This article presents the results of geochemical survey performed at one of the shallow and ploughed prehistoric settlement sites in eastern Lithuania. The goal of the survey was to delineate the territory of the prehistoric settlement based on a multilevel survey, and geochemical patterns were analysed relative to the stratigraphy of the site. This research explores how particular aspects of the built environment might be visible in layer-specific data sets produced by soil coring and a range of different geochemical analyses and how the results from different levels correspond to each other and relate to test excavation results. The study also has value in adding to the discussion of the geochemical properties that could be indicative of prehistoric human activity in Lithuanian sites and how they contribute to understandings of the site's overall size and structural arrangement. The results have demonstrated the lack of consistent correspondence between layer-specific geochemical data sets and calls into question the validity of single-level surveys for ploughed sites. Distinct anthropogenic sediments do not always reproduce the expected elevation of the allegedly anthropogenic geochemical markers. A thick cultural layer could represent the traces of post-deposition in secondary zones rather than primary occupied parts of the settlement. Conversely, the number of geochemical properties indicative of human occupation may survive in their original position in different strata even if the cultural layer is very fragmentary or not preserved.
Michał Eustachy Brensztejn compiled the 'Archaeological Inventory of the Kovno Gubernia' in 1907. The manuscript was not published, and only in 2010 was it discovered in the archives of the State Archaeological Museum in Warsaw. The Lithuanian Institute of History and the State Archaeological Museum in Warsaw initiated a project to publish the 'Inventory' as the third part of the Ostbalticum project. This paper gives some preliminary insights and a short description of the manuscript as a source for Lithuanian archaeology. It analyses the sources used by Brensztejn, describes the process of identification of place-names, discusses the reliability of the records and the novelty of these data, and shows some characteristic mistakes that the author of the 'Inventory' made. A puzzle of artefact collection from Jagminai is presented as a brief case study. Thanks to the oral tradition recorded by Brensztejn, the identification of the site was possible.
The archaeological discoveries of metallurgical waste in Lithuania have established that metallurgical activities were commonly connected to settlements. However, recent investigations suggest that even in the case of small-scale production on a homestead industry level, small isolated smelting bloomeries could have existed outside settlements.
The work presented in this article introduces the material acquired from the newly discovered prehistoric site on a small island in Lake Aisetas in Eastern Lithuania. The data was acquired through surface and soil sampling surveys, magnetic susceptibility measurements, and small-scale excavations. Metallurgical waste weighing 150 kg was collected without additional evidence to facilitate archaeological interpretation of the finds and their origins.
This article aims to characterise the metallurgical waste and deduce the nature of the activity and processes that produced these by-products on the island. Through an exploration of recovery circumstances and a macroscopic examination as well as composition and microstructure analysis of the metallurgical waste, this study intends to answer the following questions: what constitutes the metallurgical waste found on the island; what conclusions can be drawn regarding the ironworking techniques, production scope, and chronology; and how favourable was the studied area for early iron production?
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