R. Rimantienė: A Life-long commitment to Prehistory

September 17-18, 2015 Vilnius University The 8th International Scientific Readings of Prof. J. Puzinas Revision of Early Prehistoric Sites: Verifying Old Material, Creating New Theories (dedicated to the 95th birthday of Hab. dr. Rimutė Rimantienė)

Gabrielė Gudaitienė Vilnius University Faculty of History Department of Archaeology

R. Rimantienė: A life-long commitment to Prehistory What is the formula of being a professional researcher of stone age? According to R. Rimantiene herself, there are few things that keep an archaeologist scientifically productive and these features still are of high importance in nowadays world: First, is reading. R. Rimantienė still reads one book per day as it is her habbit since childhood. After growing up in a house full of literature, she collected a huge library of scientific books herself .

Being a well known archaeologist is never being only a good scientist. Perhaps the most important characteristic in this case is being a strong personality. Moreover, it is essential to have enough determination to face the difficulty of the prehistoric mosaic and to remain in love with the science which requires lots of effort to be deciphered. Talking about such a person, R. Rimantienė is one of the best examples: although she is very demanding, determined and purposeful as an archaeologist, at the same time she is a caring woman, who made stone age archaeology understandable for society and even for kids, conducted plenty of various expeditions, taught tens of wonderful pupil, how important the prehistory is, raised her own children, and is still in love with prehistory.

Second, is ability to speak various languages. R. Rimantienė is well known for being a multilingual person and a professional translator . Once you learn a fifth different language, all the other languages are easier to understand. She believes that languages are the doors to cognition. Although she has never learnt Russian on purpose and her famous monograph ”Paleolit i mezolit Litvy” was translated by her colleague.

archaeological sites. Therefore she walked through all the banks of the rivers in Southern and Central Lithuania, not taking in account many other places. And the sixth feature mentioned by R. Rimantienė is discipline. How can you be a scientist, a good wife and a mother without a discipline? The archaeologists who had an opportunity to work in her expeditions would say there were very strict rules in the field and everybody had to follow it. R. Rimantienė says it was one of the most important things to get things done on time and in a right way. Good sleep, no alcohol, no smoking, sometimes even no chatting in the trench as the work was so intense, that only a perfect discipline kept all the tasks fulfilled.

Third – is a continuous correspondence with scientists from all over the world. Even though there was no internet and writing letters by hand took a lot of time, even though some of the information could not be sent to foreign countries because of political situation in Lithuania, she still kept on corresponding with her colleagues. ”It is so strange to feel that the biggest support for your work comes from people from abroad, not from Lithuania. These bonds were and still are the most important”. Fourth feature is capability to ”combine”, as R. Rimantienė would call it herself. Even when there is no financial support for the excavation and a lot of things simply are unavailable to get, she was always combining her connections with her needs. ”Once you know a right person, you get things done somehow, does not matter if it is a radiocarbon dating or money for expedition food”. Fifth – is walking. Thanks to her father, K. Jablonskis, she was used to walking since her childhood. She went thousands of kilometers on foot with him and later on with her colleagues lead by an inexhaustible wish to find new

Nida Neolithic settlement excavation, 1975

● Correspondence and information sharing with archaeologists from more than 25 countries around the world. ● Šventoji-Būtingė – 24 years of research (1966-1972, 1982-1998), 10 300 square meters excavated in 42 sites on the whole. ● 15 monographs and around 100 scientific publications written. ● Thousands of flint artefact and pottery fragment drawings made.

We all know that we will never fully reveal the Secret of the Past. But the charm of this Secret compels us to collect the chips of the past and to love it. I believe that maybe our next generation of archaeologists will be able to make them speak more clearly.” R. Rimantienė, 2015, October. R. Rimantiene’s tips for young scientists: ● ”Sharing instead of hiding.” ● ”Have good dialogs.” ● ”Publish and spread the information as soon as you have it.”

Greetings, Adomas! Overall the mood of Latvians seemed to be more gloomy then ours. Even Jānis G. is upset, who is usually an optimist, although he still works with society. He says  – we all see that the previous faces sit everywhere. And I can only add, that their fur that was once pulled out has already worn thin and the hair started to come out. The so called ”Forum” is a nonsense, I would say. The helmsman is clear (he could not stop transmitting conspiracy), but next to them some other people emerged, who seem to never even look at their side. I think they lost their mind or maybe they are simply the ones who are not confident all the time. I imagine everything as follows – we all are like canary (not all of them sing!) sitting in our separate cages. I have physically felt how the railing and the roof of my cage have fallen down. But for some others the railing did fall, and the roof stayed still. And so they walk with that cage roof on their heads, and they do not feel anything except some inconvenience (how do they call it in your place, a discomfort?), but they do not understand, why. These people are the ones who are attracted by the hairy men. Of course, the pulled out fur is not chamois leather, although it might have seemed so sometimes. Even some priest appeared in that company. And you know how they called themselves – the Restrained.

● ”Make a research on the site before it is not destroyed. Leaving

it for future is only a good decision when you know it is safe.” ● ”Enjoy the fieldwork.”

„One will write you to get credit One will write cause it’s a trend. But I write You, dear Maryte, To remember me and not forget.” R. Rimantiene’s note to M. Gimbutienė when they were young girls.

R. Rimantienė has always had a scrutiny view to her student’s work. She had quite a lot notes for A. Butrimas as well, when he was only a bachelor student. A testimonial written by Ilze Loze.

On their way to a conference in Dublin: Gintautas Česnys, Marija Gimbutienė, Rimutė Rimantienė and Adomas Butrimas, 1989 m.

A letter to R. Rimantienė from Lembit Jaanits.