Panevėžys is one of the largest cities in Lithuania, located in northern Lithuania by the Nevėžis River. Although the city was founded in the 16th century, its urban development intensified only in the 19th century.
In 2016-2020, archaeologist Dovilas Petrulis of the Panevėžys Museum excavated the central part of the city, covering the present-day streets of Klaipėda, Tilvyčio and the north-eastern part of Neprikalusomybės Aikštė. In the 18th-19th century, this area belonged to the Piarist monks. The monks took care of the church (later the Orthodox Church, now the Holy Trinity Church), the monastery, the garden, the school and the cemetery. Piarist monks and Catholics were buried in the cemetery, but from the end of the 19th century only members of the Orthodox community were allowed to use the cemetery. Part of the cemetery is currently built up or partially destroyed by the installation of communications, therefore detailed archaeological research was carried out in a relatively small area of the former cemetery – area of 699 m2 was investigated. A total of 95 graves were unearthed, with at least 20 more individuals identified among the commingled remains. The dead were buried in coffins, oriented to the west. Few individuals were buried with crosses, medallion and brooch.
2016-2018 skeletons and teeth found during excavation are well preserved, carefully collected, and the bone surface is slightly affected by erosion:
|
Preservation |
n |
% |
|
Complete skeleton (>50 %) |
58 |
63% |
|
Partially preserved skeleton (~50 %) |
22 |
24% |
|
Fragmentary skeleton (<50 %) |
15 |
16% |
The collection contains the remains of 92 individuals, of which 81% are skeletons of adults and 19% are skeletons of non-adults. More than half of all buried (61%) are male and probable male, and only 16% are female and probable female. Non-adults account for 19% (Figure 1).
The majority of adults were 1-5 years old age non-adults (Fig. 2). Most adult male and female died at a young age – 20-29. (Fig. 3).
Fig. 1. Population structure of the Panevėžys (N=92).
