VILNIUS UNIVERSITY GABRIELĖ GUDAITIENĖ THE FIRST INHABITANTS IN THE WESTERN PART OF THE NERIS RIVER BASIN IN LITHUANIA Doctoral dissertation Humanitarian sciences, History (05 H) Vilnius, 2018 Dissertation was written in 2013–2017, in Vilnius University Supervisor – Assoc. Dr Aleksiejus Luchtanas (Vilnius University, humanitarian sciences, 05 H) English text reviewed by F. Petroševičius VILNIAUS UNIVERSITETAS GABRIELĖ GUDAITIENĖ LIETUVOS PANERIO BASEINO VAKARINĖS DALIES PIRMINIS APGYVENDINIMAS Daktaro disertacija Humanitariniai mokslai, Istorija 05 H Vilnius, 2018 metai Disertacija rengta 2013–2017 metais Vilniaus universitete Mokslinis vadovas – Doc. dr. Aleksiejus Luchtanas (Vilniaus universitetas, humanitariniai mokslai, istorija – 05 H) Anglų kalbą redagavo Feliksas Petroševičius CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION …………………………………………………………7 2. HISTORY OF RESEARCH …………………………………………… 14 3. METHODS…………………………………………………………………23 3.1 Typological identification of the finds……..………………………23 3.2 Drawing of flint tools………………………………………………..28 3.3 Excavation of newly discovered sites ………………………………29 3.4 Comparison of previously collected and newly recovered archaeological material………………………………………………30 3.5 AMS 14C dating ……………………………………………… 31 3.6 Microscopic analysis of some artefacts ………………………… 33 3.7 Archaeobotanical analysis ………………………..…………………34 3.8 Geochemical and geophysical analysis of the archaeological features and their surroundings ………………………………… 35 3.9 Spatial analysis of the find distribution ………………………………39 3.10 The analysis of LiDAR images of earth surface……………… 40 3.11 Aerial photo stereoscopy analysis …………………………………41 3.12 Palynological research of the palaeoenvironment ………………..42 3.13 Study of ethnographic documentaries and publications …………43 3.14 Limiting factors………………………………………………… 44 4. CHRONOLOGY……………………………………………………………45 5. LATE GLACIAL–EARLY HOLOCENE ENVIRONMENT ..…………….48. 5.1 Geomorphology of the river Neris basin ……………………………48 5.2 Flora ……………………………………………………………….51 5.3 Fauna ………………………………………………………………..53 6. EARLIEST ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES…………………………… 58 Aliejūnai...59 Gudžioniai...105 Pasieniai 1...140 Samantonys 2...166 Bartoniai...59 Jara 1 and 2...106 Pugainiai...148 Semeniškiai...169 Bielazariškės...61 Kaunas 2...118 Radikiai...149 Skaruliai 1...169 Čiobiškis...61 Kernavė 1, 2, 3...109 Rusiai...153 Skaruliai 2...182 Drąseikiai...62 Liaukiškiai...122 Saidžiai...155 Stavidvaris...187 Draučiai...69 Mitkiškės 2...123 Saleninkai 1...156 Varpiai...187 Dūkšteliai 1...69 Mitkiškės 3...124 Saleninkai 2...158 Vanagiškis...189 Dvaronys...78 Neravai...125 Saleninkai 2a...160 Vilnius 1...189 Eiguliai 1...80 Pabartoniai 1...128 Saleninkai 3...160 Vilnius 2...195 Gavėnonys...100 Pabartoniai 2...139 Saliai...161 Žvagakalnis...197 Gudeliai...101 Padaliai 1...139 Samantonys...162 5 7. CAMPING AND LIVING PLACE SELECTION…………………………198… 7.1 Sites situated near tributaries ……………………………………199 7.2 Sites on a bank of a big river ……………………………………200 7.3 Sites near previously existed lakes …………………………………207 7.4 Site placement near particular landscape features…………….. 208 8. SITE CATCHMENT AND ECONOMY OF THE FIRST INHABITANTS ……………………………………………………………211 8.1 Raw material sourcing ………………………………………………212 8.2 Mobility ……………………………………………………… 219 8.3 Site abandonment …………………………………………………225 9. INTELECTUAL BASIS OF THE FIRST INHABITANTS………………228 9.1 Art ………………………………………………………………228 9.2 Rituals ………………………………………………………… 243 9.3 River as a symbol …………………………………………………245 10. THE DISAPPEARANCE OF THE FIRST INHABITANTS………… 248 11. CONCLUSIONS …………………………………………………………252 BIBLIOGRAPHY ………………………………………………………260 APPENDICES ……………………………………………………………273 Drawings of the flint artefacts (Fig. 1–111)………………………. 274 Pictures of the archaeological objects and sites (Fig. 112–158)….. 345 Situation plans of the sites (Fig. 159–174)……………………………..374 Tables and diagrams……………………………………………….. 389 Maps……………………………………………………………… 403 Database…………………………………………………………… CD 6 1. INTRODUCTION „Daug įvairių kitų senovės paminklų aptikau sraujosios Neries slėny, daug galima būtų kalbėti apie kiekvieną jų skyrium, bet šį kartą ėmiau tik įdomesnes „sėdybas“ ir tai gal toli gražu ne visas. Dar laukia ir mano paminėtos čia ir dar visai nežinomos „sėdybos“ senovės mylėtojo ir mokslininko, kuris atsidėjęs ištirtų jas... “ P. Tarasenka, 1924 (‘Many old stations I have discovered in the swift river Neris valley, and a lot could be said about each of them, but this time I have introduced only the most interesting ones, and their list is probably far from being complete. All the mentioned ‘stations’ and still undiscovered ones await for an antiquity lover and a scientist, who would thoroughly investigate them…’ P. Tarasenka, 1924) The discussion on the first peopling of the prehistoric environment is undoubtedly impossible without the water body system taken into account. The pioneers of the land and the net of rivers and lakes in the area are significantly related when talking about late/post-glacial Northern Europe region. After the deglaciation fifteen thousand years ago the landscape was basically shaped by the water flows of melting ice; the primary features of the land – river streams and their valleys – have formed and attracted the first fauna and human beings to settle down. Therefore the basis of this doctoral thesis – the relation between the first inhabitants and the river basin – was deliberately chosen and was the main impetus to raise the questions and hypotheses related to the topic. Studies which cover similar research were common in European archaeology1, yet every area Burdukiewicz, J. M., 1987, Late Palaeolithic Settlements in the Kopanica Valley / In: Late Glacial in Central Europe: Culture and Environment, p. 183–213. Zagorska, I., 1996, Late Palaeolithic Finds in the Daugava River Valley / In: The Earliest Settlement of Scandinavia and its relationship with neighbouring areas (ed. Larsson, L.), Acta Archaeologica Lundensia, No. 24, Lund, p. 263–272. Costamagno, S., 1999, Stratégies de Chasse et Fonction des Sites au Magdalénien dans le Sud de la France / doctoral thesis, Université de Bordeaux, 760 p. Koltsov, L. V., Zhilin, M. G., 1999, Tanged point cultures in the upper Volga basin / In: Tanged points cultures in Europe (eds. Kozłowski, S. K., Gurba, J., Zaliznyak, L. L.), Vol. 13, Lublin, p. 346–360. Копытин, В., 1999, Финалный палеолит и мезолит верхнего Поднепровья / In: Tanged points cultures in Europe (eds. Kozłowski, S. K., Gurba, J., Zaliznyak, L. L.), Vol. 13, Lublin, p. 256–266. Siemaszko, J., 1999, Stone Age settlement in the Lega Valley microregion of north-east Poland / In: European Journal of Archaeology, No. 2 (3), p. 293–312. Baales, M., Grimm, S., Jöris, O., 2001, Hunters of the ‘Golden Mile’: The late Allerød Federmessergruppen Site at Bad Breisig, Central Rhineland, Germany / In: Notae Praehistoricae, p. 67–72. 7 taken under consideration was a bit different and yielded a dissimilar archaeological data that could have been examined. The level of preservation and methods used to investigate a certain territory varies when northern or southern parts of Europe are analyzed, and even in the considerably small Baltic region significant differences among Lithuanian, Latvian and Estonian archaeological material can be noticed. The chronological period discussed in this study – Final Palaeolithic and Early Mesolithic – also differs from the first settling timing few hundred kilometres to the south or northwards: Southern Poland or Germany was inhabited much earlier, whilst Estonia or other areas in the north probably saw the first land pioneers a bit later, only in the beginning of Holocene. Even though some efforts were put to discover archaeological data in Lithuania that would pre-date Weichselian gliacier period2, no finds were undoubtedly proven to be artefacts, and none of the considered ones were found in the territory discussed in this study. Therefore the earliest possible settling of the western part of the river Neris basin was related to Final Palaeolithic, a period after the retreat of the Weichselian glacier. There were several reasons why particularly river Neris was chosen for the investigation: 1) Its basin was never examined as a geographic unit yielding a certain archaeological Final Palaeolithic–Early Mesolithic data. A lot of separate surveys and few archaeological excavations have been undertaken in this area of around 3000 km2 until now, however, a summarizing study is still lacking. Some of the sites were very important in Lithuanian as well as North-Eastern European Late Palaeolithic archaeology and were included in the number of Djindjian, F., 2009, Le concept de territoires pour les chasseur cueilleurs du paléolithique supérieur européen / In: Le concept de territoires dans le Paléolithique supérieur européen (Djindjian, F., Kozlowski, J., Bicho, N. (eds.)), BAR International Series, book 1938, Proceedings of the XV World Congress (Lisbon, 4-9 September, 2006), p. 3–26. Küssner, M., 2010, The Late Upper Palaeolithic in the catchment area of the River Saale – facts and considerations (Die spate Altsteinzeit im Einzugsgebiet der Saale – Fakten und Überlegungen / In: Quartär, Vol. 57, p. 125–137. Winkler, K., 2018, Ahrensburgien und Swiderien im mittleren Oderraum. Technologische und typologische Untersuchungen an Silexartefakten der Jüngeren Dryaszeit / Doctoral dissertation, Christian-Albrechts University, Kiel. 2 Piličiauskas, G., Jurkėnas, D., Laurat, T., 2011, Neandertaliečiai Lietuvoje? Prielaidos, tyrimai ir perspektyvos / In: Lietuvos archeologija, Vilnius, Vol.