Bronze Casting and Communication in the Southeastern Baltic Bronze Age

Abstract

The SE Baltic Bronze Age is characterized by a lack of indigenous metalwork traditions as it had been a time when metal finds were predominantly imported or were cast locally, but in foreign styles. This paper analyses the bronze casting remains found in the SE Baltic and discusses the role of these production sites within a wider European network. Through typological identification of the negatives in casting moulds, we assess predominantly Nordic artefact casts, in which the production of KAM (Kel’ty Akozinsko-Melarskie) axes was distinguished at a higher frequency. We hypothesize that several coastal regions were temporarily settled by people of Nordic origin who participated in an exchange with local SE Baltic communities via itinerant bronze production. Foreign settlement areas as indicated by stone ship burials are known in Courland and S Saaremaa as well as in N Estonia and the Sambian Peninsula. From these territories, further communication was developed with local communities settled mostly in enclosed sites in coastal areas and inland, in the vicinity of the River Daugava, the SE Latvian and NE Lithuanian uplands, and the Masurian Lakeland. Keywords: bronze casting, communication networks, exchange, Southeastern Baltic, Bronze Age.

Emergence of Hilltop Settlements in the Southeastern Baltic: New AMS14C Dates from Lithuania and Revised Chronology

“…Emergence of SE Baltic Hilltop Settlements 369 hilltop settlements concentrating in the vicinities of coastal Latvian zone. These sites had a significant role in developing interregional communication and exchange in the SE Baltic (Podėnas and Čivilytė 2019). Contacts with Scandinavian and Lusatian (Southern Baltic) cultures had provided further stimuli for the development of local societies after the full adoption of farming.…”

“…These burial rites were not adopted by the local communities and had not spread to the inland region. However, it is likely these communities had established the hilltop settlements due to active usage of trade networks that were stimulated by Scandinavian settlements near the localities of stone-ship burials (Šturms 1947;Podėnas and Čivilytė 2019).…”

“…Moreover, a significant variability in soils and fertility, water network and climatic conditions existed in the area between Estonia and NE Poland. These factors affected the social-economic development (Zvelebil and Rowley-Conwy 1984), however they do not explain the settlement pattern entirely as the hilltop settlements were established in more restricted areas near probable exchange networks (Podėnas and Čivilytė 2019). Therefore, other social-economic markers must be considered in discussion of the establishment of hilltop settlements in the SE Baltic.…”

“…Ling et al 2018), and all acquired wealth was highly dependent on the ability to establish communication with the ones who imported bronze into the region (Earle et al 2015). SE Baltic Bronze Age culturally distinguishes from Lusatian and Scandinavian cultures as well as from the communities settled in the Northeastern Baltic and further to Eastern Europe due to distinctly different economic prehistory (Podėnas and Čivilytė 2019). This study takes an integrated approach towards the emergence of hilltop settlements in the region that consists of data from NE Poland, Kaliningrad, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia.…”

Between Knowledge and Conjecture: An Emerging Discussion about the Baltic Mounds

“…Panaši teorija yra svarstoma baltų pasaulyje (ten pat, p. 13), teigiant, kad piliakalnių atsiradimą stimuliavo ne bronzos metalurgijos, bet prekybos metalu kelių kontrolė. Sukaupti gausūs duomenys argumentuotai leidžia kelti hipotezę, kad prekyba metalu ir bronzos metalurgija galėjo būti gerokai labiau susiję procesai, atliekami tų pačių žmonių, kurie teikė žaliavą įvairia forma (Podėnas, Čivilytė, 2019). Tačiau neaišku, ar patys autoriai iš tikrųjų yra metalo kelių kontrolės teorijos atstovai, nes knygos pristatymo metu teigė, kad ši teorija yra "egzotiška" (Lietuvos..., 2018, įrašo laikas 34:10-34:28), todėl kyla klausimas, kokia jų pačių nuomonė šia tema.…”