(Tarasenka 1956), and archaeological stones (Tarasenka 1958). Marxist interpretations of prehistory were consolidated in the History of Lithuanian SSR (Lietuvos TSR istorija 1957, 5–37), and the main achievement of this period in archaeology was a synthesis of Lithuanian prehistory (Kulikauskas, Kulikauskienė, and Tautavičius 1961). This book built on the prewar work of Puzinas and used new information from archaeological investigations and thirteenth-century materials and earlier. Written in Lithuanian, it consolidated the periodization of prehistory and the main typology and chronology of its artifacts.

After 1961, Lithuanian archaeology began a period of systematization of archaeological materials. In 1962, the leader of Lithuanian archaeology was Adolfas Tautavičius (b. 1925), a graduate of Soviet times. Archaeological conferences were held every two years, and since 1966, a scientific-information edition was published every two years (Archeologiniai, eighteen issues before 1999). A general work concerned with trade relations was published (Lietuvos gyventoju prekybiniai rysiai 1972), and the results of the period of systematization of archaeological materials in 1974–1978 were published in four volumes of collective work by ten people (Lietuvos TSR archeologijos atlasas 1974–1978), which describes Stone Age settlements, hill-forts, grave fields, burial mounds, and some artifacts.

There were many different innovations in archaeology, such as plastic facial reconstruction, the filming of excavations (from 1965 by Vytautas Urbanavičius), investigations of the Bronze Age (from 1967 by Algimantas Merkevicius), and investigations of iron smelting (from 1969 by Jonas Stankus). In 1965, radiocarbon analysis began, and human skeletal material has been collected and investigated since 1970. Large-scale excavations of medieval–new age grave fields began in the oldest Lithuanian towns. R. Kulikauskienė and Rimutė Rimantienė completed the first doctorate in archaeology (Rimantienė 1971; Volkait-Kulikauskienė 1970), and a list of state-protected archaeological sites (3,367 objects) was prepared and published (Lietuvos TSR istorijos ik kultûros paminklu sarasas 1973).

In 1979, Lithuanian archaeologists began to investigate ethnic genesis. There was a huge amount of accumulated archaeological material that required new qualitative research and synthesis, so interrepublic conferences concerning ethnic genesis and ethnic history were organized in 1979, 1981, and 1991. Investigations became complex and included historians, ethnologists, linguists, and anthropologists. Also in 1979, the first volume of nonperiodical archaeological information was published (Lietuvos archeologija 1979–1999), which opened up the market for larger publications about excavated materials and for separate investigations. The first synthetic studies for different prehistory periods were published—the Stone Age (Rimantien 1984) and the old Iron Age (Michelbertas 1986)—as well as a general work about Lithuanian ethnic genesis (Lietuviu etnogeneze 1987).

In 1988, a short but eventful period of perestroika, which took the shape of a national independence movement in Lithuania, began. This policy was manifest in archaeology by the creation of new organizational structures. For instance, a separate group of archaeologists was organized by the Society of Lithuanian archaeologists and founded within the Institute of History in 1989, the result of excavations in Vilnius lower castle, and a chair of archaeology was founded at Vilnius University in 1990. Also in 1990, the inspection of cultural heritage, a serious attempt at protecting archaeological heritage, was established. In 1989, the first archaeological museum in Kernavė opened. Existing archaeological organizations were enlarged, and new archaeologists were allowed to be independent. In science, censorship was abolished, and computers began to be used. Relations among the archaeologists in the various Soviet socialist republics were broken up, and the search for new contacts in archaeology from the West started—with Poland and Sweden.

Second Lithuanian Republic (1991– )

After the putsch of August 1991 in Moscow, Lithuania, which had proclaimed its independence in 1990, became a recognized independent state, and after liberation from Marxist fetters, archaeology returned to fundamentals. New directions