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Jānis Ciglis
Interaction of the Baltic and Baltic-Finnic Cultures in the lower Gauja Region
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Early Neolithic (5400–4100 BC). It was found in Sigulda, in the Gauja River, near Pirtnieki
homestead already in the 1960s or early 1970s, but it was passed to the National History Mu-
seum of Latvia (NHML) in 1979. Actually, such a shape of the arrowhead is characteristic of
the whole Neolithic period, but the finds together with fossils suggest that it belongs to the
same findspot as the abovementioned spearhead, and therefore it can most probably be dated
to the Early Neolithic. Finds of two bone tools in approximately the same spot suggest that both
articles have not been washed here from faraway places during spring floods, but the Gauja has
washed them ashore from some seasonal settlement near Sigulda.
The most ancient articles from the collection of TMR can be dated to at least Neolithic,
but these have been obtained as single finds and it is difficult to make a more precise dating.
For the present there is no reliable information at our disposal about the life of humans
in the lower Gauja during the Middle Neolithic (4100–2900 BC) when the pit-comb pottery was
widespread in Latvia, which is associated with Finno-Ugrian peoples. Most probably, the stone
wedge-shaped axe or chisel (SM 2600) can be dated to the Stone Age. It lacks the thickening near
the blade, in its lower third or quarter, and the markedly rectangular shape of the butt. The axe
or chisel is almost triangular, with a marked narrowing towards the butt. Similar thin axes and
chisels are known from the Late Mesolithic. Triangular slate chisels are known from the Middle
Neolithic monuments, but these are smaller in size. The body of Late Neolithic stone wedge-
shaped axes is more rounded and thicker. Most probably, the abovementioned axe or chisel can
be dated to the Middle Neolithic – the time of Pit-Comb Ware Culture. Although very rarely,
axes of a similar shape have been encountered also in Scratched Ware Culture monuments in
Lithuania and referred to the Bronze Age. Could they possibly have been found and used
repeatedly during the Bronze Age?
Another article that can be referred to the Neolithic period is the stone chisel found at
Turaida Castle. J. Graudonis has also dated it to the Late Neolithic (2900–1900 BC). The chisel
has a markedly asymmetric blade and a slightly rounded body, which allows distinguishing it
from the wedge-shaped stone axes characteristic of the Bronze Age. Several finds of artefacts in
the lower Gauja are known from the Late Neolithic Corded Ware Culture and Boat-Axe Culture.
A flint wedge-shaped axe is stored at the Vangaži High School museum of local lore. Its precise
findspot is unknown, but most probably it has been found in the vicinity of Vangaži. A chisel
made of brownish flint from Dumpji of Ādaži is stored at the NHML (A 12978) (Fig. 3). The
boat-axe stored at Saulkrasti Museum of History can be referred to the second half of the Late
Neolithic or even the very beginning of the Bronze Age. According to information gathered
at the beginning of the 1990s, it was found in the vicinity of Saulkrasti. The wedge-shaped
stone axe (Fig. 4) found at the centre of Mālpils near the hillfort and the pond, and stored in
Mālpils museum, judging by its rounded shape, can be dated to the Late Neolithic. It is clear
that wedge-shaped axes, unless they have been found in archaeological monuments, are im-
possible to be dated precisely, due to the non-developed typology and the great similarity of
their shapes.
The abovementioned finds allowed to revise the belief that had been deep-rooted already
for decades, that the lower Gauja and the vicinity of Sigulda became populated only during the
Bronze Age. The rare finds are evidences of the episodic presence of humans in the lower Gauja
during the whole Stone Age. Finds from the Late Neolithic testify to the fact that already at that
time representatives of the Corded Ware Culture, using the economic model of semi-nomadic
cattle-breeders, have populated the lower reaches of the Gauja more intensively.
Most probably, a similar model of economic activities was preserved in the Early Bronze
Age – in the middle and the 2
nd
half of the 2
nd
millennium BC. Alluvial lands and lake coasts
overgrown with grass and bushes in the Gauja Valley and near its tributaries (like Brasla) were
the only suitable territories for cattle-breeding, where cattle herds could get enough food. The
field areas in the forests that had grown for centuries and were logged with stone axes were
not sufficient for the cattle to be pastured in fallow lands all year round. The small fields were
depleted soon enough, and therefore people had to change their dwelling sites from time to time
in search for new areas that would be suitable for primitive cattle-breeding and crop-growing.
Since dwelling sites were changed quite often, no cultural layer was formed. Therefore, archae-
ologists have not managed to find dwelling sites from this period in Latvia. Formation of more
regular settlements started in the 1
st
millennium BC. Along with accumulation of wealth, people
began to fortify their settlements. Much work had to be invested for building fortifications, and
therefore it was impossible to change the fortified settlements so often. As people resided for a
lengthy time period in one and the same place, the cultural layer was accumulated marking the
formation of early hillforts.
In this respect, a particular importance pertains to the studies by Egils Jemeļjanovs at
Sigulda Hill of the Cross, where the beginning of the formation of the hillfort can be seen.
Potsherds of scratched pottery vessels, dated to the 1
st
millennium, which have been obtained in
the excavations, testify to short-term human presence in this naturally difficult-to-access spot. No
extra fortifications were needed there, but no thicker cultural layer managed to form. Probably
the finds of several stone work axes can be referred to this dwelling site, which had been lost
in ancient times during work in the fields nearby. One of the axes was found in Sigulda at the
corner of Valdemāra Street and Ausekļa Street, and the other one – in the garden of Ziedoņi
homestead in 1941. Unfortunately, they have been lost and have not entered museum collec-
tions. Two axes are stored in the collection of the TMR – from Annaskalni homestead in Sigulda
and from Sigulda or its closest environs (TMR 26554). Finds of stone axes best of all testify to
the density of population in the lower Gauja. The information at our disposal indicates the finds
of 30 stone axes in the lower Gauja. A major part of reports about these finds have already been
summarised by J. Graudonis.
Stone axes have been distributed throughout the whole territory of the lower Gauja, but
there are several more marked places, where finds of stone axes are concentrated – among these
the coasts of lakes Jugla, Ķīšezers, and Baltezers, where four finds of shaft-hole stone axes and
one find of a wedge-shaped stone axe from the Bronze Age are known. Three specimens – from