KALNELIS HILLFORT WITH SETTLEMENT

The hillfort is located on a separate hill, the site is oval, the slopes are 4–6 m high, and there is a castle foot with a plaza on the other side of the ditch, on a hill about 3 m high. The 3 ha area has a foothill settlement (explored in 1990 and 2003–2004), where a cultural layer up to 90 cm thick has formed, dating back to the 9th–13th century. It is a place of discovery of coarse and thrown pottery, pieces of silver alloy, fragments of brass sword scabbard sheaths, a horseshoe shaped brooch fragment, iron knives, a spur, an awl, jeweller’s hammers and other items. On the hillfort stood the 33. MATAS SLANČIAUSKAS HOMESTEADMUSEUM Matas Jonas Slančiauskas was a wellknown Lithuanian public figure of the late 19th to early 20th century, an editor of the first national Lithuanian newspaper Aušra, a book smuggler, a publicist, a collector of folklore. Together with his comrades, the social activist founded the secret society Atgaja in 1889, the aim of which was to revive the Lithuanian spirit, disseminate books, and collect materials for local history. He collected, created and bequeathed more than 70 unique handwritten collections of folklore to future generations. Most of the tales written by M.J. Slančiauskas consist of magical tales, which contain 71 castle of the Semigallians called Sidabra. It was the last fortress to be occupied by the Crusaders. In 1289, the Teutonic Order attacked the castle, and in 1290, after its inhabitants fled, it was burnt down. Sidabra Castle is a symbol of the unrelenting struggle of the Semigallian tribe against the Livonian Order. The castle was first mentioned in the sources in 1288, the same year Joniškis was founded, which is now called the capital of the Lithuanian part of Semigallia