Congratulations to Jens Schneeweiss, research associate in the subcluster ROOTS of Conflict (link), for his new project “INHILLDAUGAR - Interdisciplinary Hillfort Studies at the Daugava River: Merging and Decoding Archaeological, Environmental and Linguistic Data”. This project was recently financed by the German Research Foundation (DFG) and the National Science Centre, Poland in the framework of the Beethoven CLASSIC4 joint project program for the 2022-2025 period.

In cooperation with Piotr Kittel from the University of Łódź, Poland (link) and colleagues from Center for Baltic and Scandinavian Archaeology (ZBSA) in Schleswig (link), Potsdam University, Germany, the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, Poland, the Pedagogical University of Cracow, Poland, and the University of Latvia, the INHILLDAUGAR project focuses on understanding historical conflicts along the Daugava River. This river was one of the most important gateways between the Baltic Sea and the Trans Eastern Europe waterways and emerged as central trade route during the Middle Ages. Approximately 30 fortified settlements have been identified along the 350 km long Latvian section of the river, testifying to the use and control of this waterway. Despite their considerable number, concentration and historical importance, these hillforts are still inconsistently studied. By combining palaeoenvironmental studies, archaeological investigations and language history, the INHILLDAUGAR project will investigate the archaeological river landscape of the Daugava Basin in order to allow for interpretations regarding patterns of historical development in the Baltic-Slavic-Scandinavian contact area. In particular, INHILLDAUGAR will examine different aspects of fortifications along the Daugava River in order to address central research questions concerning chronology, functions, maintenance, demography, and conflict potential.

An important focus of the project will be the analysis of historical conflict resolution along the Daugava River by applying theoretical models of escalation and de-escalation processes developed within the Subcluster ROOTS of Conflict. One of the goals of the project is to jointly model the mechanisms of ethnic and social conflicts in the area, such as rivalry for the control over Daugava waterway, as well as to shed light on the role of environmental conditions. It is expected that this innovative approach of interpreting fortifications in the context of differing interests, social inequality, ethnic or religious differences will lead to new interpretation of known structures.

The cooperation between German, Polish and Latvian researchers within the INHILLDAUGAR project is crucial to better understand Latvian fortifications and to create new research perspectives for the study of the Daugava hillforts and hillfort research in the Baltic Sea region in general.

Fig. 1: Research status categories of the accessible hillforts of the Daugava Valley (after A. Vasks, 2021. Pilskalni. In: A. Vasks, G. Zariņa (eds.), Latvijas Arheoloģijas rokasgrāmata.)

Fig. 2: Daugmale Hillfort (Daugmales pilskalns): medieval archaeological context, DTM, archive and present photographs (after M. Mägi, 2015. Chapter 4. Bound for the Eastern Baltic: Trade and Centres AD 800–1200. In: Barrett, J., Gibbon, S. (eds.) Maritime Societies of the Viking and Medieval World. Maney Publishing, 41-61, and www.latvian-hillforts.lv)