From the history of Lietuvos Archeologijos Medžiaga

Straipsnis skirtas Petro Tarasenkos (1892-1962) asmenybei ir svarbiausio jo archeologinio veikalo „Lietuvos archeologijos medžiaga" (išleista Kaune, 1928m.) istorijai. Pateikiami duomenys apie šį Lietuvos archeologijos paminklų sąvadą ir žemėlapį, veikalo rengimo spaudai eigą ir rezultatus, visuomenės reakciją leidiniui išėjus iš spaudos. Prieinama prie išvados, jog „Lietuvos archeologijos medžiaga "yra didžiausių asmeninių P. Tarasenkos pastangų rezultatas, jo siekis prisidėti prie tautinės kultūros puoselėjimo, o veikalo prototipu laikytinas Emilio Holako (1860-1924) parengtas Rytų Prūsijos archeologinis žemėlapis su komentarais (išleistas Berlyne, 1908 m.).From the perspective of the history of Lithuanian archaeology, P. Tarasenka's digest and map of archaeological sites (1928) filled the vacuum formed between the archaeological maps of Vilnius, Hrodna, and Kaunas provinces {gubernijos) (1893-1899) created by F. Pokrovskiy and the Lithuanian archaeological atlas (1974- 1979). But these are only some of the reasons why Lietuvos Archeologijos Medžiaga (Lithuanian Archaeological Material) can and must be called a publication, which changed the contemporary view of archaeology in Lithuania, while, from inside, it made archaeology a field of attention of the Lithuanian nation and state, i.e. an extraordinarily important part of the country's scientific, cultural, and public life. The main idea of Lietuvos Archeologijos Medžiaga, which led Lithuanian Army officer P. Tarasenka (1892-1962) to pursue the realisation of this idea for many years, was the objective to contribute to the nurturance of the national culture in independent Lithuania in the 1920s. The preservation of the archaeological heritage and the use of the results thereby obtained in the teaching of the highest values of the society's culture were considered the culture's most valuable asset. The main, although not the only, information source P. Tarasenka used for the digest was archaeological literature and the press. The data were inscribed on index cards, and the sites located on the map. Up until 1924, P. Tarasenka considered the archaeological maps of F. Pokrovskiy to be his starting point, but a critique of the maps shows that P. Tarasenka had rethought his experience in preparing these maps and sought to avoid negative factors in his work. P. Tarasenka's most important conceptual decision was to turn away from formalising this kind of work with the help of government institutions and to turn to the help of the intelligentsia: teachers, priests, physicians, etc. living throughout the country. It is not easy to precisely evaluate the quality of the presentation in Lietuvos Archeologijos Medžiaga of the newly obtained information and that discovered in the archaeological literature by P. Tarasenka. After a selective comparison of the primary sources and the secondary source, i.e. Lietuvos Archeologijos Medžiaga, it is necessary admit that there are many inaccuracies of various kinds in P. Tarasenka's work. Even if the spelling and locality identification mistakes that occurred due to objective reasons are eliminated, there are still too many inaccuracies. It is universally acceptable to think that from the beginning of his idea, P. Tarasenka followed the maps of F. Pokrovskiy. But just by looking at Lietuvos Archeologijos Medžiaga, it becomes clear that his prototype is the East Prussian archaeological map of E. Hollack (Hollack, 1908a-b) rather than those of F. Pokrovskiy (cf. Figs. 4a-b). Lietuvos Archeologijos Medžiaga received a positive response in society, especially in that part, to which P. Tarasenka had constantly appealed in preparing the publication. The academic society was incapable of suitably evaluating the work; in the 1920s Lithuania still did not have even one professional archaeologist. After losing those accents, which were directed towards nurturing the national culture and were targeted at independent Lithuanian society, Lietuvos Archeologijos Medžiaga served as a list of Lithuanian archaeological sites during the Soviet era. Corrected and supplemented, it has passed the test of time