fort, p. 170 57. Map: Lithuanian empire, fourteenth-fifteenth centuries A.D, pp.174-5 58. Plan of Baltic sanctuary with temple, p. 181 11 Foreword This book was written at Stanford, California, at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, located on a hill overlooking broad expanses in all directions. At certain moments here I have visualized the hills and slopes shrouded with green oaks as seen from the castle hill of Gediminas in Vilnius, my native city in the heart of the Baltic lands, from which I am separated by almost twenty years. The Californian sand dunes, at Carmel, remind me of the pure white sands of Palanga, where I used to collect handfuls of amber; and the sunsets in the Pacific, of the peacefully sinking sun as it disappeared into the Baltic Sea, beyond where, to the west, my forefathers thought was the cosmic tree, the axis of the world, holding up the arch of the sky. I am deeply grateful therefore to the Center for such inspiring working conditions, the delightful atmosphere, and for all the assistance made available to me. I would also like to express appreciation to my many Lithuanian, Lettish, Polish and Russian colleagues for invaluable information they supplied and the illustrations and books they procured, particularly to Drs J. Antoniewicz, V. Ģinters, Ju. V. Kukharenko, R. Rimantienė, and A. Spekke. For technical help, editing and typing, I am deeply indebted to Miss M. Gallaher and to my daughter Danutė. M. G. 12 Dates General Chronological Table East Baltic Area Central Europe c. 1200 A.D. Beginning of History c. 850 A.D. Late Iron Age Medieval period c. 400 A.D. Middle Iron Age Migration period Golden Age Roman period c. 100 A.D. (or old Iron Age) La Tène c. 400 B.C. Early Iron Age 800/700 B.C. Hallstatt c. 1100 B.C. Late Bronze Age Late Urnfield period Classical Baltic Early Urnfield Bronze Age period c. 1250 B.C. 1450/1400 B.C. Trzciniec Tumulus period Early Bronze Age c. 1600 B.C. Iwno Late Únětice Chalcolithic Early and Classical c. 1800 B.C. Únětice Formation of individual Kurgan groups c. 2200 Coming of the Kurgan (Corded Battle-axe) culture 13 Introduction In the lands occupied by the ancient Balts the geography I was of many kinds. A long stretch of the Baltic Sea with windblown dunes and white sand beaches, embellished with tiny bits of glittering amber, lay to the west. Along the sea shore and along the larger rivers discharging into the sea — the Vistula, Nemunas (Niemen, Memel), Daugava (Düna, Dvina), and their tributaries — were lowlands and the most fertile lands covered with alluvial deposits. Through the ages, the sea coast and these larger rivers were the means by which the Balts were able to communicate with central and western Europe. Farther east, eastern East Prussia (present Masuria in northern Poland), eastern Lithuania and eastern Latvia were surrounded by the moraine belt left over from the last ice age, with many lakes, rocks and a sandy soil; and beyond it to the east were the up, lands, called Byelo-Russia, the Smolensk-Moscow and central Russian ridges, intersected by the valleys of the upper Dnieper and its tributaries and by the river system of the upper Volga basin. To the south, in present southern Byelo-Russia, these uplands were — as they still are — girdled by the swampy area of the Pripet River basin. There are no high mountains in this whole area; the highest points reach only 200 or 300 metres above sea-level. The lands along the Baltic Sea belong to the central European climatic zone. Then, to the east, begins the transitional zone between oceanic and continental climate, and all the eastern parts combine the continental climate with rather cold winters and warm summers.