A survey of engraved hunter-fisher-gatherer osseous artefacts in Stone Age Lithuania

Engraved osseous objects are well-known in the material culture of northern European hunter-fisher-gatherers. This paper presents data on 26 engraved bone tools or objects that could potentially be fragments of functional tools from Lithuania. The analysis focused primarily on the types of engravings and their patterns, which were studied through microscopic observation and by comparing the data with that from similar objects found in other territories. Five new AMS 14 C dates were obtained for previously undated artefacts, and the engraved objects are discussed in chronological order, from the oldest known records dating to the Final Palaeolithic to the youngest specimens in the Subneolithic (c. 10 600–3400 cal BC). The study elaborates further on the chronology of conical bone points, a widespread artefact type in the eastern Baltic region which often contains engravings. The material under study provided data about ten different motifs, which were often combined into two or more motifs and comprised a pattern. However, some single motifs were also recorded on a few artefacts. The main motifs used on multiple objects were simple short parallel incisions and long lines, but more complex motifs (e.g. the net pattern) and combinations of multiple symbols, potentially representing animal and human figures, were also recorded.