Preface

We present the annual journal of scientific articles Archaeologia Lituana 23 (2022) of the Department of Archaeology of Vilnius University.

The year 2021 was declared the year of Marija Gimbutienė (Gimbutas) in Lithuania, therefore the Department of Archaeology of Vilnius University, in cooperation with the Society of Lithuanian Archaeology, the National Museum of Lithuania and the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences, initiated and organized the 11th scientific international conference Readings of Jonas Puzinas with the title “The New Old Europe” dedicated to the memory of Marija Gimbutienė. The conference took place in the hall of the National Museum of Lithuania on September 23–24, 2021 in Vilnius. Its main organizer was Agnė Žilinskaitė, a colleague of the Department and chairwoman of the Society of Lithuanian Archaeology. The opening of the conference coincided with the large and well-received international exhibition Goddesses and Warriors: 100 Years to Marija Gimbutas opened at the National Museum of Lithuania. In this journal, Joan Marler (USA), head of the Institute of Archaeomythology, presents the merits of M. Gimbutienė to archaeology, research of the ethnogenesis of the Balts, and archaeomythology. The conference also presented research in archaeology, anthropology, linguistics, religious studies, and genetics, analyzing and actualizing the issues of development of Lithuanian and European prehistory, Baltic ethnogenesis and mythology. We are very grateful to the participants of the conference from Bulgaria, Denmark, USA, United Kingdom, Italy, Moldova, Russia, Finland, North Macedonia, Germany, Ukraine as well as Lithuania, and we are glad that part of them submitted articles to our publication. The variety of published articles – from archaeology to mythology, from the reconstruction of Old Europe to the migratory culture of Kurgans – reflects the diverse fields of research by Marija Gimbutienė.

Traditionally, the works of Lithuanian colleagues, which contain the results of research of the archaeological objects of prehistory and historical times of Lithuania, are published comprehensively . The journal also contains a chronicle of the works of the year 2022 by the staff and PhD students of the Department of Archaeology of Vilnius University.

In 2023, Lithuania will commemorate an extraordinary historical event, the 700th anniversary of the city of Vilnius. The name of the city of Vilnius was first mentioned in 1223 in the letters of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas dedicated to Western Europe, the Pope, merchants and artisans. Many wonderful and meaningful events will be held in Vilnius to celebrate the anniversary of the capital of Lithuania, and the National Museum of Lithuania and the National Museum the Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania are preparing exceptional archaeological and historical exhibitions. The prehistory of the city of Vilnius also reveals the times much older than Middle Ages, so the Department of Archaeology of Vilnius University will organize the 12th international scientific conference Readings of Jonas Puzinas in the autumn of 2023, which will be dedicated to the topic of interdisciplinary archaeological research of prehistory and historical times. We expect active participation in the conference, while the reports and the articles based on them will be published in the dedicated publication of Archaeologia Lituana.

Albinas Kuncevičius
Agnė Žilinskaitė