The Ker­nave Archae­o­log­i­cal site, about 35 km north-west of Vil­nius in east­ern Lithua­nia, rep­re­sents an excep­tion­al tes­ti­mo­ny to some 10 mil­len­nia of human set­tle­ments in this region. Sit­u­at­ed in the val­ley of the Riv­er Ner­is, the site is a com­plex ensem­ble of archae­o­log­i­cal prop­er­ties, encom­pass­ing the town of Ker­nave, forts, some unfor­ti­fied set­tle­ments, bur­ial sites and oth­er archae­o­log­i­cal, his­tor­i­cal and cul­tur­al mon­u­ments from the late Palae­olith­ic Peri­od to the Mid­dle Ages. The site of 194,4 ha has pre­served the traces of ancient land-use, as well as remains of five impres­sive hill forts, part of an excep­tion­al­ly large defence sys­tem. Ker­nave was an impor­tant feu­dal town in the Mid­dle Ages. The town was destroyed by the Teu­ton­ic Order in the late 14th cen­tu­ry, how­ev­er the site remained in use until mod­ern times.