Studies Into the Balts' Sacred Places
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Studies into the Balts’ Sacred Places Vykintas Vaitkevičius Lithuanian Institute of History BAR International Series 1228 2004 British Archaeological Reports are published by John and Erica Hedges Ltd and by Archaeopress This volume has been published by: John and Erica Hedges Ltd British Archaeological Reports 7 Longworth Road Oxford OX2 6RA England Tel/Fax +44(0)1865 511560 E-mail: [email protected] www.barhedges.com Enquiries regarding the submission of manuscripts for future publication may be sent to the above address Do look at the web site which has a list of all BARs in print. BAR S1228 Studies into the Balts’ Sacred Places © Vykintas Vaitkevičius 2004. Volume Editor: John W Hedges Printed in England by Biddles Ltd ISBN 1 84171 356 2 All BAR titles available from: Hadrian Books 122 Banbury Road Oxford OX2 7BP England E-mail: [email protected] www.hadrianbooks.co.uk The current BAR catalogue with details of all titles in print, prices and means of payment, is available free from Hadrian Books or access web site All volumes are distributed by Hadrian Book Ltd Translation: Dalia Minkutė Copy-editor: Jane Anson Layout: Aneta Ščepkauskaitė Review: Dr Audronė Bliujienė, Dr Vytautas Kazakevičius Vykintas Vaitkevièius. Studies into the Balts sacred places Preface Balts sacred places, the old common name of which is alkai, are one of the most interesting monument groups. They have not been properly protected or investigated for many years for various reasons: ideological, methodological, and finan- cial. A sacred place is not only a hill or a stone. Usually they have their own names and are shrouded in place-legends and be- liefs. Sometimes people still believe these sites bring happi- ness and health. They immortalise the contact between na- ture and culture, the history of gods and humans. So sacred places are one of the most amazing realia of prehistoric world and this monograph is intended for those who seek more knowledge about it. From the bottom of my heart I devote this monograph to the memory of the ancient Balts. Many of them perished in the whirlpools of historic events and religious changes, were scat- tered to faraway regions, or were forced to change their faith. The sacred places, their cult places, that are examined in this monograph have become shrouded in secrecy and buried in time. December 2003 126i Contents 1 Introduction ................................................................... 1 1. 1 Terms and definitions ................................................. 1 1. 2 Sources ....................................................................... 2 1. 3 Review of investigations ............................................ 4 2 Alka, Alkas (general meanings)...................................... 7 2. 1 Linguistic data ............................................................ 7 2. 2 Historic data ............................................................... 7 2. 3 Folklore data ............................................................... 8 2. 4 Archaeological data .................................................... 8 3 Classification of monuments .......................................... 9 3. 1 Hills ............................................................................. 9 3. 2 Fields ......................................................................... 15 3. 3 Forests, groves ..........................................................16 3. 4 Stones ........................................................................21 3. 5 Waters .......................................................................37 3. 6 Hollows ...................................................................... 46 3. 7 Caves ......................................................................... 47 4 Links between sacred places .........................................48 5 The status of sacred places...........................................49 6 Sacred places and the cult of the dead ..........................56 7 The traditions of sacred places: chronology and ..........58 8 Conclusions .................................................................. 61 References ....................................................................... 62 Maps................................................................................ 71 Appendix A. The Balts in the late 1st - early 2nd millennium AD ........................................... 104 Appendix B. The Balts tribes in the investigated area in the late 1st - early 2nd millennium AD ........................................... 105 Appendix C. Administrative map of the investigated area ....................................... 106 Appendix D. Sites cited and analysed in the monograph .......................................... 108 Index. Mythological and religious terms ......................... 118 127ii 1 Introduction Little attention is paid to the subject of sacred places in scientific works because it is customary to analyse the realia of mental culture (including mythology) separately from sacred places. There have been ten studies devoted to Balts sacred places. In these, the sacred places are usually described according to the few known written sources, referencing mostly the same few examples of investigated monuments. The non-systematic view of the various and plentiful information on the sacred places that is provided by several sciences is the main problem that prevented us from using this valuable base of sources for the investigation of the Balts religion and mythology. The aim of this work is to examine various scientific information, to classify the Balts sacred places in Lithuania according to type, to point out the main types and groups of sacred places, and moreover, to analyse their religious and historic contexts. The Balts sacred places are examined systemically: they are examined typologically, according to complex archaeological, historic, ethnologic, linguistic, folkloristic scientific methods and the cartographic analysis of monuments. The results of these examinations are compared to other data about the Balts and their neighbours the Slavs, Germans and Finno- Ugrians. Fig. 1. Sacred oaks of Joskaudai (Kretinga district). Photo by 1. 1 Terms and definitions author, 1993. Alka or alkas is an Indo-European word used by the Balts to define their sacred places. However, scientific works that analyse the subject of sacred places use a wide variety of terms and definitions. The common definitions can be divided into two main groups. The first group consists of terms that usually denote the sacred places of natural origin, e.g.: sacred place, sanctuary, der Kultplatz, das Naturheiligtum, úwiàtynia pogañska, ðventvietë, svçtvieta, ñâÿùåííîå ìåñòî. Terms defining sacred places that contained constructions, artificial elements of the environment or other equipment belong to the second group, e.g.: temple, der Tempel, das Heiligtum, ðventykla, svçtnîca, ñâÿòèëèùe. More specific definitions of the terms denoting sacred places were not provided even in the World Congress of Archaeology Sacred sites, sacred places and sites of significance held in Venezuela in 1990 (Carmichel et al, 1994). In the works of Lithuanian authors, such terms defining Balts sacred places are used: alka, the cult place of the old belief, pagan temple. In 1990 the term mythological-sacral object was introduced; after a while the concept mythological place was offered. 1 Vykintas Vaitkevièius. Studies into the Balts sacred places A more obvious difference between the terms sacred place legends and other characteristics of the monuments. No and cult place has not been singled out yet (also the terms bigger doubts about the reliability of this group of sources holy place/sacred site, der Kultplatz/der Opferplatz are used arise. in parallel, cf. Wilson, 1996; Ernst, 1998). So in this work the sacred and cult places are simply called sacred places; cult Professional excavations of the sacred places have only constructions - temples or sanctuaries; complexes of sacred started a couple of decades ago (see Daugudis, 1992 pp.52 places situated in a certain territory - sacred sites. The 3). Since 1970, when the cult place of Ðilalë1 was the first to existence of one kind (type, group) of sacred places in a be investigated (Fig. 2), about 70 cult places have been certain region is called a tradition of sacred places. excavated. Most of them are stones and their groups in 53 cases. Monuments of other kinds are hardly excavated (nine 1. 2 Sources hills, three island-peninsulas, one field, one wetland and a spring) or not investigated at all (e.g. groves, hollows). For Data from about 1200 sites in Lithuania were used for the various reasons, in many places excavations of only small classification and cartography of the sacred places. 420 areas were carried out, usually around 130 m2. Only in eight monuments were localised and data about them recorded by places have areas of 100 and more square metres been the author of this monograph during his surveys in 1990 excavated. 1999. These data have already been widely used in the first part of the catalogue of Lithuanian sacred places (Vaitkevi- Among the excavated cult places it is worth noting the one èius, 1998a). In the process other data that are kept in archives in Palanga (the Birutë hill), also the cult places by stones in and researchers information published in monographs and Antakmenë, Katinai, Kutiðkiai, Padievaitis, Stabulankiai, periodicals were used. The aim was to use factual data that Ðaukliai, Trumponys