New evidence of contacts across the Baltic Sea : Analysis of Kukuliškiai Late Bronze Age pottery

The Late Bronze Age (1100–500 cal BC) has been the focus of many recent studies in the Baltic region. The contacts between societies in the Baltic Sea area are identified by bronze, amber, pottery and other artefacts, but there is still little evidence of contact between the western and eastern coasts. This article presents analysis of a pottery assemblage from the Kukuliškiai site (880–400 cal BC) (Lithuania) and its macroscopy and inductively coupled plasma mass atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-MA/ES) results. Macroscopic examination of the pottery revealed that the assemblage consists of various vessel surface types: smooth (41%), rusticated (11%), Kukuliškiai- Otterböte type (4.5%), striated (13%) and burnished (8%). The assemblage has more similarities with pottery in Scandinavia and northern Poland than with the eastern Baltic Late Bronze Age pottery. The ICP-MA/ES analysis of a sample of sherds from Kukuliškiai has shown that the vessels were most likely made from partly different clays collected in the vicinity of the settlement. This pottery was locally made but the assemblage’s composition and the presence of the Kukuliškiai-Otterböte pottery type (KOP) suggests intensive cultural exchange between the two sides of the Baltic Sea.