Location
State: Latvia
Region: Riga
Town: Riga
Other references to the location
At the Dome Church opposite to the fourth window of the church starting from the apse of the Church, on the Dome Square side.
Coordinates
lat=56.94924444444, lon=24.10526
56° 56′ 57″ N, 24° 6′ 18″ E
Description
During the excavations at the Dome Cathedral under the guidance of archeologists A. Caune and S. Tilko in the period between 1986 and 1989, several constructions were found – holes, bonfire places, pole spots which are attributed to a cultic character. A sure cult site is the construction that was discovered in the 4th excavation field. It was an about 2 x 3 m large and around 0.5 m deep bowl-shaped hole. The hole was filled with thin layers of coal and ash. When the hole was emptied the archeologists found three unburnt pine wood net floats, a two-sided bone comb with broken-off teeth, sandstone hone and around 30 gravel clay fragments of crocquery characteristic to the local people. In the central part of the big hole under a more intensive layer of coal there was the second hole – about 0.6 m large and about 0.5 m deep. In the bottom of it in coal a half of the bottom jaw of a horse had been laid. In the NW corner of the big hole there was an approximately 30 cm thick lower part of an oak pole dug into the ground. Next to it, in the W side there had been 5 pickets driven in. From these only the sharpened lower parts had remained. According to the radiocarbon dating method the established age of the pole wood sample is 850 ± 40 years, this means that the tree was cut in year 1100 ± 40 years. It is possible that the upper part of the column had been made as a deity’s image. It is known that at the end of the 12th century and beginning of the 13th the pagan Livs people had deity images carved in wood. In the earlier excavations in Riga several small wooden sticks with carefully cut faces or head replicas of one, two or four persons were found which are considered images of a special home god or an individual portable along images of gods. Such an idol’s image might have possibly been also in this sacrifice site. Next to the idol’s image on the ends of other pickets various sacrifices could have been placed (After: Caune, 1992).
Narrative
See attachment
Attraction
Unattractive
Availability
Easily accessible, the Dome Church is under reconstruction at the moment
Infrastructure, management, facilities
Surrounded by well-organized infrastructure because the site is located in the city centre.
Local info
No
Capacity
41 and more
Publicity
Unknown
Legal Status
Legal Entities
Comments
Currently the earth has been dug off at the place where the cult place is unveiled; there is no visual information about the cult place.
Attachments
