Vegerių kapinyno tyrimai

LTAtsižvelgiant į tai, kad Vegerių kapinyną ir Vegerių kapinyną II skiria vos 200 m atstumas ir šių laidojimo paminklų tarpusavio santykis yra neaiškus, 2022 m. birželio 6-15 d. LNM ir VšĮ Akmenės istorijos muziejus teritorijoje tarp abiejų kapinynų surengė žvalgomuosius tyrimus. Jų metu siekta nustatyti, ar šioje teritorijoje buvo laidojami mirusieji, nusakyti laidosenos ypatybes ir chronologiją. Iš viso ištirtos 3 perkasos (35 m2 plotas), aptikti radiniai perduoti į LNM, žmonių palaikai - VU Biomedicinos mokslų institutą [p. 123].

ENIn 2022, the LNM and the Akmenė History Museum investigated the area between Vegeriai and Veigeriai II cemeteries (northern Lithuania, Akmenė district). The purpose of the investigation was to determine whether this ground was used for burials and, if so, to identify burial customs and chronology. Three trenches (35 m2 in total) were excavated in different locations around a small rise. Two inhumations were discovered, which dated from the end of the 8th century to the 9th century. Finds included: 67 special finds; 12 sherds of hand-thrown, wheel-turned, and wheel-made pottery, and a piece of daub. The explored area is the presumed continuation of Vegeriai cemetery, which Semigallians used as a burial ground for inhumations between 8th and 13th centuries. Vegeriai cemetery occupies an area at least 120 x 90 m in size: the deceased were buried within the legally protected area of the cemetery and in a stretch to the N of the protected area boundary that is at least 70 m long. There is insufficient data to determine whether both cemeteries form one large burial complex or they are two distinct sites. Isolated finds recovered during the excavation are attributed to the heritage of the old Vegeriai town and WW2 battles that took place there in 1944.The archaeological research data are complemented by finds from Vegeriai recovered by local metal detectorists and handed over to the KPD (170 finds are stored in the LNM). Of these: 95 finds are associated with Vegeriai cemetery, and 6 with Vegeriai II cemetery; 63 finds were collected in the E part ofthe village, and 1 in the village centre. The original locations of the remaining 5 finds are unknown. The finds from Vegeriai and Vegeriai II cemeteries confirm the archaeological evidence for the use of these burial sites in the 8th-13th centuries, whereas the 16th-20th-century finds come from the old town of Vegeriai. More extensive archaeological research is needed to determine the contexts of the finds from the second half of the 1st-3rd centuries, 5th-7th centuries, and 14th-15th centuries.