Lithuanian history

01 / The opening chapter

Before the name. Before the state.

From the first riverside camps to Baltic communities and the name of Lithuania in the written record.

Prehistory – 1236

Painted imaginative Neolithic fishing scene: a dugout canoe, net and clay pot beside a wooded lagoon.
AI illustration An imaginative reconstruction inspired by Šventoji finds.

1.1

After the ice

Long before Lithuania had a written name, people made camps beside the rivers and lakes of the land that would become Lithuania.

Gimbutienė begins the story of the earliest inhabitants with late Palaeolithic hunters and a changing landscape. Šapoka’s 1936 account starts differently: local Palaeolithic occupation had not yet been demonstrated. The accounts follow different chronologies, so together they cannot give us one exact date for the first settlement. S11 S6 S22

Painted reconstruction: two hunters on a sandy river terrace, with distant reindeer and sparse woodland.
AI illustration After the ice: an imaginative late Palaeolithic scene. People, clothing and setting are artistic interpretation. [S11; S22]

Based on: S11 S6 S22

1.2

Life beside water

Fishing, hunting and gathering supported waterside communities. The objects they left behind offer glimpses of their world.

A clay pot does not necessarily mean its owners were farmers. In Gimbutienė’s account of the Nemunas and Narva cultures, pottery and a more settled life could exist without agriculture. Fishing equipment, wooden objects, clay vessels and amber ornaments from Šventoji reveal another side of Neolithic daily life. S11 S23

Based on: S11 S23

1.3

Amber and distant connections

Amber connects the Baltic shore to a wider story of exchange, craftsmanship and distant contacts.

Gimbutienė traces Bronze Age exchange through the distribution of amber and metal objects. Her proposed amber routes link communities and intermediaries; she infers their directions from the finds. S11

Painted illustration: hands working amber on a wooden surface beside the water.
AI illustration An interpretation of amber work. Object shapes and their arrangement are not tied to one excavated assemblage. [S11; S23]

Based on: S11

1.4

How did the Balts take shape?

Language and material culture offer clues to Baltic origins, though researchers explain their long-term changes in different ways.

Gimbutienė defines the Balts through language and ethnographic features. She explains their origins as an interaction between local traditions and Indo-European elements. Her model draws on archaeology and linguistics; its chronology does not give an exact date for the birth of the Lithuanian nation. S11

Based on: S11

1.5

Communities and their landscapes

Baltic history includes many communities, whose regional character appears in burials, objects and settlements.

Prussians, Lithuanians, Curonians, Semigallians, Latgalians and Selonians emerge in Gimbutienė’s book through finds from different periods. These reveal regional differences, rather than boundaries fixed for all time. A tribal map makes sense only when we know which period and source it represents. S11

An imagined Baltic hillfort with timber defences and a settlement in a wooded valley.
AI illustration An imagined early medieval hillfort landscape. This is not a reconstruction of a particular site. [S11]

Based on: S11

1.6

Origins remembered

Chronicles and folk traditions offer distinct stories about origins, rulers and the landscape.

When does the legend place Palemonas’s arrival? Even the written tradition offers different answers: the Bychovco chronicle places it in Attila’s time, while Kojelavičius proposes around 900. Folk tradition and alternative authors offer other accounts of origins alongside these versions. When a story was recorded is a separate question from when it places its events. S19 S7 S10 S13

Based on: S19 S7 S10 S13

1.7

The name of Lithuania

The year 1009 provides a written landmark: Lithuania’s name in an account connected with Bruno’s mission.

Beresnevičius discusses Bruno’s mission and the Quedlinburg annals among the early written sources. This date helps us trace Lithuania’s name in documents. People had lived in the region long before, while the state took shape through a separate process. S12 S11

Based on: S12 S11

1.8

Toward a state

Political groupings and their conflicts were reshaping the lands in which medieval Lithuania took shape.

In Šapoka’s account, political power gathers gradually: the 1219 agreement with Volhynia and the 1236 battle against the Sword Brothers are important landmarks. This chapter ends in 1236, a boundary for the story rather than a single uncontested date for the state’s foundation. S6

Based on: S6

Where the sources agree and where they differ

A short summary of the whole article. Each point rests on the sources named beside it.

They agree

  • Gimbutienė's account of the Nemunas and Narva cultures and the Šventoji finds show Neolithic life by the water: pottery and fishing, not necessarily farming. S11 S23
  • The written tradition, the Bychovco chronicle and Kojelavičius, ties origins to a legend of arrival: Kojelavičius accepts the arrival story while questioning its chronology. S19 S7

They differ

  • Gimbutienė begins the story of the earliest inhabitants with late Palaeolithic hunters. Šapoka's 1936 account does not yet treat local Palaeolithic occupation as demonstrated. S11 S6
  • The Bychovco chronicle places Palemonas's arrival in Attila's time. Kojelavičius questions that chronology and, counting generations of rulers, dates the arrival to around 900. S19 S7
  • In the chronicle tradition, origins are tied to Palemonas's arrival. Gedgaudas offers another explanation: he holds the Visigoths and Lithuanian "vyčiai-gudai" to be the same people. S19 S10

Accounts from the sources

Differing accounts

Sources and historians tell the same past differently. We show their accounts side by side, with who recorded each one and when.

Recorded in the 16th century

Bychovco kronika

Palemonas and his companions arrive in the setting of Attila’s devastation. The chronicle links their settlement to the Nemunas–Dubysa landscape.

Chronicle origin legend · S19

A 17th-century account

A. Vijūkas-Kojelavičius

Kojelavičius accepts the story of an Italian arrival but questions its chronology. Counting generations of rulers, he proposes a date around 900.

Historiographical interpretation · S7

A 1972 interpretation

Česlovas Gedgaudas

Gedgaudas connects his term “gudai” with the historical Goths. He argues that the Visigoths and Lithuanian “vyčiai-gudai” were the same people.

Alternative origin interpretation · S10

Collection edition, 2010

A folk place-legend

In “Milžinų supiltas piliakalnis,” giants raise Vazgėlių hillfort from the place that becomes Indrailio lake.

Folk tradition · S13

Sources

The source numbers in the text refer to this list.

  1. S6

    Lietuvos istorija

    Adolfas Šapoka (ed.) · 1936

    A printed book. Look for it in a library.

    Historical synthesis. Its chronology of early occupation is shown with the publication date.

  2. S11

    Baltai priešistoriniais laikais ↗

    Marija Gimbutienė · 1985

    The main archaeological synthesis used in this draft. Models of origins remain attributed to the author.

  3. S12

    Lietuvių religija ir mitologija ↗

    Gintaras Beresnevičius · 2008

    A systematic study including early written evidence and methods of reconstruction.

  4. S19

    Lietuvos metraštis: Bychovco kronika ↗

    XVI a. / 1971

    Source for a chronicle origin legend. Its events are not presented as a verified migration chronology.

  5. S7

    Lietuvos istorija ↗

    Albertas Vijūkas-Kojelavičius · 1650 / 1669 · 1989 ed.

    A historiographical source. The opening of book II compares dates for the Italian arrival.

  6. S10

    Mūsų praeities beieškant ↗

    Česlovas Gedgaudas · 1972

    A source for an alternative telling; the author’s identifications remain attributed.

  7. S13

    Lietuvių liaudies padavimai ↗

    Norbertas Vėlius (sud.) · 2010

    Story 3, “Milžinų supiltas piliakalnis.” The folk-tradition layer.

  8. S22

    Senovės gyvenvietės ↗

    Dzūkijos nacionalinis parkas

    A regional archaeological overview of the Nemunas–Merkys area.

  9. S23

    Šventoji – neolitas, akmens amžius ↗

    Palangos miesto savivaldybė

    A catalogue of finds from different Šventoji sites. An inspiration source for the illustration.