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The article focuses on the analysis of the wooden buckets used in human burials of the Ostriv cemetery studied in 2017–2020. The discovery of dominant culture-defining artefacts, such as penannular and ring brooches, zoomorphic bracelets, and spiral neck-rings, suggest that this ancient population may be originated from the coastal part of the East Baltic region, including Sambian Peninsula, historical Curonia and Semigallia and the results of anthropological and paleogenetic studies reinforce this theory. One of the characteristic features of the burial rite of the Ostriv cemetery was the presence of sacrificial food stored in vessels (buckets). Remnants of buckets – in the form of bandings hoops, handle mounts, and forged handles – were found placed at the feet of the deceased. Taking into account the fact that buckets were not generally incorporated into the burial practices of the Baltic tribes of that time, the authors of the article suggest that this rite infiltrated into their society after migration to the Porossya region of Ukraine and was associated with the complex processes of the Christianization of the Baltic settlers. Keywords: Old Rus’, Western Balts, burial rites, buckets, Christianization, migration, Ukraine

2003–2004 m. vykę kapinyno Groß Ottenhagen (Berezovka) archeologiniai tyrinėjimai yra pirmasis Vokietijos ir Rusijos archeologų mokslinio bendradarbiavimo Karaliaučiaus krašte (dab. Kaliningrado sritis) pavyzdys. Jų metu, taikant šiuolaikinius archeologinių tyrimų metodus, buvo surinkti naujausi ir reikšmingi duomenys apie šį paminklą, esantį istorinės Notangos teritorijoje. Tyrinėta kapinyno dalis priklauso vėlyviausiam Sembos-Notangos regiono prūsų kultūros vystymosi laikotarpiui. Iki tol apie Groß Ottenhagen žinota tik iš rytų Prūsijos archeologų tyrimų, vykdytų iki 1945 m. Tyrinėtas kapinynas buvo naudojamas per 1000 metų. Pagrindinė įkapių dalis turi artimas analogijas, žinomas iš kitų Sembos pusiasalio kapinynų medžiagos. Atitikmenų iš dalies žinoma Vidurio ir Pietvakarių Lietuvos (Skalva) kapinynuose. Sembos ir Notangos archeologinių kultūrų sąveika su Vidurio Lietuvos laidojimo paminklais atsiskleidžia per panašius papročius, mirusiuosius laidojant su žirgais ir jų aprangos dalimis. Tyrinėtame paminkle rasta bronzinė antkaklė ir įvijinė apyrankė šalia dekoruotų balnų kilpų rodo artimas sąsajas su Deimos žemupio kapinynų medžiaga. Iš lyginamosios artefaktų analizės galima spręsti, kad Groß Ottenhagen laidojimo papročiai buvo identiški Sembos kapinynams. Abiem teritorijoms būdingi degintiniai kapai su žirgų palaidojimais (aukomis), „Aschenplätze“ laidosenos atributai ir degintiniuose kapinynuose aptinkami griautiniai kapai. Remiantis įkapių analize ir stratigrafija, Groß Ottenhagen kapinyno XI–XIII a. chronologijoje galima būtų akcentuoti XII a. dalies Groß Ottenhagen kapinyno radinių panašumas į Vidurio Lietuvos kapinynų medžiagą sieja šią vietovę su Nemuno-Priegliaus prekybos keliu. Visgi atsižvelgiant, kad tyrinėtame kapinyne kol kas nėra aptikta importuotų prekių iš senosios Rusijos, tikėtina, kad Nemuno prekybos kelias turėjo mažesnę reikšmę Rytų prekyboje, palyginti su Vyslos ir Dauguvos kryptimis. Importuotų ir brangių įkapių Groß Ottenhagen stoka ir santykinai skurdžios tyrinėtų mirusiųjų įkapės šį paminklą leistų vertinti kaip periferinį vėlyvosios prūsų kultūros laidojimo paminklą. The field research at Groß Ottenhagen (Berezovka) conducted in 2003 and 2004 was the first international scientific collaboration between German and Russian archaeologists in Kaliningrad region since 1945. The Groß Ottenhagen cemetery demonstrates almost continuous functioning for about 1,000 years, from the Roman Iron Age up to the Middle Ages. The part of the site considered in the article belongs to the last stage of the development of Sambian-Natangian culture among the Old Prussians in the 11th to the 13th centuries AD. Despite a first analysis by the excavators in 2005, this data from the cemetery has never been fully published. Groß Ottenhagen graves from the discussed period are represented by so-called double layer burial features, with human cremations on top of horse burials. The burial rites and grave goods at the cemetery are discussed in the context of archaeological material from the Sambian peninsula and southwest and central Lithuania. The relative chronology of Groß Ottenhagen is based on an analysis of grave goods, as well as the stratigraphy and the spatial distribution of the graves. According to the absence of imported/status goods at Groß Ottenhagen, the cemetery probably belonged to a peripheral group of the late Sambian-Natangian region culture of the Prussians.

Straipsnis skirtas XIII–XV a. Kuršių nerijos archeologinių paminklų tyrinėjimų rezultatams apibendrinti, pagrindinių radinių tipams analizuoti ir kuršių ir prūsų genčių spėjamų kontaktų zonai nagrinėti. Apžvelgiamos ir revizuojamos nusistovėjusios paskutinio dešimtmečio teorijos, skirtos palikusiems XIII–XV a. Kuršių nerijos paminklus etnosams identifikuoti. Darbe pateikiama iki šiol neskelbta naujų tyrinėjimų ir archyvinė archeologinė medžiaga. The article is dedicated to the archaeological monuments investigated on the Curonian Spit from the very beginning of archeological excavations here in the 1869 up to the 2008. All investigated archaeological monuments are located in the Southern part of Curonian Spit and are dated by the 13th–15th centuries in case of Stangenwalde cemetery and by the 12/13th–14th centuries for Korallen-Berg settlement. Materials of Stangenwalde inhumation graves have a wide range of parallels and analogies with Prussian cemeteries of the Teutonic Order period as Alt-Wehlau, Gerdauen-Kinderhof, Mitino, Równina Dolna etc. Some archaic artefacts as penannular brooch with connected star-shaped terminals and also spiral bracelet and drinking horn mount of Curonian types could appear here far behind the date of their production, from areas of Sambia and today’s Klaipėda district respectively. Perhaps, it is the same case for oval steels with up-twisted terminals, found in Korallen-Berg. The forms of ceramics and ornaments occurred in Korallen-Berg have the number of analogies both in cemeteries and settlements of the 12th–14th centuries in Prussian and Curonian area. The fact that Prussian or Curonians cremation graves of the 11th–13th centuries did not occur in Curonian Spit, together with the data of mentioned monuments, as well as stray finds of ornaments of the 12/13th–15th centuries in the area of former Rossitten and Pillkoppen, proves the theory, that main Iron Age settlement activity began here not as the earliest at the beginning of the 13th century and was caused by the war of Prussians with Teutonic knights and new political realities of German colonisation, which made Curonian Spit an important war and trade road, connecting Sambian peninsula with newly established castle of Memel-Burg.

The article presents the latest data on tenth to 13th-century imports, graves with weapons and horse harnesses in the north Prussian area. The study is made on the basis of five recently investigated Prussian cemeteries, and on vast prewar published and archival data. Questions of the Sambian Aschenplatze and social differentiation in Medieval Prussian society are also partly described. In addition, the 12th and 13th-century and Teutonic Period inhumation graves with weapons and horse harnesses are analysed briefly, in order to demonstrate both the continuity of tenth to 13th-century Prussian culture and its transformation brought about by 13th-century political changes. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/ 10.15181/ab.v18i0.73 Key words: imports, warrior-horsemen graves, burial rite, statistical data.