Laima Vaitkunskienė Explained

Laima Vaitkunskienė
Birth Place:Rokiškis, Lithuania
Birth Date:13 September 1936
Nationality:Lithuanian
Occupation:Archaeologist
Alma Mater:Vilnius University
Thesis Year:1967
Discipline:Medieval archaeology
Workplaces:Lithuanian Institute for Historical Research

Laima Vaitkunskienė (born 13 September 1936)[1] is a Lithuanian medieval archaeologist, who specialises in the study of burial practices. She has led extensive and numerous excavations, and led on the study of amber in the region.

Biography

Born in Rokiškis, Vaitkunskienė graduated in 1956 with a degree in history and philology from Vilnius University. After graduation she worked for the, before beginning work at the Institute of History in 1957.

From 1958–59, she led excavations at the and settlement, in partnership with the Rokiškis Regional Museum.[2] She also led excavations at several burial sites, including:, Jurgaičiai,,, and cemeteries.[3] She was awarded a PhD in 1967. Her work at Pagrybis investigated a cemetery dating to the 5th to 6th centuries CE, where she interpreted the site as showing an increased militarisation during the period they were in use.[4] The excavations at Žąsinas were undertaken between 1976 and 1979, and resulted in the exploration of Samogitian burial practice from the 10th to 12th centuries.[5] Her excavations at Žviliai were published in 1999 and described barrow use and burial goods deposited there.[6]

Vaitkunskienė also studied comb-shaped pendants from the region, made from amber, and connected their production to the Lithuanian mythology.[7] Her study of amber also led her to the conclusion that its use was restricted not just by its rarity, but by social and spiritual prohibitions.[8]

Selected works

See also

References

  1. Web site: habil. dr. Laima Vaitkunskienė – Lietuvos archeologijos draugija . 2023-02-08 . lad.lt.
  2. Web site: Fotonegatyvas. Juodonių piliakalnio žvalgomieji tyrimai . 2023-02-08 . www.europeana.eu . es-ES.
  3. Web site: Laima Vaitkunskienė . 2023-02-08 . www.vle.lt . lt.
  4. Book: Mägi, Marika . In Austrvegr: The Role of the Eastern Baltic in Viking Age Communication across the Baltic Sea . 2018-05-15 . BRILL . 978-90-04-36381-6 . 73 . en.
  5. Kazakevičius, Vytautas. "Riders from Žąsinas cemetery (the classification of spurs from the Viking period and early Middle Ages on the basis of material from Žąsinas cemetery)." Archaeologia Baltica 6 (2006): 166-173.
  6. Banytė-Rowell, Rasa, Anna Bitner-Wróblewska, and Christine Reich. "Did they exist? The question of elites in Western Lithuania in the Roman and early migration periods, and their interriogional contacts." Archaeologia Baltica 18 (2012): 192-220.
  7. Book: Bliujienė, Audronė . Northern Gold: Amber in Lithuania (c. 100 to c. 1200) . 2011-11-11 . BRILL . 978-90-04-21735-5 . 28 . en.
  8. Book: Beck . Curt W. . Amber in Archaeology: Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference on Amber in Archaeology, Talsi, 2001 . Loze . Ilze . Todd . Joan Markley . institūts . Latvijas universitāte Latvijas vēstures . 2003 . Institute of the History of Latvia Publishers . 978-9984-601-77-9 . 48 . en.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Laima Vaitkunskienė".

Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is © Copyright 2009-2024, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Cookie policy.