Enchanted by the Baltic: on the 80th birthday of Professor, habilitated doctor and academician Vladas Žulkus

ENThe land of Žemaitija (Samogitia) has nurtured more than twenty Lithuanian archaeologists, while the town of Telšiai alone has produced seven, among them Mykolas Eustachijus Brenšteinas (Michał Eustachy Brensztein 1874–1938), Vitas Valatka (1927–1977), Adolfas Tautavičius (1925–2006), Adomas Butrimas, the author of these words, and Vladas Žulkus. The archaeology of Lithuania and of the Baltic Sea region cannot be conceived without reference to the works of Vladas Žulkus. He is a pioneer in the field of underwater archaeology, an investigator of the western Baltic tribes and an author of studies on the history of Klaipėda, Palanga and Plateliai. In Europe, he is recognised and highly regarded as an authority on Baltic–Scandinavian cultural relations and as a scholar who has made a distinguished contribution to research on the evolution of the Baltic Sea.