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History of the Environment and Population of the Old Town of Klaipėda, Western Lithuania: Multidisciplinary Approach to the Last Millennium

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2016

Dalia Kisielienė ,
Ieva Masiulienė ,
Linas Daugnora ,
Miglė Stančikaitė ,
Jonas Mažeika ,
Giedrė Vaikutienė  and
Rimantas Petrošius
Dalia Kisielienė*
Affiliation:
Nature Research Centre, Institute of Geology and Geography, T. Ševčenkos 13, 03223 Vilnius, Lithuania
Ieva Masiulienė
Affiliation:
Institute of History and Archaeology of the Baltic Sea Region, Klaipėda University, H Manto 84, 92294 Klaipėda, Lithuania
Linas Daugnora
Affiliation:
Institute of History and Archaeology of the Baltic Sea Region, Klaipėda University, H Manto 84, 92294 Klaipėda, Lithuania
Miglė Stančikaitė
Affiliation:
Nature Research Centre, Institute of Geology and Geography, T. Ševčenkos 13, 03223 Vilnius, Lithuania
Jonas Mažeika
Affiliation:
Nature Research Centre, Institute of Geology and Geography, T. Ševčenkos 13, 03223 Vilnius, Lithuania
Giedrė Vaikutienė
Affiliation:
Department of Geology and Mineralogy, Vilnius University, Čiurlionio 21/27, 03101 Vilnius, Lithuania
Rimantas Petrošius
Affiliation:
Nature Research Centre, Institute of Geology and Geography, T. Ševčenkos 13, 03223 Vilnius, Lithuania
*
Corresponding author. Email: kisieliene@geo.lt
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Abstract

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Progressive stages in the development of the Old Town region of the city of Klaipėda (in German, Memel) were ascertained by analyzing archaeological and historical data combined with an analysis of pollen, diatom, plant macrofossil, and osteological findings as cross-referenced with radiocarbon measurements. The port city of Klaipėda, located on the eastern part of the Baltic Sea, was an important political, economic, and religious center during the last millennium. In addition to its environmental history, the character of human activity and urbanization of the area during the 16th–17th centuries AD were examined. The chronology of these records is based on archaeological, historical, and 14C data. The results obtained indicate the predominance of a wet boggy environment and the presence of a pond in the investigated territory of Klaipėda during the late 15th and early 16th centuries AD. The formation of a new Danė River channel created an island town, resulting in a defensible residual area for the town inhabitants. An ongoing deposition of a cultural layer began in the mid-16th century AD. Rich zooarchaeological data found in this layer provided new details on human diet and exposed a predominance of domestic animals, especially cattle. Due to intensive amelioration of this area, layers of sandy and clayey deposits were formed during the second half of the 16th century AD. A significant presence of cultivars, ruderals, and weeds were recorded, indicating substantial human activity and increasing urbanization of the landscape. According to the paleobotanical, archaeological, and historical data, the culmination of this process took place at the end of the 16th and beginning of the 17th centuries AD, when residential areas were established.

Type
Articles
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 54 , Issue 3-4 , 2012 , pp. 1003 - 1015
Copyright
Copyright © 2012 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

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