Stratigraphy of Klaipeda's cultural layers in the 16th-17th centuries: new data concerning old city's planning and development

The article analyses the development of the old city of Klaipėda in the 16th−18th centuries. This part of Klaipėda was unique in the Baltic region because of a regular street network the beginnings of which could be dated by the 16th century. Archeological and dendrochronological data, accumulated through some decades, allows to cast a new light on the urbanization issues and evaluate the dynamics of the formation of the city‘s cultural layers. Dendrochronological data allows to presume that oak-tree buildings started in the 16th century, and brick constructions could be dated by the end of the 17th century and the beginning of the 18th century. This qualitative construction change can be traced in all cultural layers of the old city of Klaipėda; in addition, it creates favourable conditions to date the archeological data and to investigate the process of urbanization. Researches, undertaken till the end of the 20th century, show that this part of Klaipėda attracted interest and attention of many archeologists, historians, and architects. A disputable issue is the original place of the old city; there are some presumptions that at the beginning of the 16th century it could have been transferred because of the modernization of the castle‘s defence system. Nevertheless, archeological data allows to claim that the city started in the 16th century; according to V. Žulkus, it started with the present day Tiltų and Turgaus streets. Iconographic, historical and archeological material as well as dendrochronological data allow to make a new hypothesis that Klaipėda’s development was not spontaneous, as it demonstrates certain features typical of the Renaissance city planning. A regular street network of the old city contrasts strikingly with Fridrich outskirts where a street network is in a way chaotic and reflects the features of the medieval city planning