Metalų epocha
LTReikšminiai žodžiai: Pilkapynai; Karmazinų pilkapynas; Neries pakrantės tarp Vilniaus ir Kernavės; Burial mounds; Karmazinai hill fort; Banks of the Neris between Vilnius and Kernavė.
ENThe Neris and hill forts on its banks (first of all the complex of Kernavė archaeological monuments) attracted investigators' attention already in the 19th c. In 1857, Count Konstanty Tyszkiewicz explored archaeological monuments in Karmazinai, Grabijolai and Kernavėlė; in 1889, Eduardas Volteris investigated the barrows in Varliškės (Orliškės); in 1890, Adam Jocher explored the barrows in Grabijolai. In 1933, the expedition of Vilnius University, lead by Helena Cehak-Holuboviczowa, investigated 43 barrows in Karmazinai. In the second half of the 20th century, investigators focused their attention on the monuments of the Iron Age between Vilnius and Kernavė again. The barrow groups known long before (Popai (Vingeliai), Varliškės, and Karmazinai) as well as a little forgotten and newly found barrow groups (Padūkštai, Grabijolai) were investigated. The results of the explorations presented new data about local burial rites. The cremations found dated only to the mature stage of the East Lithuanian Barrow Culture (the 5th-10th/11 th c.). These barrow groups were often set up close to unfortified settlements of the earlier (the 2nd-4th c.) period (in Grabijolai) or even in their place (Gudeliai (Lenkiškės). However still it is difficult to prove the relation of barrow groups with contemporaneous settlements. Barrow groups on the banks of the Neris are rather big (50-140 barrows) and probably were used for a long time. The average size of the barrows (about 8-11 m in diameter and 1 m in height) is similar in all the groups. However at the edges of greater barrow groups, there are barrows of impressive size, whose height is 2 m, and the diameter is from 25 to 37 m (Karmazinai, Varliškės, Grabijolai, and Dailidės). Maybe representatives of tribal nobility are buried in them. The barrows spread between Vilnius and Kernavė reflect the main development stages of the East Lithuanian Barrow Culture.However early barrows dated back to the 3rd-5th c. with inhumations have not been found so far. It may be a gap of regional investigations, because some individual findings typical of the early development stage of the barrow culture have been found here. In the 1st millennium ВС, in the eastern and especially northeastern part of Lithuania, the prevailing type of settlement was a hill fort. At the moment, in the middle reaches of the Neris, apart from the castle complexes in Vilnius and Kernavė, 10 hill forts are known. A part of them is almost completely destroyed because of economic activities (Bielazariškės) and by natural forces (Paalkiai). Only hill forts called Mindaugas' Throne and Altar Hill in Kernavė, and Bradeliškės hill fort have been investigated in more detail. The first settlements of the late stage of the Striated Ware Culture were established at the very end of the 1st millennium ВС on the hill forts in Bradeliškės and Kernavė (Altar Hill). In the first ages AD, with natural conditions being very favourable, people started to settle on the bases of hill forts, on the first terrace of the super-floodplain of the Neris and even on the upper floodplain. Such a settlement using the ceramics characteristic of the Late Striated Ware Culture, Dyakov-type weights, and first iron items existed in the valley near Karmazinai hill fort and in Pajauta Valley in Kernavė in front of Altar Hill. In the middle reaches of the Neris, the Striated Ware Culture finally disappeared in the joint of the 2nd -3rd c., when the East Lithuanian Barrow Culture changed it. From the 2nd-3rd c. on, the settlements prospered in all the valleys of the first terrace of the Neris. At that time, people lived in settlements occupying from a few to several hectares. Close to their residential and farming buildings, there were cultivated fields and pastures.In all these settlements there was plenty of iron production waste found. In household activities rough-surfaced modelled ceramics was used the most. Also, ceramic articles with even and black polished surfaces have been found. Abundant iron items: knives, sickles, narrow-bladed axes, bradawls, and stickpins finally replaced ones made of bone, horn and stone. All the settlements on the first terrace of the Neris valley were suddenly desolated approximately in the 5th c. AD because of the onslaughts of enemies and sudden cold. From the joint of the 5th-6th c. on, all the new settlements by the Neris were built up only on the upper terraces of the river: close to the hill forts in Kernavė, Bradeliškės, Buivydai and elsewhere. So, on the banks of the Neris between Vilnius and Kernavė, the Metal Age left a lot of expressive monuments. At the end of the 2nd millennium ВС, the Striated Ware Culture - the most significant one among the eastern Baits - was established in the middle reaches of the Neris. In the 2nd-3rd c., the East Lithuanian Barrow Culture that is directly related to the Lithuanian ethnicity changed it. This culture grew and flourished up to the 11th-12th c. In the 12th-13th centuries, two most important centres of the early Lithuanian state - Kernavė and Vilnius - rose from the depths of this culture. [From the publication]
