Plants in the artefacts not used for their original purpose. A remarkable case from the Lazdininkai (Kalnalaukis) cemetery in western Lithuania

Bibliographic Data

ID24223204
AuthorsAudronė Bliujienė (0000-0001-5526-3885), Dalia Kisielienė (0000-0003-2756-444X), Kęstutis Peseckas (0000-0002-8405-8511), Justina Šapolaitė (0009-0007-5957-8148), Žilvinas Ežerinskis (0009-0006-4131-6222), Franz Schopper, Karolis Minkevičius (0000-0002-3619-9686)
Year2023
Volume30
Pages116-132
Publication date2023-12-28
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueArchaeologia BALTICA (BOOK_SERIES)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1392-5520 • E-ISSN: 2351-6534
PublisherKlaipeda University Press (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.15181/ab.v30i0.2566
OpenAlexW4390347522
LanguageEN
References cited12

This article investigates tinned bronze ornaments found in two graves of the Lazdininkai-Kalnalaukis cemetery dated to the end of the 2nd century to the first quarter of the 3rd century AD from the perspective of archaeological materials, intercultural contacts, 14C AMS dating, and chemical-physical and biological research. These ornaments — a wheel-shaped pendant and a bead — were originally parts of fashionable necklaces. However, these ornaments went into the graves as spinning tools. The wheel-shaped pendant from grave 8(1992) contains the first ever found, or at least officially recorded, use in Lithuania of an aquatic plant for a spinning tool bobbin. The piece of possible linden tree wood was used to compose the spinning tool bobbin found in grave 68(2001). These spinning tools are the first to have appeared in Lithuanian archaeological material from as early as the end of the 2nd century to the first quarter of the 3rd century. In addition, both spinning tools are unique in the Lithuanian archaeological record so far in that the copper alloy spindle whorls were used to compose both working tools. The closest analogues for the wheel-shaped pendant are known from the Wielbark culture and this example should be considered as an import from that cultural area. Copper alloy beads and various local derivatives, however, are numerous in the range of the Baltic cultures area. The copper alloy wheel-shaped spindle whorls from the Migration period cemeteries are the spinning tools created for the specific purpose of spinning which were produced locally, even possibly in the same workshops.

AMS radiocarbon dating · aquatic plants · Baltic culture · barbarian invasions · biological analysis · Bobbin · Grave goods · intercultural contact · linden wood · spindle whorl · spinning tools · Textile industry · Wielbark culture · Ancient and Medieval Archaeology Studies · Historical and Archaeological Studies · Metallurgy and Cultural Artifacts

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