Table Of ContentTHE BALTS
by
Marija Gimbutas
Thames and Hudson
London
1963
5
CONTENTS
List of Illustrations ............................................ 6
Foreword ........................................................... 11
Introduction ....................................................... 13
I Linguistic and Historic Background ................. 21
II Their Origins ..................................................... 37
III The Bronze and the Early Iron Age of the
Maritime Balts ................................................... 54
IV The Bronze and the Early Iron Age of the
Eastern Balts ..................................................... 91
V The “Golden Age”............................................. 109
VI The Baltic “Middle Iron Age” .......................... 141
VII The Balts Before the Dawn of History .............. 155
VIII Religion ............................................................. 179
Notes ................................................................. 205
Bibliography ...................................................... 214
Sources of Illustrations ...................................... 224
The Plates .......................................................... 227
Notes On the Plates ........................................... 269
Index .................................................................. 277
6
ILLUSTRATIONS
All images have been omitted from this PDF version of the book, in order to make the
size of the file smaller. If you would like to see them, they are all available on the
HTML version of this book, which can be found at http://www.vaidilute.com
PLATES 1. Ancient Prussians: bronze relief
2. Corded and pinched pottery from Finland
3. Grave goods of Battle-Axe culture
4, 5. Bronze pin and axe
6. Bronze flanged axe
7. Bronze axe with semicircular edge
8. Late Bronze Age socketed axe
9. Late Bronze Age spearhead
10. Urn with necklace design
11. Face-urn with amber bead ear-rings
12. Face on an urn from Poland
13. Urn with engraved horse. Stela with sun symbol
14, 15. Urn with symbolic scene
16. Sheepskin coat from Masuria
17. Hill-fort, southern Lithuania
18. Man’s grave goods, western Lithuania
19. Necklaces from central and eastern Lithuania
20. Fretworked belt separator
21. Fretworked fibula
22. Woman’s grave goods, western Lithuania
23. Woman’s grave goods from double grave
24. Woman’s grave goods from double grave
25. Double grave, Kaunas, Lithuania
26. Elk in silver plated bronze
27, 28. Silver-plated bronze fibulae
29. Gold-plated plaques
30. Silver-plated plaque
31. Details of horse’s head gear
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PLATES 32. Bronze fibula with enamel incrustation
33. Bronze fibula with enamel inlay
34. Pendants with enamel inlay
35, 36. Bronze pendants with enamel incrustation
37, 38. Fibulae with enamel inlay
39, 40. Fibulae with enamel inlay
41. Bronze bracelet with enamel inlay
42. Bronze bracelets with enamel inlay
43. Enameled ornaments from central Russia
44. Silver fibula and enameled plaque
45. Chest ornament from woman’s grave
46. Chest ornament
47. Silver bow-fibula
48. Silver bracelet
49. Silver necklace
50. Silver neck-ring
51. Snake-headed silver fibula
52-54. Axe, spearhead and shield umbo
55. Man’s grave goods, western Lithuania
56. Silver-coated bronze pendant and bronze pin
57. Woman’s grave goods, central Lithuania
58. Woman’s chest ornament
59. Bronze necklace
60. Silver neck-ring
61. Bronze horseshoe fibula
62. Horseshoe fibula
63. Massive bronze bracelet
64. Man’s bracelet
65. Parts of leather belts. Belt with bronze plates
8
PLATES 67. Instruments for girdle-twisting
68, 69. Swords of Viking type
70. Horse’s bridle
71, 72. Details of horses’ graves
73, 74. Silver-plated iron bridle
75, 76. Silver-plated iron stirrup
77, 78. Hill fort, western Lithuania
79. Roof poles topped with sun and moon symbols
FIGURES 1. Map: Baltic tribes and provinces c. A.D. 1200, p. 23
2. Map: area of the Baltic river names, pp. 30-31
3. Map: expansion of Kurgan culture, p. 39
4. Map: distribution of physical types, p. 47
5. Proto-Baltic variant of Corded pottery, p. 50
6. Reconstruction and plan of house, p. 51
7. Stratified barrow, Samland, p. 53
8. Map: principal amber routes, p. 58
9. Snake-headed stone hoe, p. 60
10. Map: distribution of Baltic culture in Bronze Age, p. 63
11. Map: distribution of stone hoes and bronze artifacts, p. 64
12. Classical Baltic Late Bronze Age barrow, p. 67
13. Ornaments from Samland, p. 70
14. Ornaments from Samland, p. 71
15. Barrow in western Lithuania, p. 72
16. Temple ornaments and pendants, p. 73
17. House-urn, p. 74
18. Face-urns, p. 75
19. Necklace from Face-urn period, p. 76
20. Solar motifs on face-urn lads, p. 77
21. Engravings on face-urns, p. 78
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FIGURES 22. Bone comb, p. 80
23. Plan of fortified village, northern Poland (ancient Prussia), p. 81
24. Map: Baltic Early Iron Age groups, p. 83
25. Pot-covered urn grave, p. 84
26. Urns in stone cists, p. 85
27. Barrow containing large stone cist, p. 87
28. Geometrically decorated Prussian urns, p. 88
29. Urns from Samland, p. 89
30. Early Bronze Age Fat’janovo pot, p. 93
31. Late Bronze Age and Iron Age pots, p. 96
32. Plans of houses, eastern Baltic hill-fort village, p. 104
33. Eastern Baltic Early Iron Age hill-fort, p. 105
34. Pins from Early Iron Age hill-fort, p. 106
35. Weapons and utensils from Eastern Baltic fortified villages, p. 107
36. Map: Baltic lands in Roman period, pp. 110-11
37. Warrior’s grave in tree-trunk coffin, p. 112
38. Sudovian farmer’s grave, p. 115
39. Iron scythe from Latvia, p. 116
40. Female head and neck ornaments, p. 127
41. Bronze fibulae with cast pin, p. 128
42. Bronze fibula with chains, p. 129
43. Chest ornaments, p. 130
44. Fretworked belt parts, p. 131
45. Neck-ring with pendants, p. 133
46. Bronze fibula shaped to resemble animal, p. 135
47. Bronze fibula with silver-plated foot, p. 146
48. Star and sun motifs on fibulae, p. 146
49. Owl-head fibula, p. 147
50. Map: The Balts after the Slavic expansion, p. 151
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FIGURES 51. Silver-plated crossbow fibula, p. 156
52. Bronze necklace with pendants, p. 160
53. Ornamented bracelets, p. 161
54. Iron knife in bronze scabbard, p. 162
55. Gold-plated ornament on horse bridle, p. 165
56. Plan of Jersika hill-fort, p. 170
57. Map: Lithuanian empire, fourteenth-fifteenth centuries A.D,
pp.174-5
58. Plan of Baltic sanctuary with temple, p. 181
11
Foreword
This book was written at Stanford, California, at the Center for Advanced
Study in the Behavioral Sciences, located on a hill overlooking broad expanses in
all directions. At certain moments here I have visualized the hills and slopes
shrouded with green oaks as seen from the castle hill of Gediminas in Vilnius, my
native city in the heart of the Baltic lands, from which I am separated by almost
twenty years. The Californian sand dunes, at Carmel, remind me of the pure white
sands of Palanga, where I used to collect handfuls of amber; and the sunsets in the
Pacific, of the peacefully sinking sun as it disappeared into the Baltic Sea, beyond
where, to the west, my forefathers thought was the cosmic tree, the axis of the
world, holding up the arch of the sky.
I am deeply grateful therefore to the Center for such inspiring working
conditions, the delightful atmosphere, and for all the assistance made available to
me. I would also like to express appreciation to my many Lithuanian, Lettish,
Polish and Russian colleagues for invaluable information they supplied and the
illustrations and books they procured, particularly to Drs J. Antoniewicz, V.
Ģinters, Ju. V. Kukharenko, R. Rimantienė, and A. Spekke. For technical help,
editing and typing, I am deeply indebted to Miss M. Gallaher and to my daughter
Danutė.
M. G.
12
Dates General Chronological Table
East Baltic Area Central Europe
c. 1200 A.D. Beginning of History
c. 850 A.D. Late Iron Age Medieval period
c. 400 A.D. Middle Iron Age Migration period
Golden Age Roman period
c. 100 A.D. (or old Iron Age)
La Tène
c. 400 B.C. Early Iron Age
800/700 B.C.
Hallstatt
c. 1100 B.C.
Late Bronze Age Late Urnfield period
Classical Baltic Early Urnfield
Bronze Age period
c. 1250 B.C.
1450/1400 B.C. Trzciniec Tumulus period
Early Bronze Age
c. 1600 B.C. Iwno Late Únětice
Chalcolithic Early and Classical
c. 1800 B.C. Únětice
Formation of individual Kurgan groups
c. 2200 Coming of the Kurgan
(Corded Battle-axe) culture
13
Introduction
In the lands occupied by the ancient Balts the geography I was of many
kinds. A long stretch of the Baltic Sea with windblown dunes and white sand
beaches, embellished with tiny bits of glittering amber, lay to the west. Along the
sea shore and along the larger rivers discharging into the sea — the Vistula,
Nemunas (Niemen, Memel), Daugava (Düna, Dvina), and their tributaries — were
lowlands and the most fertile lands covered with alluvial deposits. Through the
ages, the sea coast and these larger rivers were the means by which the Balts were
able to communicate with central and western Europe. Farther east, eastern East
Prussia (present Masuria in northern Poland), eastern Lithuania and eastern Latvia
were surrounded by the moraine belt left over from the last ice age, with many
lakes, rocks and a sandy soil; and beyond it to the east were the up, lands, called
Byelo-Russia, the Smolensk-Moscow and central Russian ridges, intersected by the
valleys of the upper Dnieper and its tributaries and by the river system of the upper
Volga basin. To the south, in present southern Byelo-Russia, these uplands were —
as they still are — girdled by the swampy area of the Pripet River basin. There are
no high mountains in this whole area; the highest points reach only 200 or 300
metres above sea-level.
The lands along the Baltic Sea belong to the central European climatic zone.
Then, to the east, begins the transitional zone between oceanic and continental
climate, and all the eastern parts combine the continental climate with rather cold
winters and warm summers. The period encompassed in this book falls within the
limits of the Sub-Boreal and Sub-Atlantic climatic zones. The Sub-Boreal climate,
c. 3000–c. 500 B.C., was somewhat warmer and less humid than the Sub-Atlantic,
