Human-Horse Burials in Lithuania in the Late Second to Seventh Century ad: A Multidisciplinary Approach

Contemporary Lithuania, an area of the Balt cultures, is the northernmost region where burials, dated from the late second to the late seventh century ad , have been found with selected parts or whole bodies of horses. This study presents new information about these burials based on a multidisciplinary—archaeological, zooarchaeological, and chronological—approach. Our aim is to reconstruct the funeral rites and the human-horse relationships in Lithuania from the late second to the late seventh centuries ad , to refine the chronology of the horse burials in the region, and to use the new zooarchaeological data for more detailed studies of mortuary practices.