The remains
of a prehistoric fisherman have been unearthed at the source of the Salaca
river by Lake Burtnieks.
Photo from the University of Latvia FB page.
"The
deceased had been given a fish meal to accompany him, as testified to by a fish
bone layer around the skull. It's known that this place was very suitable for
fishing and gathering freshwater mussels as the settlement has food remains
from its former inhabitants, mostly fish bones and the shells of freshwater
mussels," says archaeologist Valdis Bērziņš. He says that the very fact that the meal was placed in the grave suggests that fishing played an important role in the rituals and beliefs of the ancient people.
Photo from the University of Latvia FB page.
The remains
were found at the Riņņukalns site, a unique North European Stone Age settlement
that may help to shed light on the way people lived around 4,000 years before
the common era.
Photo from the University of Latvia FB page.
Bērziņš
says that currently archaeologists are digging up the deepest layers of the
settlement to find out when people first started living at this site and how
their lifestyle changed over time. There's a
bonfire site located just by the grave and it could be related to funerary
rituals as it contains red ocher, often used for funerary purposes, as well as
shards of earthenware dishes.
Archaeologist Valdis Bērziņš (Photo LETA).
