Upytės žemės priešistorė

ENThe areas inhabited of Upytė Land lay in the upper reaches of Nevėžis River and the Lėvuo River basin. In the glacial period solid glacier covering covered this territory. The Linkuvos Glacier here was thawing evenly and slowly, which resulted in formation of the plain. The above mentioned region is characterised by especially rich soil. Traces of people in the Upytė Land are found from Final Paleolithic. It is believed that the main hunted animal at these times was reindeer. Reindeer antlers were used to produce spearheads two of whick were found in the Istras River near Pumpėnai. In the Mesolithic, Kunda Culture spread here. The Kunda Culture artefacts were found by the Musis (Pukiškis) Lake. In the Neolithic, nomadic shepherds who practiced animal husbandry (The Globular Amphora, Corded Ware Cultures) influenced its expansion. The tribes of these latter cultures picked only the places suitable for their animals - like river valleys and floodplains, where it was easy to find fodder. Today we are still not aware of any greater settlements of these times. There are only small settlements found near Tiltagaliai, Aščiagaliai, and Karsakiškis, and some burial sites. One of them is the Late Neolithic grave found in Gyvakarai Village. The following burial goods associated with the inhumation were found there: stone axe boat (shaped with shaft-hole), hafted axe made of flint of greyish colour, blade-knife, and bone pin with oval-shaped knob at one end. Upytė Land is poor in sites and finds of the Bronze Age as well. 3 sites of Brushed Pottery Culture was found in the Upytė Land: in Pajuostis, Kiūčiai, Minakalnis, and the site near the confluence the Lėvuo and the Larnaka rivers.Most of individual finds there were stone axes with shaft-holes. In the Roman Iron Age in the Upytė Land the deceased used to the buried in barrows with stone circles. It is quite possible that the dead were buried in coffins, with spears, knives, socketed axes. Barrows cultural area is actually attributed to Semigallian, Samogitian, and Selonian tribes. There were over 30 barrow cemeteries found in Upyt Land: Bajoriškiai, Raginėnai, Pakalniškiai, Berčiūnai, Pajuostis, Daujėnai, Drulėnai, Upytė, and others. Beginning with the V-VI century flat burial grounds appeared in the Upytė Land from the Central Lithuania area. From V-VI century Semigallians buried their dead unburned, in flat burial grounds. Particulary great numbers of working tools, pectoral ornaments and weapons are found in Semigallian burial grounds of the V-XII centuries. Upytė Land is also poor in hillforts. About 20 hillforts were found in this territory. But the Kereliai Hillfort is the only thoroughly investigated hillfort in Upytė Land. Hillforts in Upytė Land were inhabited from the middle 1st millennium B.C. The first fortifications of the site were scarps and 2-meter wide ditches. The dwellings were overground, of post construction, and quadrangular in shape. Axes of stone, chisels, bone artefacts from the Vl-I century B.C. were found there: a number of awls, scrapers, spear- and arrow-heads, and pins. Clay artefacts are represented by the fragments of moulds, crucibles used in the bronze industry.The early pottery is represented by S-like pots with brushed ornaments. From the 3rd century A.D. hillforts were even more fortified - scarps became steeper, ramparts were made higher. During this period metal artefacts spread all over. Pottery of these times is represented by the fragments with flat, rough, or polished surfaces, pinched and geometrical ornaments. In time, late hillforts became wooden castles, and their fortifications reached higher level. Several of them stood Baiminiai and Upytė.