In Search of a Theoretical Assessment of Bronze Age Society in the Baltic Countries

Abstract

This article surveys tendencies in Bronze Age social research in the Baltic countries. It marks a new departure in archaeological scholarship in the region, and examines the influence of wider European theories on local Bronze Age research. The most important issue to be discussed is the uncritical application of theoretical models on east Baltic archaeology, without reference to the region's specific culture. Thus, the Bronze Age social structure is reconstructed according to a priori formulated precepts. The article discusses the possible negative implications of such a transference of foreign theories, which leads to the prejudgement of results in regional archaeological studies. Special criticism is levelled at the application of the pyramid social model, which offers a false interpretation of Prehistoric social structures on the basis of recent research. We offer new alternatives in the sphere of societal studies, which pay most attention to processes whereby people dominate as individual agents, rather than to the classification of archaeological material according to the nature or implied value of such material.

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“…Furthermore, the results allow us to reconstruct connections between copper suppliers and recipients, and to reflect on cultural interrelationships in the Bronze age. Datasets pertaining to 40 bronze objects from the Eastern Baltic region have been published in a previous study [10]. As such, this paper capitalizes upon the said published results with 27 new datasets from newly analyzed artefacts in Lithuania (Figures 2 & 3) (Table 1).…”

“…In the Late Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age, the use of fahlore copper is mainly observed in bronzes based on diluted fahlore copper and not on pure fahlore copper. Such fahlore production mostly took place in Schwaz/ Brixlegg in the Eastern Alps during the Late Bronze Age to the Early Iron Age [7][8][9][10]22].…”

“…Furthermore, some of these artefacts seem to have been imported from other regions, such as the spearhead with the loop from Gribžiniai (K/635). This spearhead belongs to the so-called type Sejmo-Turbino and is associated with Eastern European culture [10]. Moreover, the flanged axes from Lithuania were not analyzed yet with one exception-the flanged axe from former Kakeln, Kr.…”

“…Moreover, the flanged axes from Lithuania were not analyzed yet with one exception-the flanged axe from former Kakeln, Kr. Memel [10]. Also, in the recently published catalog of Bronze Age metal finds from Lithuania [2], no material of metal objects is identified.…”