Jurgionių kapinynas

LT2014 m. liepos 7–13 dienomis buvo tęsiami Jurgionių kapinyno, vadinamo Prancūzų kapais (UK 13145) (Trakų r., Aukštadvario sen.), archeologiniai tyrimai. Jų tikslai buvo moksliniai bei paveldosauginiai. Moksliniu požiūriu kapinyną verta tirti todėl, kad tai yra savitas, reprezentatyvus, gana aiškiai apibrėžtos chronologijos (XIV pabaigos-XVI a. pradžios) laidojimo paminklas, kurio tolesni tyrimai svarbūs viduramžių Lietuvos gyventojų materialinio bei dvasinio palikimo pažinimui. Tyrimai taip pat tikslingi siekiant išgelbėti nuošalioje vietoje esančio, radinių turtingo archeologinio paminklo medžiagą nuo vandalų, nelegaliai kasinėjančių kapinyno teritorijoje (čia ne kartą fiksuoti nelegalių kasinėjimų pėdsakai). Jurgionių senkapyje mirusieji buvo laidojami XIV a. pabaigoje-XVI a. pradžioje. Senkapis yra santykinai trumpos chronologijos (naudotas ne ilgiau kaip 150 m.). Jurgionių senkapį paliko šalimais XIV a. pabaigoje-XVI a. pradžioje gyvenusi bendruomenė. Galima kelti hipotezę, jog Jurgionių senkapis galėjo būti XIV a. pabaigoje-XVI a. pradžioje šalia gyvenusio bajoro kiemo (sodybos) nekropolis. Jį palikusi bendruomenė gyveno krikščionybės sklaidos epochoje, tačiau mirusiųjų laidosenoje dar laikėsi gajų senųjų papročių. Aptikti archeologiniai radiniai (97 vienetai) perduoti TIM. [...] [p. 186-187, 195].

ENIn 2014, the excavation of Jurgionys old cemetery (Trakai district, Aukštadvaris eldership) continued. Trench 5 (10x4 m with one 1x0.5 m extension, a total of 40.5 m²) contained 5 human burials (one of which was a multiple burial). The hill had long been ploughed and therefore some of the burials had been disturbed or completely destroyed. Isolated human bones were encountered in the sod and immediately underneath it. Undisturbed or partially disturbed burials were found at a depth of 28–60 cm. Owing to the soil’s qualities (gravelly sandy loam) the grave pit contours were visible in only some of the burials. No traces of coffins were discovered. The individuals were interred with their heads to the SE (110–130º (4 burials) and S (170–180º) (burial 51, a multiple burial). Burial 50 contained a female over 55. The grave goods consisted of a clay pot found beside her head, bronze temple ornaments (earrings?) with many beads, a bronze penannular brooch, a limestone spindle whorl, an uncertain corroded iron artefact, a bronze ring, domestic chicken bones, a potsherd, and an iron awl. Burial 51 contained the skeletons and skeletal fragments of five individuals (remains 51A, 51B, 51C, 51D, and 51E), but not all of them had not been interred at the same time. A potsherd and an unidentified coin are connected with burial 51A, that of a 6–10 year old child. Under this was found contemporaneous burial 51B, that of a 40–45 year old female, which contained a bronze hoop earring, two potsherds, a bronze band ring, a stone spindle whorl, two iron knives, and an iron awl. In digging the grave pit for burials 51A and 51B, burial 51C, that of a 25–35 year old male was disturbed.Later, in working the soil in the cemetery’s grounds, fragments of the remains of another two individuals were buried in a hole dug at the grave pit’s foot. Burial 52 contained a 4–8 year-old child with no grave goods, burial 53 a 45–50 yearold male with a potsherd and an iron belt buckle, burial 54 a 40–45 year-old male with two iron buckles, an iron loop, an iron fire striker and flint, an iron knife, an iron axe, fragments of a leather girdle purse that had a bronze openwork fitting and held an iron razor and an iron awl in the purse. Chance finds from disturbed burials, e.g. potsherds, knives, knife parts and other metal artefacts, fused fragments of bronze (neck-rings) and separate coil beads, and fused fragments of bronze artefacts were discovered on the cemetery’s grounds. The possibility should not be rejected that medieval cremations, which are somewhat earlier or even contemporaneous with the inhumations, could be on the hill. It needs to be pointed out that none of the excavated inhumations contained any item that had been in a fire or was partially fused. All of the finds that had been in a fire and the bronze coil bead fragments were widely scattered in the immediate vicinity of trench 5 and did not form any even somewhat clearer concentrations. No cremated bones were found. It is evident that any cremations that might have existed on the cemetery’s grounds were shallow and have been completely destroyed during the long period of ploughing. The cemetery’s chronology is the late 14th-early 16th centuries. The fairly wealthy and martial community that left this cemetery lived in the era of the spread of Christianity, but their funeral rites still followed the tenacious old customs.