Žardės–Bandužių kompleksas

Abstract

In 2007 a field evaluation was conducted on a plot on jūrininkų avenue. An old settlement, which is ascribed to the Žardė – Bandužiai archaeological complex (Fig. 1), was discovered in the territory. During the evaluation, 151 m² was excavated (Fig. 2). Part of the settlement, which included a pit that had no clear purpose and contained hand built pottery sherds, was located on the hill’s S slope (trench 10). Test pit 1 contained part of a surviving smelting furnace (Figs. 3– ), which according to Navasaitis, can be ascribed to type 3: a shaft furnace with an opening for slag to run out. Several hundred grams of slag were collected beside the furnace as well as some fragments of slag and dross in the opening (Fig. 7). A non-intense cultural layer (?) which was about 30 cm thick and contained 3 small pottery sherds, was recorded in test pit 2. On the basis of a carbon 14 (C14 ) test, the settlement dates to the 1 st millennium BC although this type of furnace, on the basis of analogous Lithuanian examples, dates to the 2 nd –14 th century. The conducted field evaluation yielded new information for the investigation of the Žardė – Bandužiai complex and the study of the development of iron smelting in Lithuania. The settlement is recorded in the Cultural Heritage Register as the Bandužiai old settlement (unique (ID) number 31757).