Studies into the Balts’ Sacred Places

The sacred places of the Balts of Lithuania take the form of sites and monuments that are shrouded in myths and legends. This study is based on an analysis of 1200 examples and, although very few have been investigated archaeologically, Vykintas Vaitkevicius looks at the historical, linguistic, ethnological and folklore data associated with them. The places are classified according to type, whether sacred hills, islands, hillforts/temples, fields, forests and groves, oak trees, stones, sacred waters or caves, and studied for the information they contain about Balts religion and society. With much of the evidence dating from the mid-1st millennium to early 2nd millennium AD, such data is then compared to contemporary neighbours including Slavs, Germans and Finno-Ugrians. A lengthy list of sites, an index of mythological and religious terms and lots of maps are provided at the back of the volume.