Das "verlorene" Gräberfeld von Anduln, Memelgebiet (heute Ėgliškiai-Anduliai, West-Litauen). Ein Wiedergewinnungsversuch

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ENThis study presents one of the largest Baltic cemeteries ofthe Baltic area, formerly Anduln, district of Memel, East Prussia, today Egliskiai-Anduliai, district Kretinga, Lithuania. Discovered in 1895 it looks back on more than 100 years of research. A total of almost 800 graves was uncovered, which date to the 2nd to 13th century A.D. The necropolis is viewed as typical of the so-called Memel culture, which is equated with the tribes ofthe Curorians and their predecessors. None ofthe numerous excavations conducted in Anduln has been thoroughly evaluated and published; the cemetery is known almost exclusively through sporadic mention in various works. The most copious collection of finds from Anduln, thousands of objects from more than 500 graves, was preserved in the holdings of the Museum für Vor- und Frühgeschichte in Berlin until 1945. Most of the finds from Anduln were taken as war-booty to the former Soviet Union shortly after World War II; only a few pieces remained in Berlin. Thus, it seemed that our knowledge about Anduln would always remain fragmentary and that the cemetery would share the same fate as many "lost" necropolises from former East Prussia.Fortunately, the archives (pages from catalogues, inventory books, reports) that were preserved in Berlin provided the means to reconstruct several hundred entire grave complexes. The archival records not only enabled the ordering of the cemetery of Anduln in its relative chronological sequence, but also an advancement of the chronology of the southeaster Baltic Sea region. The study of this cemetery contributes greatly towards the comprehension of the cultural situation in the settlement area of the Curorians and their predecessors within a broad framework of time. Known as an intermediary cultural region, the area has long been of interest in research, for it represents a specific contact zone, which was traversed by influences from different directions, namely Samland, Masuria, the Finnish area and Scandinavia. The possibilities for interregional research provided by the rich material from Anduln are exemplified by the unique drinking horn terminals in the graves CCC:XXVIB and 487, which find an imitation in the central Swedish cemetery at Valsgärde. [From the publication]