New Data on Jaani Stone Graves at Väo, Northern Estonia

Abstract

The article presents the results of osteological analysis and radiocarbon dating of the bones from Jaani stone grave(s) at Väo, excavated in 1982. The study of human bones revealed the remains of at least 38 individuals of various age groups. Due to heavy fragmentation and intermingling of bones, it was possible to reconstruct only one skeleton in cist A, while the distribution, location and details of burial mode for other inhumations remain questionable. Zooarchaeological analysis revealed a pattern generally compatible with other contemporary sites, but unexpectedly, a radiocarbon date of a sheep bone turned out to be recent, suggesting caution in interpretation and need for more frequent 14 C-dating of animal remains. Radiocarbon dates of the human remains show that stone-cist grave B was present in the Late Bronze Age, but grave A probably originates from the Early Pre-Roman Iron Age (5th c. BC) and may thus be one of the latest stone-cist graves in Estonia. We were unable to radiocarbon-date the original bone deposit of the ship grave, but it is nevertheless likely that the ship is (one of) the oldest structure(s) at the site. The site also includes interments from Roman, Migration and Pre-Viking periods, when it was probably reserved for predominantly child and infant burials. A few deposits of burnt human bone from at least three individuals perhaps also date from this use-phase.

The Arrival of Siberian Ancestry Connecting the Eastern Baltic to Uralic Speakers further East

“…The bones were heavily intermingled. Radiocarbon dates of the bones [46] show that the first of the stone-cist graves (B) was probably erected between 800 and 500 BC; grave A was attached in the 5 th century BC at the latest. The graves were used for burial also in the Pre-Roman Iron Age and even later, until at least the 7 th century AD.…”

“…V16: Male from the cist of grave A (skeleton 1; AI 5220), age 30–40 years [46], date 2399 ± 27 BP (UBA-24124; 730–390 cal BC) [46]. Sampled tooth r M 1 .…”

“…V16 later). We then calculated the expected difference in time between the date of death of X14 and V16, assuming that: 1) the former was the uncle, the latter the nephew; 2) an age of death between 35 and 45 for X14 [53] and between 30 and 40 for V16 [46]; 3) a reproductive age span between 13 and 40 years old; and 4) a maximum age difference between X14 and his sister of 27 years (i.e. 40-13).…”

Giving a Voice to the Little Ones: The Bioarchaeology of Children in the Baltics

“…From a bioarchaeological perspective, information about non-adults can be mainly extrapolated from contemporary excavation reports in the context of specific archaeological sites (Kalling, 1995(Kalling, , 1997Allmäe, 1998Allmäe, , 2003Allmäe, , 2010Kalman, 1999;Heapost, 2007). In particular, the fieldwork reports by Malve and colleagues from the University of Tartu always provide a paleodemographic and paleopathological analysis of the whole population, including the youngest members of the society (Lõhmus et al, 2011;Valk et al, 2011Valk et al, , 2019Laneman et al, 2015;Lissitsina et al, 2015;Malve, 2015Malve, , 2016Malve & Valk, 2008;Malve et al, , 2012Malve et al, , 2019Mägi et al, 2019). Another example is the paper dedicated to stone-cyst graves in Kaseküla (Western Estonia), in which the Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) dating of human remains revealed the use of these burials for infant remains in the Late Iron Age (Laneman, 2012).…”

Fortified Settlements in the Eastern Baltic: From Earlier Research to New Interpretations

“…To sum up, the research history of more than a century has resulted in the identification of the main area of the distribution of fortified settlements (although it gradually becomes more advanced due to the finding of new sites), the main chronology in the Late Bronze and Pre-Roman Iron Ages (despite many new questions), and the general cultural and economic character -that is, scarcity of metal artefacts (although they have often cast bronze), abundance of bone and antler artefacts, the small role of field cultivation but importance of cattle rearing, hunting and fishing, and absence of known cemeteries. Although there have been contemporaneous stone-3 A project for the dating of burials in Estonian stone-cist graves by the AMS method has pushed them even more back in time; today these graves are dated from ca 1200 to 400 BC (Laneman, 2012;Laneman & Lang, 2013;Laneman et al, 2015). cist graves in coastal Estonia (at Iru, for instance), it is not self-evident that both the fortified sites and stone-cist graves belonged to the same community because they originated in different cultural backgrounds (see below).…”