Žemaitija Tourism Information Center

Exhibition. Lyngby axe: 13,000 year warranty

Exhibitions

The ax unexpectedly discovered in the village of Parupės in the Biržai district has become the oldest currently known and dated archaeological find in Lithuania and has entered the list of rarely found Lyngby-type axes in Europe.

The oldest ax in Lithuania is 13 thousand years old. According to scientists, horn products of this age usually decay, so the miracle is not only that it survived, but also that it reached our times after a series of coincidences.

Such reindeer antler axes were used in the region around the Baltic Sea. Although they were widespread in their time, they are extremely rare. The first ax of this type was found in Nørre Lyngby in Denmark more than a hundred years ago, and since then all axes of this type have been named after the area. Several dozen such axes have been found in the Northern European region, and only a few of them are known in the Eastern Baltic countries - five were found in the territory of the former East Prussia before the Second World War, and in 2009 such a find was also found in Latvia.

Visitors to the exhibition will not only see a unique find, but also feel the atmosphere that prevailed in these areas 13 thousand years ago - it was the period of the ending ice age, when the climate on the territory of Lithuania warmed for a short time.

The discovery of the Lyngby ax and its research allowed scientists to expand their knowledge of the household of the first inhabitants of the post-glacial period, to determine the development of settlement in the Eastern Baltic region at the end of the late ice age.

The exhibition will be presented by curator Dalia Ostrauskienė, reports will be read and archaeologists will share scientific discoveries: prof. skilled Dr. Algirdas Girininkas, dr. Tomas Rimkus, dr. Guida Slah.

 

The exhibition is organized by the National Museum of Lithuania. Exhibition curator Dalia Ostrauskienė, architect and designer Urtė Rimkevičiūtė, head and coordinator of the exhibition working group Gabrielė Gudaitienė. The exhibit was restored by Simona Matuzevičiūtė (National Museum of Lithuania). The research was carried out by Regina Ulozaitė (National Museum of Lithuania) and Greta Narodovskaja (Documentary Heritage Preservation Department, Department of Scientific Research and Heritage Collections, Vilnius University Library).

The exhibit and its location were studied by the Institute of History and Archeology of the Baltic Region and the Nature Research Center of Klaipėda University.

The exhibition is supported by the Lithuanian Culture Council and FISKARS.