The burial ground of Kernavė-Kriveikiškės was excavated by archaeologist Gintautas Vėlius in 1993-2002. The burials of the 13th-14th c. were found on a sandy hill in the eastern part of Kernavė town, in the former village of Kriveikiškės. The dead were oriented to the W in supine body position. In majority of graves human remains were completely decayed or preserved fragmentarily. In three graves more than one dead was buried and two individuals were found in prone body position. A total of 292 graves were discovered.
Skeletal preservation level is extremely poor – bones were significantly affected by erosion and highly fragmented. In total, 215 individuals are stored:
|
Preservation |
n |
% |
|
Complete skeleton (>50 %) |
23 |
11% |
|
Partially preserved skeleton (~50 %) |
80 |
37% |
|
Fragmentary skeleton (<50 %) |
112 |
52% |
The assessment of sex and age of Kernavė-Kriveikiškės is limited due to poor survival of the material. For more than one-fifth of adults, the sex and age could not be determined, with male and probable male accounting for 31%; female and probable female made 27%. Non-adults, under the age of 18, made up slightly less than a third of all buried individuals (Figure 1). The age at-the time of death for the most of the non-adult individuals could not be determined (Fig. 2). The most of adult male died in their 40-49, while female mortality was similar in all age groups (Fig. 3).
