Archaeologia BALTICA (original) (raw)
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Viking age horse graves from Kaunas region (Middle Lithuania)
International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, 2001
Balts' territories have one peculiarity-large amounts of horse bones are found in burial grounds. This phenomenon is typical to the Prussians (5th-11th centuries) and Lithuanians (Kaunas region 8th-11th centuries) Horse burials of the 8th-11th centuries reflect the archaeological culture of Middle Lithuania most significantly. Several horse burial types have been defined on the basis of individuals; osteological signs and the archaeological data of the horse remains. A typical horse grave is when the whole horse was buried. Sometimes only a head or a head with forelegs, or scattered horse remains are found in a burial. The large number of burial grounds with an abundance of horse graves testifies to a very expressive ritual of horse offering in the Balts' region. On the basis of the data obtained, we determined that mostly 4-10 year old horses were buried in the grounds of Middle Lithuania. From the bone measurements, it has been determined that the length of metacarpals ranges between 180 and 216 mm (the average length 193.1 9 0.99 mm); the length of metatarsals between 218 and 253 mm (average length 233.99 0.73 mm).These data demonstrate that horses of different types were buried in Marvele; and Verš vai burial grounds (wither height 120-136 cm). A certain number of the larger horses (wither height 136-144 and 153 cm; length of metacarpals 210-222 mm) might not have belonged to local breeds. We have come to the conclusion that the most similar horse skeletons (according to the osteometric data) were found in Latvia.
Burial traditions in the east Baltic Mesolithic
2003
Bibliografische Information der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek verzeichnet diese Publikation in der Deutschen Nationalbibliografie; detaillierte bibliografische Daten sind im Internet über https://portal.dnb.de abrufbar. issn 2194-9441 isbn 978-3-9445o7-43-9 Koordination Judith M. Grünberg • Halle (Saale) Wissenschaftliche Redaktion Judith M. Grünberg • Halle (Saale), Bernhard Gramsch • Potsdam Englisches Lektorat Alison Wilson • Cambridge, UK Deutsche Zusammenfassungen der Beiträge von Nicht-Muttersprachlern Judith M. Grünberg • Halle (Saale), Bernhard Gramsch • Potsdam Übersetzung englischer Texte (22,
In the fifth to the eighth centuries, graves of well-armed men and their riding horses –or the ritual parts of horses– were spread throughout almost the entire mainland part of Lithuania and Latvia, or in the territory between the Nemunas and Daugava / Western Dvina Rivers. This was the northernmost part of Europe in which the custom had spread in the fifth to the eighth centuries. While the horsemen’s and horses’ burial customs varied in separate regions of the defined area, still everywhere the horseman and horse were interred in one grave pit, with the horse almost always to the person’s left. In their journey to the Afterlife, however, the bond between horseman and horse began to vary in the communities that lived in the more peripheral regions. The variety of burial customs was associated with differences in the communities’ social structure; these differences affected interment traditions and formed different burial rites. The custom that existed in the Roman Period on the littorals of Lithuania and Latvia to bury ritual horse parts (the head or head and legs) and spurs with armed men disappeared; here only bridle bits symbolized the horse in armed men’s graves in the fifth to the eighth centuries. Warriors’ graves with equestrian equipment spread throughout the entire region between the Nemunas and Daugava in the fifth to eighth centuries. With the change in burial customs (with the spread of cremation), and, apparently, in worldview, riding horse burials appeared that no longer could be associated with the concrete burials of people.