Lembit Jaanits
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Lembit Jaanits | |
|---|---|
| Born | 22 January 1925 Tartu, Estonia |
| Died | 5 July 2015 (aged 90) |
| Citizenship | Estonian |
| Alma mater | University of Tartu |
| Awards | Order of the White Star, III Class |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Archaeology, prehistory |
| Institutions | Institute of History of the Estonian Academy of Sciences |
| Thesis | Neolithic and Early Metal Age settlements at the mouth of the Emajõgi (1954) |
Lembit Jaanits (22 January 1925 – 5 July 2015) was an Estonian archaeologist who specialised in the Stone Age of Estonia, especially the Neolithic.[1][2] He was among the central figures in post-war Estonian prehistoric archaeology, and his excavations, typologies and syntheses became important reference points for the study of the eastern Baltic Stone Age.[3][4]
Jaanits was born in Tartu.[1] He entered the University of Tartu in 1942 and attended lectures by Richard Indreko, Gustav Ränk, Armin Tuulse and Friedrich Puksoo.[5] In 1943 he took part in excavations at the Tamula Neolithic settlement site and began working at the university's Archaeological Museum, where he assisted with archival copying and with the packing and evacuation of collections during the war.[5]
He graduated from the University of Tartu in 1948 with a diploma in history and archaeology.[5] In 1954 he defended a candidate dissertation on Neolithic and Early Metal Age settlements at the mouth of the Emajõgi.[5] A revised Russian-language version was published in 1959 as Poseleniia epokhi neolita i rannego metalla v priust'e reki Emaiygi (Estonskaia SSR).[6]
Career and research
Jaanits spent most of his professional career at the Institute of History of the Estonian Academy of Sciences. He worked there as a researcher from the late 1940s onward, became head of the archaeology sector in 1968, and later served as a leading researcher until 1993.[2] His work focused above all on Stone Age settlement archaeology, ceramic typology and chronology in Estonia.[1]
He carried out or directed excavations at many of Estonia's best-known prehistoric sites, including Akali, Kullamäe, Valma, Kääpa, Tamula, Kunda Lammasmägi, Narva Joaoru hillfort and Pulli.[5][7][8] In later recollections, he described his main scholarly aim as placing the material of the Estonian Stone Age, especially the Neolithic, into a reliable chronological sequence. He regarded the settlements at the mouth of the Emajõgi, particularly Akali, as fundamental to that effort because their stratigraphy helped establish the early Neolithic date of material later grouped under the name Narva culture.[5]
Later scholarship has continued to treat Jaanits's work as foundational. Recent studies have described his typology as the main framework for classifying Neolithic pottery in Estonia,[3] and have noted that he played an important role in defining Late Comb Ware in Estonia during the 1950s and in distinguishing Narva-type pottery on the basis of Estonian material.[4] Colleagues have also credited him with producing the first systematic synthesis of Estonia's later Stone Age and with substantially expanding the source base for the study of the Mesolithic and Neolithic in Estonia.[1]
Publications and legacy
Among Jaanits's best-known publications were his monograph on the Emajõgi mouth settlements,[6] the general survey Eesti esiajalugu (1982), written with Silvia Laul, Vello Lõugas and Evald Tõnisson.[9]