DOI Artikel:
Rimantienė, Rimutė: Substantial remains of incipient Neolithic agriculture at Šventoji 6, a Narwa culture settlement in Lithuania
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49004#0104
SUBSTANTIAL REMAINS OF INCIPIENT
NEOLITHIC AGRICULTURE AT SVENTOJI
6, A NARWA CULTURE SETTLEMENT IN
LITHUANIA
By
Rimute Rimantiene
Not long ago Neolithic agricultural tools in
Lithuania were only represented in museums
by ground stone hand-hoes found predom-
inantly as scattered finds. They were supple-
mented by a few grain impressions of culti-
vated plants in the ceramic vessels. Such finds
only indicated that people of the early Neo-
lithic were acquainted with some kind of
agriculture.
The first clear evidence of wooden hand
tools has, however, recently been excavated
in the swamp of Sventoji in western Lithuania
close to the coast of the Baltic (Fig. 1) (Ri-
mantiene 1979; 1980; 1984 and 1992). Re-
mains of this Neolithic settlement have been
buried without later intermixture in a
“gyttja” layer which could be dated by pol-
len-karpological and radiocarbon analysis.
The former swamp has been cultivated and
transformed into fields.
The paleogeographer Rimvydas Kunskas
has reconstructed the prehistoric landscape
(Rimantiene and Kunskas 1984 Fig. 1; Riman-
tiene 1992 Fig. 2).
In the 4th-3rd millenium BC a lagoon of
the sea existed, which was eventually sepa-
rated into a lake, and at the northern end off-
shore c. 40 Neolithic settlements have been
revealed. The oldest ones belong to the
Narwa culture, which must have been a hunt-
ing and fishing society. But many middle Ne-
olithic settlements demonstrate that people
also knew some kind of agriculture. This
middle Neolithic phase is dated to the 3rd
millennium BC.
The earliest settlement at the western shore
is Sventoji 3 B. Because of a transgression of
the Sea the eastern shore became occupied in
Sventoji 23. Later on the western shore was
then settled in Sventoji 6.
Fig. 1. The location of the settlements in Sventoji,
near to Klaipeda in Lithuania. □ Die Lage der
Fundplatze von Sventoji nordhch Klaipeda (Me-
mel), Litauen.
NEOLITHIC AGRICULTURE AT SVENTOJI
6, A NARWA CULTURE SETTLEMENT IN
LITHUANIA
By
Rimute Rimantiene
Not long ago Neolithic agricultural tools in
Lithuania were only represented in museums
by ground stone hand-hoes found predom-
inantly as scattered finds. They were supple-
mented by a few grain impressions of culti-
vated plants in the ceramic vessels. Such finds
only indicated that people of the early Neo-
lithic were acquainted with some kind of
agriculture.
The first clear evidence of wooden hand
tools has, however, recently been excavated
in the swamp of Sventoji in western Lithuania
close to the coast of the Baltic (Fig. 1) (Ri-
mantiene 1979; 1980; 1984 and 1992). Re-
mains of this Neolithic settlement have been
buried without later intermixture in a
“gyttja” layer which could be dated by pol-
len-karpological and radiocarbon analysis.
The former swamp has been cultivated and
transformed into fields.
The paleogeographer Rimvydas Kunskas
has reconstructed the prehistoric landscape
(Rimantiene and Kunskas 1984 Fig. 1; Riman-
tiene 1992 Fig. 2).
In the 4th-3rd millenium BC a lagoon of
the sea existed, which was eventually sepa-
rated into a lake, and at the northern end off-
shore c. 40 Neolithic settlements have been
revealed. The oldest ones belong to the
Narwa culture, which must have been a hunt-
ing and fishing society. But many middle Ne-
olithic settlements demonstrate that people
also knew some kind of agriculture. This
middle Neolithic phase is dated to the 3rd
millennium BC.
The earliest settlement at the western shore
is Sventoji 3 B. Because of a transgression of
the Sea the eastern shore became occupied in
Sventoji 23. Later on the western shore was
then settled in Sventoji 6.
Fig. 1. The location of the settlements in Sventoji,
near to Klaipeda in Lithuania. □ Die Lage der
Fundplatze von Sventoji nordhch Klaipeda (Me-
mel), Litauen.