Reconsidered Late Mesolithic and Early Neolithic of the Lithuanian Coast: The Smeltė and Palanga Sites

Abstract

Middle and Late Neolithic (4200-2000 cal BC) of the Lithuanian coast are well known because of dozens of sites that have been investigated and are still being investigated in the environs of the Šventoji settlement as well as on the Curonian Spit. On the contrary, very few Late Mesolithic (7000-5300 cal BC) and Early Neolithic (5300-4200 cal BC) sites have been discovered so far. The aim of this publication is to present archaeological finds and radiocarbon dates from the little-known Late Mesolithic and Early Neolithic Lithuanian coastal sites -Smeltė (Klaipėda city) and Palanga (Palanga city). Both were discovered during constructional and drainage works during the 3rd quarter of the 20th century. Right then and also some time after the discovery both sites were severely or even totally destroyed by urbanization. Today, field research seems to be especially complicated there. Short excavation reports, museums' inventories, and artefacts themselves -almost exclusively bone and antler tools were the main sources for this study. Direct AMS 14 C dates together with the most recent information about the Baltic Sea coastlines enable us to overcome some shortcomings caused by poor field documentation and to put the Palanga and Smeltė sites into the most probable chronological, palaeogeographic and cultural contexts of the southern and eastern Baltic Sea area. Some scientific problems related to sites in question, e.g. the topography of coastal sites, the beginning of pottery and amber production in the southern and eastern Baltic Sea area have also been discussed from several viewpoints.

Species identification of ancient Lithuanian fish remains using collagen fingerprinting

“…The Mesolithic people showed preference towards harvesting salmon (Salmo salar), carp (Carassius carassius), perch (Perca fluviatilis) and catfish (Silurus glanis) (Sloka, 1986;Zagorska, 1992), and are likely to have used hunting tools such as daggers, spears, fish traps, harpoons and hooks (Enghoff, 1994;Meadows et al, 2014), with the latter tradition being notably common throughout Mesolithic Europe (Gramsch et al, 2013). Fishing with mesh nets in the Baltic region began in the late Mesolithic (7000-5300 yr BP) and continued into the Neolithic and beyond, indicated by a prevalence of smaller fish bones being found alongside larger ones in ancient assemblages (Olson and Walther, 2007;Piličiauskas et al, 2015).…”

Aquatic Radiocarbon Reservoir Offsets in the Southeastern Baltic

“…This lagoonal ecosystem emerged on a terrace of the retreating Littorina Sea around 4000 cal BC. By 2000 cal BC, it had become overgrown and drained due to isostatic land uplift (Piličiauskas et al 2015). The Šventoji paleolagoon was shallow, muddy, warm, and highly productive, with many fishing stations and dwelling sites established by (Piličiauskas et al 2012).…”

The Decorated Spindle-Shaped Bone Dagger from Šarnelė: the Earliest Example of Hunter-Gatherer Mobile Art in Lithuania

“…These debatable cases are considered to be of the Final Palaeolithic stage; however, mobile art of the Mesolithic period in Lithuania is currently represented by just a few examples as well. There is still a lack of bone and antler art objects dated to the Early and Middle Mesolithic, but some examples can be found from the Late Mesolithic, like Smeltė site, for instance (Piličiauskas et al 2015). However, we can see that the pattern of Late Mesolithic ornamentation changes and improves compared to the Younger Dryas specimen from Šarnelė, but similar net patterns can still be found in some parts of the northern European Mesolithic (see below).…”

“…However, we can see that the pattern of Late Mesolithic ornamentation changes and improves compared to the Younger Dryas specimen from Šarnelė, but similar net patterns can still be found in some parts of the northern European Mesolithic (see below). Complex bone and antler decoration techniques dominate during the second part of the Mesolithic; for instance, the removal of separate parts of an antler's cortex, or an improved geometrical scheme, consisting of lines, triangles, incisions, etc (Piličiauskas et al 2015). This is especially noticeable in examples of portable art from Mesolithic southern Scandinavia (Nash 1998).…”