The ritual staff with a mace head

Well over 200 staffs with round or pear-shaped mace heads were collected during all stages of research of the Vilnius Lower Castle territory. The chronological boundaries of these artefacts span the 13th to the start of the 15th centuries, but a majority were found in cultural layers dating to the late 14th – early 15th centuries. This work is one of the earliest, most carefully and elaborately decorated staffs. Its mace head is decorated with sun symbols, plant and geometrical motifs. The staff’s ornamentation is similar to the decor on other works found nearby (the saddle, hames and gold ring) and is characteristic of the stylistics of this period, incorporating Byzantine, European art, and Baltic ornaments and symbols. Discussions are still underway regarding the purpose of these artefacts. Some say that the staffs could have been used as battle maces, as weapons for use in a duel, drum sticks, flag poles, children’s toys or household tools. It is also possible that they could have been one version of the krivūlė (ancient Baltic symbolic staffs). However, the chronology of the works, their rapid disappearance (the tradition of using staffs ended immediately after Lithuania’s Christianisation), types of wood (most are made from oak – this wood carried a special significance in Baltic mythology) and the context of archaeological and ethnographic data allows scientists to associate these objects with the pre-Christian religion. When taking into account the utilitarian scratches, marks and indentations (which show they were frequently used), it may be presumed that these staffs could have been used in both universal and in faith-related rituals or games, which were a part of daily life and had the features of a religious ritual or rite.
In terms of its form, the oak staff found by archaeologists is a typical example of finds from this category. However, the decor it displays makes it an exceptional artefact. A composition of three spirals decorates the mace head on the staff. In Baltic mythology, spirals are associated with the rhythmical movement of heavenly bodies and their eternal circular rotation. A similar variation of the spiral is found in the decor on the shaft, where the geometrical and stylised plant ornament merges into the infinite plait wrapping around the shaft.