Archeologiniai žvalgymai ir žvalgomieji tyrimai Pietų ir Rytų Lietuvoje

LTŠiame straipsnyje pateikiama 2009 ir ankstesniais metais autoriaus iniciatyva vykdytų archeologinių žvalgymų ir žvalgomųjų tyrimų Rytų ir Pietų Lietuvoje rezultatų dalis. Šių tyrimų metu identifikuota daug naujų archeologijos vertybių, kurios surastos ir jų teritorijos nustatytos taikant kuo mažiau destrukcinius archeologinius tyrimus bei į pagalbą pasitelkiant gretutinių mokslų (paleogeografijos, geomorfologijos, botanikos, dirvožemio tyrimų) teikiamus duomenis. Žemiau pateikiami detalesni plačiau tyrinėtų objektų aprašymai [p. 452-453].

ENThe article presents some of the results of the surveys and evaluations conducted in South and East Lithuania at the author’s initiative in 2009 and earlier years. During them, five new archaeological sites were identified: Darsūniškis–Atmainai 2 and Šventininkai 1 Stone Age settlements, Darsūniškis–Atmainai barrow cemetery II, Guronys cemetery (all in Kaišiadorys District), and Neravai (Grigiškės) Stone Age settlement 1 (Vilnius city). The territory of the Reškutėnai Stone Age settlement site 2 (Švenčionys District) was also significantly corrected through surveys and excavations. The Darsūniškis–Atmainai Stone Age settlement site 2 occupies approximately 550 x 60–100 m of waste land. A higher segment of a flat area – a ridge, partially formed through aeolian processes, on the second terrace above the floodplain, at a distance from the right bank of the Nemunas, and bounded on the NW and SE by several valleys of the river Palapainis, was selected for founding it. Two test pits, which contained a cultural layer about 10–20 cm thick, were excavated in the NE and SW parts of the settlement site. Good quality flint finds were discovered in abundance at the site: blades, flakes, decortification flakes, and isolated artefacts, preliminarily dated to the Mesolithic – Neolithic period. The Darsūniškis–Atmainai barrow cemetery II is on the E edge of the Naginukai Forest. The distal part of a projection gently sloping down from the upper terraces – a sandy ridge several metres high and 20–40 m wide, was selected as its location. The Darsūniškis–Atmainai barrow cemetery I is approximately 400 m to the N–NE of it. The barrow cemetery today consists of two barrows about 29 m apart. This cemetery may have more mounds but various size pits have been dug in the remaining part of the sandy ridge (to the W of the E barrow).The cemetery covers an approximately 80 x 50 m area of mature forest. Guronys cemetery is about 90–100 m to the S of Guronys village cemetery, on the NE edge of a projection of the Dzūkai (Strošiūnai) highlands, that gently slopes down to the plain in the vicinity of Žasliai. A large, approximately 100 x 90 x 5–6 m hill, which is now partly forested, was selected for creating the cemetery. The site is 0.69 ha in size. Archaeological finds (corroded iron artefacts and coins) and human bones have been discovered since the early 1970s through the illegal operation of a gravel quarry at the Guronys cemetery site. At least ten burials have been destroyed by illegal intensive gravel mining during the last decade. An iron broad axe was found by one inhabitant during this destruction. The cemetery has been preliminarily dated to the 14th–18th centuries. The Šventininkai Stone Age settlement site I occupies about 0.7 ha of abandoned waste land. It was created on the N–NE edge of the W finger (now ameliorated) of lake Kalviai, which is bounded on the N by a nameless stream flowing into the lake’s former finger. The surface at the settlement site slopes sharply to the N and W, only becoming flatter in a former shoreline strip. Two test pits, which contained a 5–15 cm thick cultural layer, were excavated in the N and S parts of the settlement site. Flint artefacts were found in abundance everywhere at the site but especially in the W part: blades, flakes, exhausted cores, and isolated artefacts, preliminarily ascribed to the Mesolithic Kunda culture. The Reškutėnai (lake Kretuonas) 2 Stone Age settlement site 2 is about 0.3 km to the E–NE of the shores of lake Kretuonas. A level, dry flat area on the 3rd terrace above the floodplain on the E shore of lake Kretuonas was selected for its founding. The site covers an approximately 200 x 65–80 m area of waste pasture.A. Girininkas discovered the settlement in 1979, but the article’s author determined that the settlement site is significantly larger, i. e. it should be expanded about 230 m to the S–SE. In 2009, 40 m2 was excavated in the S part of the site. During the excavation, it was determined that the cultural layer in the trench had been destroyed through long ploughing but the lower part of several charcoally stains unearthed in the sterile soil could be connected with Stone Age human activity. In all, about 50 flint finds and isolated sherds of partly thrown ceramics were discovered. Over ten test pits, in which a thin cultural layer, up to 10 cm thick and containing flint finds, was discovered under the ploughed soil, have also been excavated in the expanded part of the settlement site over approximately 20 years. All of the flints finds discovered at the site date to the Mesolithic–Neolithic period. Neravai 1 Stone Age settlement was founded on the sloping right bank of the river Vokė and expanded on a level area of the upper terrace, but geomorphologically the settlement was founded in the lower part of the Švenčionėliai–Vilnius–Warsaw–Berlin–Hamburg Urstromtal (glacial valley). It was discovered in 2008 in conducting a field survey on the NE side of the Vilnius–Kaunas highway. A total of about 450 m2 were excavated during the construction of a viaduct and various road segments in 2009–2010. A large quantity of flint, stone, and osteological finds ascribable to the Upper Paleolithic and Mesolithic periods was discovered. Several building sites from this period and various storage pits were identified. It was determined that a 15th–20th century cultural layer from Misionarka village that contains clay pot sherds, vessel glass shards, and metal artefacts has survived above the Stone Age cultural layer. [...].