The Examples of decorated hunter-gatherer bone and antler implements in Lithuania, c. 10 500–4000 cal BC

ENUntil recently, examples of Stone Age art in the territory of Lithuania have been mainly discussed with reference to the types of Neolithic anthropomorphic and zoomorphic figures as well as amber ornaments. The examples of Final Palaeolithic and Mesolithic/Early Neolithic decorations have not been considered so far for various reasons. First of all, their number was very modest and the lack of research did not provide sufficient data. Recent studies of stray bone and antler tools in the eastern Baltic region have given more information on the Final Palaeolithic and Mesolithic/Early Neolithic osseous implements, their technology and chronology. The research also involved artefacts that have on their surface deliberately shaped lines, cuts, and various geometric compositions that are treated as hunter-gatherers’ mobile art. This paper exclusively discusses bone and antler tools dated from the Final Palaeolithic to the Mesolithic/Early Neolithic that feature attributes of the mobile art in the territory of Lithuania. Currently, there are five such examples classified in the hunter-gatherers’ art category by the studies of AMS 14C and technological-typological verification. Although there is still a great lack of investigation in this research area, according to the available archaeological material, from c. 4th millennium cal BC in the territory of Lithuania, decline in the formation of geometric motifs on osseous implements is observed and an intensification of anthropomorphic and zoomorphic images made of bone, antler and amber emerged abundantly. This could very well be related to the changing cultural traditions and hunter-gatherer worldview in the Neolithic.