Doctoral defence: Irina Khrustaleva "Architecture of the 5th and 4th millennia calBC in the northwestern part of the East European Plain"

On 18 February at 16:15 Irina Khrustaleva will defend her doctoral thesis "Architecture of the 5th and 4th millennia calBC in the northwestern part of the East European Plain".

Juhendajad:
Professor Aivar Kriiska, University of Tartu
Docent Kerkko Samuli Nordqvist, University of Helsinki (Finland)

Oponent:
Senior Researcher Valdis Bērziņš, University of Latvia (Latvia)

Summary
The dwellings of Stone Age hunter-fisher-gatherers in the northwestern part of the East European Plain are often unjustly excluded from the definition of architecture, despite meeting all the necessary criteria. This thesis is the first pan-regional overview, including data on more than two hundred Stone Age dwellings excavated in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Belarus. The focus of the study is on pit-houses from the 5th and 4th millennia BC. These are a valuable source for architectural history, as they have left relatively clear archaeological traces that can be reasonably associated with archaeological cultures and dated based on artifacts found in the fill of the house pits.

The typology and cartography of dwellings in the northwestern part of the East European Plain allowed the identification of the distribution areas of two different pit-house traditions for the 5th and 4th millennia BC – oval in northern Estonia (related to Finland and Karelia) and rounded in southeastern Lithuania and Belarus. Different types of dwellings – oval pit-houses in northern Estonia and above-ground rectangular houses in Latvia – existed within the Comb Ware cultural complex of the 4th millennium BC. Dwellings in the same geographical area are often similar in shape and size even if there is a chronological gap of several millennia between them, which, however, does not necessarily indicate cultural continuity. My research shows that, contrary to the frequently presented opinions, differences in Stone Age dwelling types cannot be explained only by the seasonality of settlements, cultural affiliation, or regional and natural differences in their location. Perhaps several factors, and possibly even some that are yet undefined, influenced them simultaneously.

The available data indicates that pit-houses were not the main form of Stone Age dwellings in the northwestern part of the East European Plain. In order to further study Stone Age architecture in this region, opportunities should be sought to identify dwellings that do not leave such clear archaeological traces as pit-houses.