Įtvirtintų gyvenviečių bendruomenės Rytų Baltijos regione 1100-400 cal BC

LTĮtvirtintų gyvenviečių atsiradimas žymi svarbų priešistorės etapą, kai bendruomenės iš esmės keitė gyvenimo būdą ir kasdienybę, papildomai investuodamos svarbias laiko bei darbo jėgos sąnaudas savo saugumo užtikrinimui. Šis reiškinys atspindi reikšmingus žmonių elgsenos pokyčius, kuriuos skirtinguose pasaulio kraštuose lėmė skirtingi procesai. Monografijoje nagrinėjama Įtvirtintų gyvenviečių bendruomenių atsiradimas ir plėtra, šio ekonominės, socialinės ir kultūrinės priežastys. Darbe analizuojami duomenys iš 76 archeologinių vietovių, tyrinėjama vidinė įtvirtintų gyvenviečių struktūra, bendruomenių ūkį ir dietą leidžiantys nagrinėti šaltiniai, apžvelgiami archeologiniai rinkiniai, sukaupti Baltijos šalyse. Remiantis ,4C datomis nustatyta, kad pirmosios įtvirtintos gyvenvietės regione įkurtos dar 1100-800 m. pr. Kr., o jų tinklas išplito per vėlesnius kelis šimtmečius. Įtvirtintų gyvenviečių išsidėstymą daugiausia vakarinėje regiono dalyje, Dauguvos paupyje ir plačiame Baltijos aukštumų ruože lėmė išaugęs gyventojų poreikis apginti savo bendruomenes narius ir kaupiamą turtą regiono srityse, kur suaktyvėjo mainai.Tankiausias gyvenviečių tinklas išplėtotas trijų upių baseinų pareinamosiose teritorijose. Bendruomenės reaguodamos į išaugusias socialines įtampas plėtojo bent 6 skirtingų tipų gynybines sistemas. Šiems gyventojams būdinga ūkinė diferenciacija - skirtingose regiono srityse įvairavo augintų gyvulių rūšinė sudėtis, žvejybos ir medžioklės reikšmė. Atlikus maisto liekanų keramikoje izotopinius tyrimus, išsiaiškinta, kad nuo 1000 m. pr. Kr. Rytų Baltijos regione gyvenusių žmonių dietą sudarė daugiausia sausuminės kilmės maisto šaltiniai, sietini su žemdirbystės ir gyvulininkystės reikšmės bendruomenių ūkyje augimu. Be vidinių bendruomenių socialinės raidos procesų, nustatyta ir reikšminga Skandinavijos ir Baltijos jūros salų gyventojų ekonominė ir kultūrinė įtaka plintant įtvirtintų gyvenviečių bendruomenėms Rytų Baltijos regione.

ENThe emergence of fortified settlements is an important phase in prehistory, during which communities made fundamental changes to their way of life and daily routines, with significant additional investments of time and labour to ensure their security. The Eastern Baltic region in Europe had undergone a distinctive economic development characterised by a late74 process of Neolithisation, with the earliest evidence of crop agriculture identified around 1400-1200 cal BC (Piličiauskas et al. 2021). During this period, bronze artefacts reflecting the ideas of the European Bronze Age culture had already been imported for some time. It is likely that metalwork, which was initially new and alien to local communities, gradually became accessible and culturally inherent. The changing socio-economic environment from the Early Bronze Age (EBA) to the Late Bronze Age (LBA) is also indicated by the emergence of intensive agriculture, the significant increase in artefact types associated with the Scandinavian tradition, the doubling of bronze consumption, an almost quadrupling of the number of hoards, and the development of ritual practices such as the emergence of the stone ship graves that were likely made by groups from Scandinavia or Gotland (Luchtanas, Sidrys 1999: 22, Table 1-2; Vasks 2010: 156; Wehlin 2013; Minkevičius et al. 2020). At a similar time, there were probably considerably more changes in the culture, behaviour, economy, diet and burial practices of the Eastern Baltic population. Thus, it is possible to consider not only the opportunities for economic and social development, but also the increased social tensions between different communities in the region.The data on fortified settlements collected so far have not been sufficiently interpreted on a larger regional scale. Previous studies have concentrated on individual sites, on a particular area of the region, or have summarised knowledge gathered within the boundaries of individual countries, devoting a small part of the discussion to contextual information from the wider region. The application of 14C dating has been scarce in understanding the more complete regional development of fortified settlements. The economy and diet of these communities has been understood mostly through zooarchaeological data, which provide only one-sided information. All this did not allow for an understanding of when, how and why fortified settlements emerged in the Eastern Baltic. Recent research on fortified settlements has significantly contributed to the accumulated knowledge of their chronology and defensive systems. Therefore, it is necessary to review critically the growing database of 14C dates and to discuss the most probable scenarios of development that would allow analysing the factors determining the appearance of forhfie A synthesis of archaeological data requires a reassessment of the social processes that the fortified settlements indicate. How is the fortified settlement understood in archaeology in general' Are they still thought to reflect phases of long-term settlement, lasting several hundred years, or, on the contrary, were they formed in short phases, lasting several dozen years at most? in the latter case, they would represent a dynamic settlement pattern. However, it seems that this kind of approach is still missing in the development of archaeological syntheses on early fortified settlements.The aim of this study is to determine the timing of the emergence of early fortified settlements, the process of their spread in the Eastern Baltic, and the reasons for changes in the behaviour of communities between 1100 and 400 cal BC. Archaeological research was carried out at three fortified settlements in north-eastern Lithuania during the preparation of the dissertation: the Antilge, Garniai 1, and Mineikiskes hillforts The latter two settlements date back only to the end of LBA - the very beginning of the pre-Roman period. This means that the data collected there are highly chronologically representative: the finds allow us to formulate statements about the types of wares, livestock, cultivated plants and fortification systems produced in the same period. There are only a few other such sites in the whole Eastern Baltic region, such as the fortified settlements at Kukuhs- kiai, Luokesai 1, Ridala and VTnakalns. The economic development of the Eastern Baltic region is linked both to the developing agricultural economy and to the influence of metallurgy. The paper seeks to reveal which of these processes is more closely related to the emergence of fortified settlements. The present work distinguishes itself from previous studies on fortified settlements by the size of the defined study area (corresponding to the Baltic States) and by the fact that it is not limited to the material of a single archaeological culture. This allows for a broader analysis of the social development of the communities, their cultural and economic relations and their integration into the interregional contacts that influenced human behaviour. The following summary is focused on the material and methods, a presentation of the main results, as well as a short discussion of the main questions raised in this study.