New insight into the palaeoenvironmental dynamics as a background of the human history in the Nemunas River delta region, W Lithuania, throughout the Lateglacial and Early Holocene
ENA new reconstruction of the Lateglacial – Early Holocene paleoenvironmental dynamics as a background of the habitation history in the territory of the Nemunas River Delta (NRD) was based on the geological-geomorphological, grain-size, isotope (14C), pollen and diatom data supplemented by archaeological infor mation obtained within the framework of the project „Man and Baltic Sea in the Meso-Neolithic: Relict Coasts and Settlements Below and Above Present Sea Level. ReCoasts&People“. The existence of extended proglacial lakes formed during the onset of the Lateglacial was succeeded by a period of low water estuaries or freshwater lagoons as early as 13.8 cal kyr BP. Simultaneously, groups of the Final Palaeolithic population, representing the classic Swiderian culture, inhabited the area. As shores of the Yoldia Sea and Ancylus Lake were situated further westwards (-11 to -24 – -29 m NN), wetlands and lake systems alongside with shallow boggy basins and fluvial streams predominated in the local landscape throughout the Early Holocene. Archaeological data suggest an episodic human activity in the territory while part of the archaeological sites might have been covered by sediments during the further intervals of the Holocene. Since the Early Holocene an extended peat bogs have become an important part of the landscape here. Keywords: lithology; grain-size; pollen; palaeoenvironmental dynamics; Final Palaeolithic; Eastern Baltic. [From the publication]
- An Attempt to link a lithic complex with the late palaeolithic Rangifer tarandus antler axe from the Parupė site in northern Lithuania / Tomas Rimkus, Algirdas Girininkas. Archaeologia Baltica. 2021, t. 28, p. 118-131.
- Hunter-gatherer bone and antler implements in Lithuanian coastal area: recent studies in chronology, technology and decoration patterns / Tomas Rimkus. Vēsture (Latvijas Universitāte) 2022, 13/14, p. 26-47.
- Lietuvos archeologija. T. 1, Akmens amžius / Algirdas Girininkas ; Klaipėdos universiteto Baltijos regiono Istorijos ir archeologijos institutas ; atsakingasis redaktorius Vladas Žulkus. Vilnius : Versus aureus, 2009. 328 p.
- Šiaurės elnių keliai ir jų paplitimas Lietuvoje vėlyvajame paleolite / Linas Daugnora, Algirdas Girininkas. Lietuvos archeologija. 2005, t. 29, p. 119-132.
- The Eastern shores of the Baltic Sea in the Early Holocene according to natural and cultural relict data / Vladas Žulkus, Algirdas Girininkas. Geo: Geography and Environment. 2020, 7, 1, p. 1-16.
- The Final palaeolithic in the coastal part of Lithuania with the technological emphasis on Aukštumala stone age sites / Tomas Rimkus, Algirdas Girininkas. Archaeologia Baltica. 2021, t. 28, p. 102-117.
- The First Palaeolithic and Mesolithic settlements in Aukštumala, Šilutė district, the Nemunas river delta / Marijus Grigaliūnas. Archaeologia Baltica. 2013, t. 20, p. 174-189.
- The First Palaeolithic inhabitants and the Mesolithic in Lithuanian territory / Egidijus Šatavičius. Hundred years of archaeological discoveries in Lithuania / edited by Gintautas Zabiela, Zenonas Baubonis, Eglė Marcinkevičiūtė. Vilnius: Lietuvos archeologijos draugija, 2016. P. 8-39.
