TOWARDS A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF THE ECONOMY AND CULTURE OF THE LATE BRONZE AGE IN THE SOUTHEASTERN BALTIC: TARBISKES SETTLEMENTS

In 2020, rescue excavations due to construction of a pipeline connecting Poland and Lithuania took place at the Bronze Age sites Tarbiskes 1 and Tarbiskes 2, eastern Lithuania, both dated to 1050-900 cal BC. They revealed a rather homogeneous archaeological assemblage which fills a gap in the development of the Bronze Age culture and economy in the southeastern Baltic. Tarbiskes Ware, from a typological as well as chronological point of view, stands in an intermediate position linking Trzciniec culture pottery with Zalioji and Early Striated Wares. Macrobotanical analysis of charred plant remains revealed that Bronze Age people at Tarbiskes cultivated Panicum miliaceum, Hordeum vulgare and Triticum sp. The Tarbiskes sites demonstrate that early farmers used to settle areas at higher elevations with sandy soils, further from large bodies of water. They used flint and other stone tools widely and lacked bronze. Tarbiskes is the first and only ancient settlement discovered in Lithuania with a workshop for on-site manufacturing of polished stone axes with drilled holes.