Baltų istorinis paveldas Sūduvos, Žemaičių aukštumų ir Kuršių marių arealo erdvėse

LTApie sembų, sūduvių, galindų, jotvingių etnoso aistišką/baltišką kilmę ir jų kultūrą nemažai straipsnių esu paskelbęs Jotvingių krašto istorijos paveldo metraštyje 2017 m., 2018 m. ir anksčiau. Juose įvardintos kuršių, žemaičių gentys, gimusios ant vakarų baltų kultūros substrato, nors jų indėlis į lietuvių tautos, Lietuvos valstybės genezę neįkainojamas. Todėl šis straipsnis parengtas istorinio paveldo ir istorinės atminties dėlei. Nuo pirmojo amžiaus pradžios Baltijos rytiniame pajūryje, Minijos upės baseine, driekėsi Vakarų Lietuvos kapinynų su akmenų vainikais kultūrinė sritis, kuri pietuose siekė Minijos žiotis, rytuose – Jūros vidurupį, šiaurėje ribojosi su Šventosios upe, o periferinė dalis apėmė teritoriją iki Liepojos ežero. Šiuo metu Lietuvos teritorijoje žinoma apie 35 šio laikotarpio kapinynai, tarp jų ir Apuolės su II–XII a. senkapiais. Vakarų Lietuvos kapinynų su akmenų vainikais kultūrinė sritis susiformavo ankstesnių pilkapių su akmenų vainikais ir degintiniais kapais teritorijoje. Pagrindinis šios vakarų baltų kultūros bruožas – mirusieji laidoti nedeginti, o kapai apjuosti ovalo arba stačiakampio formos akmenų vainikais. [Iš straipsnio, p. 8]

ENThe surviving Baltic tribes in the western part of the Baltic cultural array created the Lithuanian state, so the history of the western Baltic tribes is a deep layer of Lithuanian history. Without knowing them, we will not know the ethno genesis of our nation, we will not acquire national resilience in the winds of various types of influences in the era of globalization. Since the beginning of the 1st century, the cultural area of Lithuanian cemeteries with stone crowns has stretched along the eastern Baltic coast, in the Minija and Šventoji river basins, where about 35 cemeteries are known, including the Apuolė cemetery with ancient cemeteries of the 2nd – 12th centuries. The cultural area of the cemeteries with stone crowns is distinguished by abundant burials. Rich, well-armed men are buried with warrior-specific burials and a symbolic horse sacrifice, i.e., head or head and legs. The custom of burying ritual parts of a horse was most common at the end of the 2nd century and the 3rd century. In almost all studied tombs of the 2nd and 3rd centuries the amber amulets are in the shape of a double truncated cone, most of these tombs were found in the Palanga and Gintarai (Amber) cemeteries. The connections between the ethnic origins of the Kuršiai (the Curonians) and Sūduviai (Sudovians) through the western Baltic culture are witnessed by the Skomantai cemetery of the 6th – 12th centuries, found in Klaipėda district in the north of Skomantai village, southeast of Skomantai mound, on the left bank of the Veiviržas. One burned tomb was covered with a stone pavement, followed by a second pavement under which an unburned horse was buried. E. Jovaiša localized the named in the 2nd century by Claudius Ptolemy Western Baltic Veltai tribe in the culture of Lithuanian and Latvian flat cemeteries between the Nemunas and Venta /E. J. II, 159.The Veltai are the tribes of the flat tomb culture that grew out of the Vielbarkas culture: the Kuršiai (Curonians), Žiemgaliai (Semigallians), Latgaliai (Latgalians). It is agreed that the Kuršiai (Curonian) Vendai-Veltai may be the Western Baltic tribes that emerged from the Southern Baltic region by sea and land in the first centuries, with links to the migratory development of the Sūduviai- Galindai (Sūduvian-Galindians) and Sembai (Sembas). Kazimieras Būga writes: “The Kuršiai (Curonians) as can be judged from the Finnish name *Kurhi, which gave the gender Kuri (Cori) in the Lyviai language, was a separate nation even before the Russian encounter with the Finns, i.e., before the 7th – 8th centuries” /K. B. I, 410/. At the beginning of the 8th century, the Kuršiai (the Curonians) were quite formed into an ethnic unit, a strong and united tribe. It had its own strictly defined territory, which according to the 9th century The Chronicle of Rimbert consisted of 5 lands. They are not mentioned in the Chronicle, but they could be hypothetically named as follows: Apuolė, Gruobinia, Palanga, Skuodas-Puotkaliai, Imbarė. The article contains a lot of material about the Lithuanian settlement-castle Apuolė mentioned earlier in 853 in written sources, and the Kuršiai (the Curonian) abilities in defending it from the Swedish attack. Later, the Scandinavian attacks will be replaced by the German ones with their ideological and military power, i.e., the Livonian Order and the German-Crusader Order that replaced it.The southern Kuršiai (the southern Curonians) have long had extensive ethnic, economic, trade, and political ties with the Lithuanian lands to the east of them, first of all the Žemaičiai (the Samogitians), i.e., Vykintas (Laukuva, Tverai), Bulioniai (Šiauliai-Saulės), who often joined forces to fight against the Germans. The existence of such cooperation is shown by many events of that period described in the Livonian Chronicle by Henrikas Latvis. After a detailed analysis the geography of the first stage of the German-Lithuanian struggle of 1201-1230, we will obviously be convinced that they took place mainly north of the lands of the Ceklis region, and these are eloquent facts that suggest that the castle districts of the Ceklis region were deeply integrated with the Lithuanian-Samogitian lands. [From the publication]

• Archeologija / Archaeology
• Istorija / History