Sambia

Key words: Prussians, cemeteries, burial rites, Aschenplatz, ceramics
The article deals with the 2004–2008 investigations of late-iron-age Prussian cemeteries.
The paper consist of two parts – a catalogue of six cemeteries and an analysis
of the main Prussian cultural features that result from these investigations. They are
as follows:
1. The problem of the Prussian “Aschenplatz” phenomenon.
This part is devoted to the so-called Prussian group cremation graves. In my
opinion, the general number of Sambian “group” cremations over horse burials comprises
individual Prussian cremations with horses just situated very close to each
other, forming in this way the vision of a vast cremation layer. This is also seen from
the Alejka-3 “Aschenplatz” investigations.
2. The issue of Prussian inhumations of the 12th–13th centuries.
There is an idea of the Prussian biritualism as a coexistence of cremations and
inhumations in the 12th century. The origin of this problem is described here on
the example of newly investigated Prussian inhumations from Alejka-3 and on the
basis of archival data. It seems likely that Prussian late Iron Age inhumations began
to appear at the juncture of the 12th–13th centuries, mainly under the influence of
Western European culture.
3. The problem of the ethnical identity of Prussian “mass” grave goods in the
context of 11th–13th century burial vessels.
The problem of “mass” grave goods, or artifacts, discussed here, such as
“Hansaschusseln” bronze plates and pottery, found in Prussian graves of the 11th–13-
th centuries, and their place and identity in the culture of Prussians and Western
Balts is discussed.
Archaeological data of the newly investigated Prussian cemeteries of the 11th–
13th centuries provide a lot of new material for exploring and analyzing the culture
of Western Balts. A comparison of the newly obtained data with old sources and
materials from the last decades of archaeological fieldwork and studies allows to reconstruct
the past of Prussians closer to its real historical projection, although there
are still more questions than answers left.

Nowhere else but in Königsberg everything went "upside down" in 1945. Prussia once again changed its owner, its language, and its ... population. It became important to the Soviet science  to show its superiority over the German archeologists, drawing special attention to the excavations of hillforts and settlements. In 1946 the first Soviet archaeologist Frida Gurevich leaves Leningrad for Kaliningrad on a "spying" trip: "The only thing I saw arriving at the building of the  Museum of Archaeology, was a heap of ruins ...".

Wenn wir an chinesische Großprojekte denken, dann kommen uns meistens solche in den Sinn, die innerhalb der letzten 30 Jahre fertiggestellt wurden – oder auch vor tausenden Jahren, wie zum Beispiel die Große Mauer oder die Terrakotta-Armee. Wer denkt schon an Chinas globale Entwicklungsprojekte der 60er und 70er Jahre, eine Zeit, in der das Land selbst noch als „Entwicklungsland“ eingestuft wurde und weit von seiner heutigen Rolle als bedeutender Motor der Weltwirtschaft entfernt war?
Eine Erinnerungslücke, die es zu füllen gilt, findet Dr. Raimond Selke. Der Associate Professor an der Osaka University in Japan hat in seinem bisherigen Leben schon mehr als 80 Länder besucht und mit eigenen Augen gesehen, was aus den chinesischen Großprojekten der 60er und 70er in so unterschiedlichen Nationen wie Tansania und Pakistan heute geworden ist. In seiner dreiteiligen Serie „Globale Entwicklungspolitik made in China: TAZARA, KKH und Projekt 523“ gibt er sinonerds-Lesern einen Einblick in die Geschichte der chinesischen Entwicklungspolitik und schildert seine persönliche Sichtweise zur Gegenwart und Zukunft der drei historischen Großprojekte.

There has been discussion amongst scholars regarding to the name of the Curonian Spit and Curonian Lagoon in medieval times since late XIXth century. This article focuses on the factors indicating the origins of the name. Conclusion is that Curonian Spit is named purely for geographical reasons.

As for the breakthroughs in the spit there was also a ongoing discussion about their amount and localization. The certain breakthrouhs have been indictaded, but they were constantly repaired by the Tuetonic Order due to travel difficulties in the region.

"Medieval Fishery on Curonian Lagoon has never been a particular research subject, neither German, neither Lithuanian researchers.
The paper focuses on organization of medieval fishing, mainly on fishing zones, which were:
- either bound to commandries and local supervisor offices, which were to aimed at supervision of fishery and realisation of own fishery goals as well as to collect taxes,
- either granted to townsfolk or local nobility, who were granted to fish freely in a limited zone.

Apart from aforementioned subjects a organisation of fishery companies is observed, which were to deliver fish to local offices for a certain fee paid according to prepared amounts of finished product. This however will be a part of upcoming PhD thesis.""