Начало археологии государственного периода в Литве

ENIn 2017 in Lithuania about 80% of current archaeological investigations were from the state time period (13th-18th centuries). Archaeology as a science started from excavations in prehistorical sites. Where and when did the situation change? The first mentioned event of excavations of state time objects dates back to 1836 (searching for the 14th century castle remains in hillfort Narkūnai, East Lithuania). In the middle of the 19th century, A.H. Kirkor began to excavate manor sites and medieval cremation graves in the surroundings of Vilnius. W. Szukiewicz in 1883-1895 started to excavate rural cemeteries in South Lithuania an in modern Belarus territory. In 1911-1914 the archaeological commission functioned in Vilnius surveying the old town culture layer. L. Krzywicki in the pre-war period began to excavate the Lithuanian medieval wooden castle sites ñ late hillforts. In the inter-war period, excavations of castles (Kaunas) and old churches (Vilnius) started. The preliminary collection of the state time archaeology materials was completed in the middle of the 20th century. Systemic excavations of the state time objects were initiated in the postwar period. All principal sort of archaeological heritage of this period started to be investigated in the 1950s. The large-scale excavations in Vilnius beside the western slope of Castle hill in 1955-1961 were especially important in the development of the state time archaeology as they presented an enormous number of artefacts and structures, including a full-excavated church site. Before the beginning of the 1970s, other important objects from the state time period became objects of investigation, e.g. medieval foot settlements, New Age manor sites, old pagan sanctuaries.In the Soviet time (1950-1970), an important role for developing state time archaeology was played by the eminent Lithuanian archaeologist A. Tautavičius. He published first articles about the results of excavations in Vilnius. From 1968 to 1970, three separate publications of the material of state time archaeology were issued. In 1967, the first doctoral thesis based on the archaeological material of state time rural cemeteries was defended. In the beginning of the 1970s, all preliminary work for developing state time archaeology in Lithuania was finalised. After two decades, in the 1990s, these investigations reached the same level as in prehistorical archaeology. Key words: state time archaeology, Lithuania, 19th-20th centuries, history of archaeology, excavations. [From the publication]