Hunter-Gatherer Interaction in a Dynamic Lake Shore Landscape During the Late Pleistocene–Late Holocene in Southern Lithuania

ABSTRACT In 2020–2021, a large rescue excavation took place at the construction site of an international gas pipeline between Lithuania and Poland, revealing numerous Stone Age sites. One of them was located in the village of Vilūnai, western part of the Kalviai Lake valley (southern Lithuania). A large number of worked lithics, dating from the Final Palaeolithic to the Bronze Age, were recovered during excavation. However, the wetland area revealed the most valuable research results at the site. Here, a preserved layer with faunal remains, hunter-gatherer pottery and wooden artefacts was recorded. A homogeneous concentration of lithics belonging to the Final Palaeolithic was also located. The initial results of the excavation, with an emphasis on the data from the wetland part of the site, are discussed in this article. Studies of sediments, animal remains, artefacts and AMS 14C dating have allowed a partial reconstruction of the environment and cultural history.