Stone-Cist Grave at Kaseküla, Western Estonia in the Light of Ams Dates of the Human Bones

Abstract

The article discusses new AMS dates of the human bones at stone-cist grave I at Kaseküla, western Estonia, in the context of previously existent radiocarbon dates, artefact finds and osteological studies. There are altogether 12 radiocarbon dates for 10 inhumations (i.e. roughly a third of all burials) of the grave, provided by two laboratories. The dates suggest three temporally separated periods in the use life of the grave(s): the Late Bronze Age, the Pre-Roman Iron Age and the Late Iron Age. In the latter period, the grave was probably reserved for infant burials only. Along with chronological issues, the article discusses the apparently unusual structure of the grave and compares two competing osteological studies of the grave's bone assemblage from an archaeologist's point of view.

The transition from foraging to farming (7000–500 cal BC) in the SE Baltic: A re-evaluation of chronological and palaeodietary evidence from human remains

“…A subsistence economy including millet is also found later, in Roman or even Medieval Poland (Reitsema et al 2010), although it is absent in Estonia and Latvia during the Late Bronze Age (Fig. 5;Laneman, 2012;Laneman and Lang, 2013). This suggests that the northern boundary between millet-cultivating and non-millet cultivating peoples ran somewhere through northern Lithuania or southern Latvia around 1000 cal BC and may define environmental limits for production of this crop.…”

“…The data for expected inland fish consumers' area, Latvian stable isotope data from the Subneolithic Ri ukalns site, was adapted from Schmölcke et al (2015), while the other animal data was taken from Lithuanian Subneolithic-Bronze Age sites (see Table 4). (Fischer et al, 2007;Eriksson, 2004;Piličiauskas et al, 2017b;Tõrv and Meadows, 2015;Antanaitis-Jacobs et al, 2009;Eriksson et al, 2003;Meadows et al, 2016;Reitsema, 2012;Pospieszny et al, 2015;Eriksson and Howcroft, 2014;Laneman, 2012;Laneman and Lang, 2013;Fornander, 2013;Reitsema et al, 2010). 1-4 year old children are excluded in order to avoid data distortion due to breastfeeding.…”

Radiocarbon Dates and Stable Isotope Data from the Early Bronze Age Burials in Riigiküla I and Kivisaare Settlement Sites, Estonia

“…Stable isotope data from Kivisaare I, II and Riigiküla Ia, Ib burials plotted against hunter-gatherer values and values of loose human bones from these two sites (Tõrv, unpublished data; Tõrv and Eriksson, unpublished data) and values from the Bronze Age stone-cist graves in Sondlamägi, Muuksi(Laneman and Lang 2013) and Kaseküla(Laneman 2012). Data from young children omitted.…”

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).…”