Motuzaite Matuzeviciute, G. 2008. Living above the water or dryland? The application of soil analysis methods to investigate a submerged Bronze-Early Iron Age lake dwelling site in eastern Lithuania, Archaeologica Baltica, 9: 33-46. (original) (raw)
Related papers
Interaction between hunter - gatherers and the environment in the Lake Lubāns basin, eastern Latvia
2011
The largest Stone Age micro region in Latvia, has been discovered and extensively investigated during the 1960s-1980s in the Lake Lubāns basin. This master thesis discuss the interaction between hunter-gatherers and the environment in the developing stages of the Lake Lubāns. The literature studies have been carried out in attempt to find out whether people adapted to the environment and ecological circumstances versus more dominant people role in the landscape exploitation. The factors that attracted hunter-gatherers to the Lake Lubāns, settlement location, specialisation, seasonality aspects have been discussed and comparative studies carried out. The results from this study show an active hunter-gatherer participation in the environment exploitation. Beneficial river network, shallow lake, rich in different sorts of fish, various flora and fauna have been advantageous aspects for hunter-gatherer subsistence in the Lake Lubāns basin. Settlements have been situated in ecologically or strategically favourable places that were suitable for people activities. Specialised and long duration settlements seems to appear in the Lake Lubāns basin since the Late Mesolithic. There are indications about highly developed bone and antler industry, specialisation in fishing, waterfowl hunt and pottery making during the Atlantic period. Lack of flint probably encouraged the Lake Lubāns basin inhabitants to specialise in amber working and to take a middleman role in the exchange network between the Baltic Sea coast and the Upper Volga regions.
Stone-age subsistence strategies at Lake Burtnieks, Latvia
Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 2016
Zvejnieki, on Lake Burtnieks in northeastern Latvia, is the largest known prehistoric cemetery in the eastern Baltic; N300 inhumations, most dating to c.7000-3000 cal BC, have been excavated. Archaeozoological and artefactual evidence from graves and nearby settlement layers show that throughout this period, the community depended on wild resources for subsistence, with a particular emphasis on fishing. Dietary stable isotopes (δ 15 N and δ 13 C) from human remains show significant dietary variation within the Zvejnieki population, in terms of access to and dependence on freshwater and marine species (Eriksson 2006); we provide new stable isotope data for another 13 individuals. Elsewhere, we have proposed a method to correct the calibrated radiocarbon (14 C) dates of prehistoric burials in the Lake Burtnieks region for dietary freshwater and marine reservoir effects (FRE/MRE) (Meadows et al. 2015). Here, we use this method to correct the dates of 40 individuals (including 3 from the nearby 4th millennium shell-midden site, Riņņukalns) for whom we now have both 14 C and stable isotope data, and test whether there is any evidence that human diets changed over time, rather than simply varying between contemporaneous individuals. Three interesting transitions can be discerned: a shift away from high-trophic-level foods in the earlier 6th millennium cal BC, a diversification of diets in the late 5th millennium, with both more terrestrial and more coastal foods consumed, and a narrowing of diets in the mid-4th millennium, to concentrate on freshwater resources.
Despite the increasing research by Hungarian experts on certain fields (land usage, climate and woodland studies) of medieval landscape, the local environmental studies achieved by palaeoenvironmental, archaeological and historical methods cooperatively are nearly lacking in medieval environmental research. In the case of the Lake Baláta (Hungary) survey, a palaeoenvironmental investigation including sediment, pollen and molluscan analyses was carried out during 2004 and 2005. Its results concerning medieval (pre-16 th -century) climatic processes are among the first data derived from the medieval layer of a sediment core extracted at a Hungarian site and call the attention to the great importance of regional studies in order to refine further the local variations of climate conditions. Furthermore, the environmental data are put into the context of the documentary sources and the socioeconomic transformations in order to parallel features and procedures acting upon the landscape and at the same time being results of several disciplines. The question which is rather raised than answered in the paper is how the different emphases of the various research attitudes, particularly those of natural sciences and history can be integrated for a relevant and successful research.
Latvijas Vēstures Institūta Žurnāls, 2023
This paper deals with the identification and comparison of dietary practices and their changes from the Late Neolithic to the Late Bronze Age in two different ecosystemsthe lower reaches of the Daugava river and Lake Lubāns wetland. Zooarchaeological, palaeobotanical, and stable isotope evidence of chemical elements were used. The obtained results show that the beginning of early farming in Latvia can be observed in the late Neolithic period, especially for the Corded Ware Culture people. However, the consumption of freshwater fish also remains significant during this period. Farming, as the main form of food provision, became established in Latvia in the Middle Bronze Age.
THE FIRST LAKE‐DWELLERS OF LITHUANIA: LATE BRONZE AGE PILE SETTLEMENTS ON LAKE LUOKESAS
2005
Summary. Lake Luokesas in Lithuania has become the centre of attention in northern European wetland archaeological research after the discovery of two Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age pile dwellings. Their unique location, chronology and building techniques have the potential to revolutionise our understanding of important aspects of wetland communities in later prehistoric Europe.