The Social Organisation in East Lithuania in the 3rd–12th Centuries (on the Basis of the Mortuary Record)

The dissertation discusses, in conformity with burial data, the social organisation of the East Lithuanian barrow culture (3/4th–11/12th c.). The research method is the correlation of archaeological record (construction of barrows and graves, grave good assemblages) with the results of osteological analysis (age and sex of the buried individuals). The survey uses the data from 425 burials found at 67 burial sites. Main theoretical premises of the study are the reflection of social status in burial and the connection between mortury variability and complexity of social organisation. Various elements of funerary ritual were defined as indicators of status. A review of the graves of infants, children, adolescents, adult males and females reveals several interrelated dimensions of social status. Status was associated with individual age. Societal position of subadults was lower, while young adults had the highest status. The main category determining status was sex and individual qualities related to it. The principal quality for males was military activity and for females fertility. Inheritance of the position also played a certain role in social organisation. Significance of all the mentioned factors was of different degree in different periods. The discussed society was divided into small communities based on nuclear and extended families. It probably consisted of social elite, freemen, and unfree (and half-free?) classes. The social organisation of East Lithuania is rated as a chiefdom. Its evolution was affected by historical realia