Šiaudiniai hillfort

Šiaudiniai hillfort with foreworks and a settlement, Pilalė, is in the territory of Utena district municipality, south of Šiaudiniai, Vyžuonos neighborhood.

The hillfort was built on the promontory of the bank, on the left bank of the rivulet Lanka. The site 20x17m. It was surrounded with a rampart which has not remained on the western side. The slopes are steep, 20m high.

South of the hillfort, behind the ditch there are foreworks. The site is trapeze-shaped, prolonged in the direction from north to south, 70m long, 30m wide on the northern side and 70m wide in the south. On the site brushed and smooth pottery was found.  

The hillfort and foreworks are damaged by ploughing, the western slopes are abraded. Until 1935 the ramparts had been dug off, a lot of burnt clay was found. The hillfort and foreworks lie waste, the western slope of the foreworks is overgrown with deciduous trees.  

South of the foreworks in the area of 0.2ha there is a foot settlement.   After archeological explorations the finds are kept in the Lithuanian National Museum and Utena local history museum. The hillfort dates back to the I millennium – the beginning of the II millennium AD. The area of the monument territory 4.7ha.