Abstract

This article presents the first general treatment of the material from the 1954 and 1988–1989 excavations at the fourth millennium BC site of Siliņupe, examined within a broad framework of food and non-food resource use on the Baltic Sea’s Gulf of Riga coast, present-day Latvia. Located at the boundary of marine, freshwater, and terrestrial biotopes, the site offered a high abundance and diversity of wild food resources: marine and terrestrial mammals, birds, and fish. The aquatic environment of the gulf was enriched with nutrients from a wide drainage basin, ensuring very high biological productivity and a rich food chain, while also receiving marine water inflows that promoted the seasonal ingress of marine species. The spectrum of marine and freshwater resources would have permitted year-round habitation, while pottery vessels enabled food processing on a large scale, possibly for delayed consumption. Amber, collected from the beaches and made into jewelry on the site, circulated in an exchange network reaching far into the continental interior, where the major rivers flowing into the gulf served as traffic arteries. Conversely, flint brought from present-day southern Lithuania or Belarus provided the main lithic material for toolmaking.

摘要

本文介绍了对 1954 年和 1988-1989 年在公元前四千年遗址 Siliņupe 发掘的材料的第一次一般处理，在波罗的海里加湾沿岸食品和非食品资源利用的广泛框架内进行了检查，目前-天拉脱维亚。该地点位于海洋、淡水和陆地生物群落的边界，提供了丰富多样的野生食物资源：海洋和陆地哺乳动物、鸟类和鱼类。海湾的水生环境富含来自广阔流域的养分，确保了极高的生物生产力和丰富的食物链，同时还接收海水流入，促进了海洋物种的季节性入侵。海洋和淡水资源的范围允许全年居住，而陶器使食品能够大规模加工，可能是为了延迟消费。从海滩收集并在现场制成珠宝的琥珀在远达大陆内部的交换网络中流通，流入海湾的主要河流充当交通要道。相反，从今天的立陶宛南部或白俄罗斯运来的燧石为制造工具提供了主要的岩石材料。