Senkapis Vilniuje, Bokšto gatvėje: XIII-XV a. laidosenos Lietuvoje bruožai

• Jonaitis, Rytis
• Kaplūnaitė, Irma

LTŠi knyga - tai ilgamečių archeologinių tyrimų Vilniuje, sklype Bokšto g. 6, rezultatas. 2006 m.. lapkričio 6 d. pradėję darbus nežinojome, kad čia praleisime tiek daug metų, ne tik vykdysime tyrimus ir rengsime ataskaitas, bet ir skaitysime pranešimus, rašysime straipsnius apie atradimus. Daug metų paskyrę šiam objektui, jaučiamės ir morališkai, ir profesiškai įpareigoti parengti knygą apie jo tyrimus. Išskirtinis sklype Bokšto g. 6 aptiktas paminklas - vėlyvųjų viduramžių griautinis senkapis, datuojamas XIII a. paskutiniu trečdaliu-XV a. pradžia. Sis laikotarpis yra daug klausimų keliantis Lietuvos istorijos tarpsnis, kai pagonišką pasaulėžiūrą šalyje keitė krikščionybė. Vilnius oficialiai išliko pagoniškas iki 1387 m., bet Bokšto gatvėje aptiktas griautinis kapinynas, datuojamas laikotarpiu iki oficialaus krikšto. Tai krikščioniškais laidosenos bruožais pasižymintis laidojimo paminklas, kuris remiantis išsamia analize priskirtinas stačiatikių tikėjimo (ir atvykėlių, ir apsikrikštijusių vietinių gyventojų) Vilniaus bendruomenei. Tiriamas senkapis išskirtinis ir unikalus ne tik dėl istorinio konteksto, bet ir tuo, kad yra labai gerai išlikęs miesto laidojimo paminklas su intensyviais kultūriniais sluoksniais virš jo, aptikta daug kapų, unikalių radinių. Surinkta išskirtinė medžiaga, sukaupta daug duomenų, atlikti įvairūs tarpdisciplininiai tyrimai. Be to, paminklas beveik iki galo ištirtas, o tai gana retas atvejis Lietuvos archeologijoje. Suprantama, kad archyvuose gulinti medžiaga dažnai sulaukia mažiau dėmesio, tačiau mes manome, kad ji turi būti pasiekiama lengviau ir plačiau. Visa tai ir paskatino imtis šios knygos.Monografijoje ne tik pristatomas ir išsamiai analizuojamas kapinynas Bokšto gatvėje, bet ir pateikiamas platesnis istorinis kontekstas, palyginimai, apžvelgiama tuometė visuomenė ir jos kasdienis gyvenimas, kad skaitytojas galėtų susidaryti išsamesnį vaizdą apie XIII-XV a. laidojimo paminklus, laidosenos bruožus, tyrimų būklę, naujausias interpretacijas Lietuvoje ir užsienyje. Pateikiama informacija apie pačius tyrimus ir naudotus metodus. Manome, kad knyga bus suprantama ir įdomi ne tik specialistams, archeologams ir istorikams, bet ir visiems, kurie nori daugiau sužinoti apie viduramžius Lietuvoje, Vilniaus miesto kūrimąsi ir augimą XIII-XV a., laidosenos papročius ir jų kaitą perėjimo iš pagonybės į krikščionybę laikotarpiu. Monografijoje remiamės šiame tyrimų etape turimais duomenimis. Archeologijos moksle procesas retai būna baigtinis, medžiaga pildoma, atsiranda naujų interpretacijų, metodų, kartais kardinaliai keičiančių supratimą apie praeities įvykius. Šioje knygoje pateikiame archeologinių tyrimų duomenis, kurie yra faktas, ir mūsų interpretacijas bei hipotezes, kurios šiuo metu atrodo patikimiausios ir labiausiai pagrįstos tiek medžiaga, tiek istorinio konteksto įvertinimu. Žinoma, gali atsirasti naujų duomenų, naujų tyrimų metodų, todėl nepretenduojame į vieną ir neklystamą tiesą ir liekame atviri diskusijoms. [Iš Pratarmės]

ENIn 2005, a Late Medieval inhumation cemetery was discovered at Bokšto St. 6, Vilnius, and its excavation lasted until 2014. The cemetery lay within the territory of Old Town, should be associated with the Civitas Ruthenica (Ruthenian City), and should be considered a burial site left by the Orthodox Christian community. It has been dated to the last third of the 13th - early 15th centuries. This is an especially complex period in Lithuanian history that encompasses the country's transition from paganism to Christianity. The funeral traditions changed from cremation to inhumation in flat cemeteries. The chronology and causality of this change is a subject of discussion to this day. Several directions exist in the historiography of Lithuanian archaeology for the investigation of Medieval cemeteries: some assert that cremation predominated in pagan funeral rites until the official baptism (in some cases even after it), while others contend that inhumation began to be practiced already in pagan Lithuania. The latest investigations of the 13th-15th-century city burial sites shows that such a manner of burial was employed even before the official baptism. First of all, the immigrants from Christian lands, Orthodox and Catholic, were required to bury their dead in Lithuania in this manner as did the local converts. The purpose of this monograph is to present the material from the cemetery on Bokšto Street and to thoroughly discuss the funeral features in it. It seeks to analyse this cemetery in a far wider context of second half of the 13th - early 15th-century funeral rites in Lithuania and neighbouring lands, to discuss the special features of Vilnius as a multi-cultural city, and the features and historical situation of the society at that time, which allowed such a burial site to come to exist in the city. This monograph presents the cemetery on Bokšto Street as a burial site of the Orthodox Christian community in Vilnius.The assertion is based on the fact that both Orthodox Christian immigrants and local residents who had converted had been buried at this location. The totality of the funeral features at the burial site on Bokšto Street is obviously Christian. An analysis of the cemetery, its location, the historical context, and the nature of the finds discovered in the burials and cultural layers during the investigations show a direct connection with the Orthodox Christians and the part of the city of Vilnius they resided in, the Civitas Ruthenica. From its very founding as a city, Vilnius grew as a multicultural entity. The grand dukes of Lithuania understood the benefits brought by Christians arriving from the East and the West, and made use of their knowledge in creating Vilnius as the capital of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The immigrants also brought their own manner of burial: Christian funeral rites for the uncremated dead. Thus the cemetery on Bokšto Street falls into one of the most complicated periods of Medieval Lithuanian history when Christian culture began to penetrate into the country's life and changes occurred in the pagan funeral rites that had been practiced up until then. The dating and causality of this phenomenon have provoked many discussions in historiography. In addition, questions of its chronology and attribution to a specific community are in general some of the most complex in investigating funeral rites at the end of paganism - beginning of Christianity in Lithuania. Therefore this inhumation cemetery on Bokšto Street, which has been dated to this period, poses many more questions on the one hand but allows some new ideas to be raised or some already obsolete ones to be boldly dismissed on the other.The funeral problems in Medieval Lithuania and the work of investigating them are presented by distinguishing several main stages and the main authors investigating them. The first stage, the earliest investigation of burial sites, began back in the 1970s, and, it is possible to say, was the beginning of interest in such archaeological sites in Lithuania. This is the period when mostly peripheral old cemeteries were investigated and presented and relics of pagan funeral rites were sought. This investigation stage is closely connected with the cemetery investigations and publications made by Vytautas Urbanavičius. The second stage is the numerous cemetery investigations by Eugenijus Svetikas and the presentation of the material discovered in them. This work is distinguished a more active endeavour to identify traces of Christianity in burial sites. Attention was focused not only on the investigations themselves but also on Catholic Christianisation. The third stage is connected with the investigation of the barrow culture and the disappearance of cremation customs in East Lithuania. This transitional period was investigated in greater detail by Laurynas Kurila and Gediminas Petrauskas. While the first stages are distinguished by the fact that most of the attention was focused on cemeteries in peripheral localities, the fourth was focused now on the investigation of the early cemeteries in the centres of East Lithuania and an analysis of the material. So far two such pre-Christian inhumation cemeteries: Kriveikiškis, Kernavė and Bokšto Street, Vilnius are known in the cities of pagan Lithuania. In investigating the circumstances of the change to inhumation in funeral rites, it was noticed that they not necessarily connected with Christianity and could have evolved naturally due to economic reasons or in order to save wood. [...]. [From the publication]

• Archeologija / Archaeology
• Istorija / History