University of Cambridge

Graduate Student, Archaeology

Wolfson College

Thesis Title: Practises of Wealth Depositing: Ritualising Contexts for 1st Millennium AD Wealth Deposits in the Eastern Baltic

About

My current research is about practises of depositing artefacts in the Eastern Baltic (Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania) during the Roman and Middle Iron Age (1.-9. cc AD). I am especially interested in the aspects of ritualisation of these practises. My source material is gathered under the term "wealth deposits" by which I refer to one or more object/s that is/are hidden deliberately as an intended deposition of certain chosen artefacts into a certain chosen place in a certain manner.

A short outline of my current research is as follows:
All the wealth deposits are a result of certain practises. The aims and reasons of practices are reflected in their material contexts, because every practice is preceded by choices of what, where and how the materialities are to be used as an appropriate means in order to achieve a goal of the practice. Therefore, it is possible to study practices of wealth depositing, and try to decode possible ritualised practices among them, by analysing depositional contexts. By the term “context” I mean a broader set of relevant archaeological data i.e. the material record which includes the artefacts, their appearance and the composition of assemblages, the depositional environment and its location in the landscape.

In a broader sense I am interested in how religion, ritual, performances and ceremonies are expressed in the material culture and how material culture is used in these practises.

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