The earliest evidence for crop cultivation during the Early Bronze Age in the southeastern Baltic

Piličiauskas, Gytis; Vengalis, Rokas; Minkevičius, Karolis; Kisielienė, Dalia; Ežerinskis, Žilvinas; Šapolaitė, Justina; Skipitytė, Raminta; Robson, Harry K.

doi:10.1016/j.jasrep.2021.102881

Cited by 9 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…This was identified in the Mesolithic, Subneolithic and Neolithic individuals, and perhaps some of the Bronze Age individuals. This finding fits well with the mixed-type economy recently proposed for the southeastern Baltic population during the Neolithic and the Early Bronze periods, based on carbon and nitrogen stable isotope data, organic residue analysis of ceramic vessels, and recent macrobotanical analyses (Piličiauskas et al 2017a(Piličiauskas et al , 2020(Piličiauskas et al , 2021Robson et al 2019). It seems that mobile stockbreeding and extensive barley farming were supplemented by the continued exploitation of wild resources for some time.…”

Section: Mobility Patternssupporting

confidence: 89%

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Strontium isotope analysis reveals prehistoric mobility patterns in the southeastern Baltic area

Piličiauskas

Simčenka

Lidén

et al. 2022

Archaeol Anthropol Sci

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We measured 87 Sr/ 86 Sr for all available human remains (n = 40) dating from the Mesolithic to the Bronze Age (ca. 6400-800 cal BC) in Lithuania. In addition, local baselines of archaeological fauna from the same area were constructed. We identified significant and systematic offsets between 87 Sr/ 86 Sr values of modern soils and animals and archaeological animals due to currently unknown reasons. By comparing 87 Sr/ 86 Sr human intra-tooth variation with the local baselines, we identified 13 non-local individuals, accounting for 25-50% of the analysed population. We found no differences in the frequency of local vs. nonlocals between male and female hunter-gatherers. Six Mesolithic-Subneolithic individuals with 87 Sr/ 86 Sr values > 0.7200 may have come from southern Finland and/or Karelia. Two Mesolithic-Subneolithic individuals from the Donkalnis cemetery with 87 Sr/ 86 Sr values < 0.7120 likely came from the Lithuanian Baltic coast. These data demonstrate coastal-inland mobility of up to 85 km, which is also supported by archaeological evidence. The standard deviation in the intra-tooth 87 Sr/ 86 Sr indicates that mobility did not decrease with the adoption of pottery technology at ca. 5000 cal BC but rather slowly decreased during the Neolithic and Bronze Age periods. We interpret this as a result of the introduction and subsequent intensification of farming. The least mobile way of life was practised by Subneolithic coastal communities during the 4th millennium cal BC, although 87 Sr/ 86 Sr do not exclude that they migrated along the coastline.

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Section: Mobility Patternssupporting

confidence: 89%

“…At ca. 1300 cal BC, barley cultivation commenced throughout the region (Piličiauskas et al 2021), which was later supplemented by millet cultivation at ca. 1000 cal BC (Antanaitis-Jacobs et al 2002;Piličiauskas et al in prep).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Strontium isotope analysis reveals prehistoric mobility patterns in the southeastern Baltic area

Piličiauskas

Simčenka

Lidén

et al. 2022

Archaeol Anthropol Sci

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“…Though seals were consistently hunted in the past beyond the 15 th and 16 th centuries, they did not form the core of any diet, even in the Northern Ostrobothnian region. Farming communities on the Baltic Sea shores continued to utilise marine resources but, instead of seals, fish became one of the key components of a diet which was complemented by farming products [ 4 , 6 ]. Where sealing continued, it was a seasonal hunting practice which took part during the early spring and late autumn [ 3 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…After this shift seals continued to be hunted, but they no longer formed a key part of the subsistence strategy [3]. By contrast, in farming societies during the Bronze Age, the Iron Age and the historical period, the utilisation of marine resources was focused on fishing, and this was complemented by the products of farming [4][5][6]. Freshwater fish were utilised inland and, because the same species occupy the north Baltic Sea, freshwater lakes and rivers, the use of fish was unlikely to have been differentiated according to the catchment area.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The most recent baltic sea marine hunter-gatherers? The buried individual of grave IB3 in the Suutarinniemi cemetery, Finland

Lahtinen

Hakamäki²,

Kuusela³

2022

PLoS ONE

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Most European hunter-gatherers slowly assimilated into farming communities during the Neolithic period. In the north these groups persisted far longer. In this paper, we present evidence from what may be one of the most recent non-agricultural sites in the region, where a marine hunter-gatherer lifestyle may have continued until as late as the 15th–16th centuries AD. The isotope composition of incremental dental analysis suggests a significant, long-term dependence on seals. This indicates that vestiges of this means of subsistence might have been present in Europe for much longer than previously thought.

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“…1; Appendix). In contrast, in the coastal lowlands of west Lithuania and the Lower Nemunas region, the archaeological material comes mainly from burial sites, although there were undoubtedly livedin hillforts and unfortified settlements (Grigalavičienė 1979;Bliujienė et al 2012;Šiaulinskas 2016;Jovaiša 2020;Minkevičius et al 2020;Vengalis et al 2020;Piličiauskas et al 2021). However, it should be admitted that, in terms of material, chronology and settlement structure, the Earliest Iron Age remains the least-known archaeological period in Lithuania.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Essential changes in the composition of copper alloys reveal technological diversities in the transition from the Earliest Iron Age to the Early Roman period in Lithuania

Bliujienė¹,

Petrauskas²,

Bagdzevičienė³

et al. 2021

Archaeologia Baltica

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In the context of archaeometallurgical studies of copper alloys, it is relevant to record the essential changes in the elemental composition of copper alloys that occur during changes in technology and transitions in human history. This article presents the shift in the elemental composition of copper alloy from bronze-based alloys to brass ones during essential changes in archaeological material which happened at the turn of the Earliest Iron Age (500-1 BC) and the Early Roman period, from the 1st century BC to the middle of the 1st century AD. As early as the 2nd and 1st centuries BC, in the Antique world and the Roman Empire and its provinces, brass was already starting to partly replace bronze. Even if the Earliest Iron Age is the least knowable period in Lithuanian prehistory, the few pieces of jewellery attributed to this period show the changes in the composition of the copper alloy. The territorial growth of the Late Antique world and internal contacts within the Barbaricum led to the expanding strength of commodities, including raw materials, technologies, cultural ideas and ideological attitudes. Goods and ideas spread throughout the vast barbarian lands, and eventually reached the forest zone of northeast Europe. Sudden changes during the Early Roman period were first of all connected with the development of settlement structure, and this has therefore made it possible to identify some major places of the production of artefacts and partly changed directions of exchange. All this was accompanied by the emergence of new jewellery types produced by skilled jewellers according to sophisticated techniques. These changes are clearly visible in Early Roman period Lithuanian archaeological material, including the elemental composition of copper alloys. The present article uses X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectrometry to investigate the composition of copper alloys. Radiography was used to understand the construction of artefacts, and to assess the degree of their inner corrosion and sophisticated manufacturing techniques. Solder samples were taken from the surfaces of several finds, and were analysed by qualitative microchemical analysis.

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The earliest evidence for crop cultivation during the Early Bronze Age in the southeastern Baltic

Cited by 9 publications

References 28 publications

Strontium isotope analysis reveals prehistoric mobility patterns in the southeastern Baltic area

Strontium isotope analysis reveals prehistoric mobility patterns in the southeastern Baltic area

The most recent baltic sea marine hunter-gatherers? The buried individual of grave IB3 in the Suutarinniemi cemetery, Finland

Essential changes in the composition of copper alloys reveal technological diversities in the transition from the Earliest Iron Age to the Early Roman period in Lithuania

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