Palangos istorija

LTPalangos istorija įdomi, tačiau nedaug istoriografų ją tyrinėja. [...] Ši knyga šiandien yra didžiausias ir išsamiausias Palangos istorijos tyrinėjimas, tačiau, autorių nuomone, jis neturėtų būti paskutinis. Palangoje ir jos apylinkėse surinkti kraštotyros turtai dar tebeguli muziejuose ir rankraščiuose, atskirai neišleista Palangos žvejybos tradicijų ir žvejų buities tyrinėjimo medžiaga, knygos būtų verti ir senieji, ir šiandienos garsūs gintaro meistrai. Manome, jog tokios knygos palangiškiams būtų reikalingos, todėl tikime, kad jos anksčiau ar vėliau pasirodys. Kolektyvinės monografijos “Palangos istorija” autoriai yra specialistai, kurie daug metų tyrinėja Lietuvos pajūrio ar Palangos ir jos apylinkių archeologinę praeitį, istoriją, urbanistiką [Iš Pratarmės].

ENGeologists and archaeologists have established a link between Lithuania’s geological formation, which influences land relief, the quality of arable land and climate, and the distribution of ethnic groups among the human population. The influence of specific geological formations on the development of cultural and ethnographic regions in Lithuania can be detected from the New Stone Age onwards. Resonances of cataclysms from the deep geological past are still audible today. Around 500 B.C., at the beginning of the early Iron Age in Lithuania, the waters in the vicinity of Palanga were about 2.5 m higher than the present sea-level, and during the Viking Age (c. 1000) the sea near Palanga was a full metre higher than it is today. Good conditions for sustained human habitation formed in the Palanga area for the first time in the late Stone Age, around 2,500 B.C.. These people belonged to the so-called Narva Culture. They dwelt near small, shallow lakes and lagoons, which formed as the third Littorina transgression (rise in sea-level) ended. As a result of investigations carried out in the settlement at Šventoji, we know something of these people’s living conditions, farming techniques, trade activities and ways of life. In the third millennium B.C. one such settlement was established in Palanga itself. Many animal bones, horns and pieces of amber have been found in the Roužė river. In the early neolithic settlement at Palanga no pottery has been unearthed, although in Šventoji at that time pottery was made in large numbers with various designs. In the peat layer oak planks have been well preserved, as have stone floors from three layers. Traces of much better preserved dwellings from the Narva Culture have been found in Šventoji. [...].