Gedimino kalno atodangos: archeologiniai tyrinėjimai
LTReikšminiai žodžiai: Archeologiniai tyrinėjmai.
ENIn the chapter the search for the rebels' burial place that has been performed since 1915 is discussed. The results of the excavations of the burial place of the executed participants of the uprising in the plateau of Gedimino Hill in 2017-2019 are presented. The search for the remains of the rebels started during World War I. As stated by the amateur historian Wacław Studnicki, on 18 September 1915 (according to the Gregorian calendar), when Vilnius was occupied by Germans, two unnamed persons assisted by workers started to look for the rebels' remains on the site indicated by contemporaries of the 1863 uprising. At that time, two human bones attributed to one of the rebels were found, and the site was marked with a brick cross. When German soldiers were digging a pit for a lightning rod next to this mark on 2 and 3 June 1916, a human skeleton covered in lime with remnants of clothes and footwear was found. On 17 August 1917, in the presumed burial place of the rebels, a tall wooden cross designed by Antoni Wiwulski was built, but by the order of the German authorities it was pulled down on the same day. In the interwar period, when Vilnius was part of Poland, the burial place was commemorated. In 1921, a cross was rebuilt, and a plaque with the names of the rebels sentenced to death in Lukiškių square was set up next to it. In 1925, another plaque with the Polish inscription "To the Unknown Soldier" was built. Excavations in the territory of the memorial were performed in 1940-1941. In 1941, during the excavations by the archaeologists Helena and Włodzimierz Hołubowicz, a grave containing the remains of two men and grave goods - a cross and five medallions - was found on the site of the removed cross. The remains were identified as victims of the suppressed uprising of 1863-1864.War was going on, the political situation was unclear, thus it was decided to collect the grave goods, to bury the remains, and not to inform the authorities and society about the finds. The fate of the documentation of this excavation and the finds is unknown. In the second half of the 20th century, the territory of the rebels' burial place was not excavated. Small-scale research was performed in 2010, when a fragment of possibly the base of the memorial cross to the victims of the uprising erected in 1921 was found. The excavations that started on 2 January 2017 were related to the improvement works on the hill slopes. At that time, five graves of the rebels of 1863-1864 were found on the plateau. It was expected to find the remains of all participants of the uprising executed in Lukiškių Square and secretly buried. According to archival sources, nine rebels were executed by shooting and twelve were hanged. In 2017-2019, in the western part of the plateau limited by the foundations of the former optical telegraph manager's house, the southern slope of the plateau and the former driveway to the western tower, an area of 183 square metres was excavated, revealing a 0.60-2.85 m thick cultural layer with 14th-20th century finds, considerably destroyed in the first half of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century during various land development works. A large number of diggings from the period of 1915-1941 (pits, gopher holes, cross ditches) confirm the data of archival sources about the improvement works on Castle Hill and the search for the rebels' burial site on the plateau. [From the publication p. 210]
