New investigations of Prussian cemeteries in the context of Western Balts' culture

The article deals with the 2004–2008 investigations of late-iron-age Prussian cemeteries. The paper consist of two parts – a catalogue of six cemeteries and an analysis of the main Prussian cultural features that result from these investigations. They are as follows: 1. The problem of the Prussian “Aschenplatz” phenomenon. This part is devoted to the so-called Prussian group cremation graves. In our opinion, the general number of Sambian “group” cremations over horse burials comprises individual Prussian cremations with horses just situated very close to each other, forming in this way the vision of a vast cremation layer. This is also seen from the Alejka-3 “Aschenplatz” investigations. 2. The issue of Prussian inhumations of the 12th–13th centuries. There is an idea of the Prussian biritualism as a coexistence of cremations and inhumations in the 12th century. The origin of this problem is described here on the example of newly investigated Prussian inhumations from Alejka-3 and on the basis of archival data. It seems likely that Prussian late iron age inhumations began to appear at the juncture of the 12th–13th centuries, mainly under the influence of Western European culture. 3. The problem of the ethnical identity of Prussian “mass” grave goods in the context of 11th–13th century burial vessels. The problem of “mass” grave goods, or artifacts, discussed here, such as “Hansaschüssel” bronze plates and pottery, found in Prussian graves of the 11th–13- th centuries, and their place and identity in the culture of Prussians and Western Balts is discussed.Archaeological data of the newly investigated Prussian cemeteries of the 11th– 13th centuries provide a lot of new material for exploring and analysing the culture of Western Balts. A comparison of the newly obtained data with old sources and materials from the last decades of archaeological fieldwork and studies allows to reconstruct the past of Prussians closer to its real historical projection, although there are still more questions than answers left