Padievaičio komplekso tyrimai

LT2020 m. birželio–rugpjūčio mėnesiais vykdyti Padievaičio archeologinio komplekso (UK 11208) teritorijos (Šilalės r., Kvėdarnos sen.) detalieji tyrimai ir žvalgymai. Šilalės rajono savivaldybės administracijos kultūros paveldo apsaugos vyriausiosios specialistės Jurgitos Viršilienės dėka kompleksas pateko į Europos Sąjungos ir Rusijos Federacijos finansuojamą projektą „Šilalės ir Sovetsko istorinio ir kultūrinio paveldo išsaugojimas“. Tvarkomųjų paveldosaugos darbų projektą parengė Arimas Vengris. Jame numatyti archeologiniai tyrimai ir buvo komplekso tyrimų pagrindas. Siekta surinkti papildomų duomenų atskiroms komplekso vietoms pažinti, nustatyti saugų kasimo gylį žemės judinimo darbų vietose bei patikslinti komplekso chronologiją. Komplekso tvarkymo darbus vykdė UAB „Kvėdarsta“ (darbų vykdytojas Alfonsas Gerulis). [...] [p. 140].

ENIn 2020, an excavation and field survey were conducted on the grounds of Padievaitis Archaeological Complex (Šilalė District, West Lithuania) in connection with the task of eliminating the emergency situation and adapting the site to visitation. The complex consists of a hillfort, its lower ward, the settlement at its foot, a mythological stone called the Devil’s Throne, and an (uninvestigated) 6th–12th-century cemetery. 12 m2 were excavated on the hillfort, 16 m2 in the lower ward, 33 m2 in the settlement, and 36 m2 in the vicinity of stone (a duplicate trench at a site excavated by the LII in 1971). Visual and metal detector (by MINK Club members) surveys were conducted throughout the entire area being modernised and yielded 126 diverse archaeological finds, the majority registered (bronze ornaments, iron tools, arrowheads, etc.) from the 2nd–17th centuries and 1841–1985 coins. The trench excavated on the hillfort revealed a 30–70 cm thick cultural layer of grey sandy forest soil containing stones, 10 postholes dug into sterile soil, small sherds of hand built pottery with smooth surfaces, and pieces of iron slag. The survey on the hillfort’s grounds, mostly on the slopes, yielded 35 archaeological metal artefacts, among which 3 Roman coins, 2 crossbow bolt heads, and a rare bronze key from a cylindrical lock should be mentioned. The dark cultural layer up to 50 cm thick that has survived in the lower ward’s enclosure and on the upper part of the W slope contained iron slag and sparse sherds of hand built pottery with smooth surfaces and partly thrown pottery. The 4 stages in the reconstruction of the lower ward’s rampart, which were recorded in test pit 4, which was excavated at that location, were 14C dated to the 1st–4th centuries.The survey on the ward’s grounds yielded 54 archaeological artefacts including 5 maple seed shaped pendants, 3 fragments each of penannular brooches with poppy head terminals and of bracelets, 2 Roman coins, 2 silver ingot fragments, 2 bronze ribbed beads, 2 crotals, 2 rings with a pseudo-spiral bezel, the heads of 2 cruciform pins, a weight, and a rectangular iron bloom. A cultural layer, up to 1 m thick with hand built pottery with smooth and rough surfaces, animal bones, iron slag, and other individual artefacts was discovered in the settlement, which was at least 6 ha in size, at the N and S foot of the hillfort. An earlier settlement’s cultural layer containing 9 special finds (3 whetstones, a bone net needle, blue glass and clay beads, an iron ploughshare, a handstone, and a net weight), 5339 potsherds and pottery vestiges (6.328 kg), 4.953 kg of animal bones (2066 items), 1.872 kg of iron slag (320 pieces), and 264 g of clay daub (212 pieces) was recorded around the stone at the reinvestigated sacred site. Roughly a quarter of these finds were collected from the 1971 spoil. It was determined that the stone rests on the settlement’s cultural layer, the oldest horizon of which dates to the settlement cultural layer, which dates to the first half of the 4th – early 5th centuries i, later slipped, together with stones, down the slope, likely more than once. Isolated sherds of thrown pottery show that this location was also visited in the 13th–14th centuries. But unlike what has been thought up until now, the stone– throne reached its current location in the second half of the 16th century or the second–third quarters of the 17th century (Kvėdarna’s church was founded in 1569). The original sacred site was apparently on the edge of the heights.There the stone was let into the soil so that its current backrest served as the seat with the feet resting comfortably on the ground. Padievaitis Archaeological Complex has been used by people for various purposes for over a millennium and a half (from the 2nd to the 17th centuries), the most intensively in the first half of the 1st millennium and the 13th–14th centuries.