Adaptation of settlement strategies

Environmental Archaeology, 2019

This paper presents a reconstruction of environmental conditions and subsistence strategies in the Early Neolithic (6th Millenium BC) settlement area at Těšetice-Kyjovice (Czech Republic). Our detailed reconstruction of the environment contributes to the unravelling of the genesis and spread of steppes and the formation of secondary anthropogenic forest-free areas in the Holocene in eastern-Central Europe. Mollusc shells, charcoals and plant macroremains were used as on-site evidence of a settlement environment. A relatively warm and dry anthropogenic forest-free area is reconstructed for the immediate vicinity of the Early Neolithic settlement. Communities of mixed deciduous forests are recorded in the surroundings of the settlement. Plant macroremains reflect the characteristic Neolithic range of cultivated plants (e.g. Triticum monococcum, Triticum dicoccon, Lens culinaris and Pisum sativum). Papaver somniferum seeds were also found, possibly constituting the oldest evidence of its presence and cultivation in the territory of the Czech Republic.

Památky archeologické, 2018

The study of settlement strategies enables us to uncover the dynamic aspects of the behaviour of the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic populations. Geographic information systems facilitate the identification of relationships between landscape geomorphology and the preferences of humans during various phases of the Pleistocene and the beginning of the Holocene. In instances of larger geographic units, it is necessary to define smaller regions, apply objective criteria to describe their variability and uncover the potential humans could have used. It is important to elucidate the criteria that had a bearing on settlement strategies. An important region relevant for Palaeolithic Europe is the Moravian Gate that connected the Danube area with the regions of the North European Plain. There are several settlement units in north Moravia and Czech Silesia that can be identified on the basis of the site network. Despite the greatly heterogeneous character of archaeological data, it is possible to describe different settlement strategies that reflect both the changes in the ecosystem and the cultural traditions. Our knowledge of the Lower Palaeolithic and the early phase of the Middle Palaeolithic is rather fragmentary, and we are unable to define any settlement strategies. The situation at the Middle/Upper Palaeolithic transition is also complicated, since the sites do not form any distinctive cluster, and the prevalence of surface sites makes a clear cultural classification of the sites comprising mixed attributes impossible. In contrast, for the Gravettian, the Epigravettian, and the late phase of the Upper Palaeolithic and the Mesolithic, clear preferences in the use of landscape can be observed.

Praehistorische Zeitschrift, 2024

As an intensely debated period, the transition from the LBK to post-LBK societies remains in the centre of attention of researchers dealing with the Early Neolithic in Central Europe. The partly drastic change of the settlement systems, regarding both the patterns and organisation, is indeed an interesting subject and raises questions about the social and economic processes and changes that may have accompanied this development. With this contribution, we present new results from extensive survey activities and excavations of Lengyel sites in the Žitava Valley, Southwestern Slovakia. Most notably, the excavation at the previously unknown circular enclosure of Podhájska, built around 4800 calBCE, yielded new data on various aspects of life in Lengyel contexts. Supplemented by geophysical prospections of other rondel and settlement sites, we now begin to understand the transition process from the Early Neolithic to later periods in this regional context. Varying settlement patterns within this small regional context, as well as new forms to express and maintain communality for the dispersed hamlets during the Lengyel period are remarkable signs for societal reorganisation and an adaption to altered needs of the communities involved.

2018

In 2017, a new neolithic site was discovered south of the village of Liptovské Matiašovce, on the elevated ridge of the Bochníčky site. Numerous finds of sherds, daub and chipped lithic industry from dominant Jurassic sub-Kraków flint were obtained by a primary survey and a succeeding small evaluation excavation in form of three trenches. Decoration of the thin-walled neolithic pottery of mostly semiglobular shapes points to presence of the younger Linear (musical note) Pottery culture, Želiezovce and rarely the Bükk culture. Unique chipped artifacts made of obsidian are also associated with the last mentioned culture. Part of the chipped lithic industry from the survey belongs to the late Paleolithic and Mesolithic. Among the previously documented rare neolithic settlements from the region of Liptov, the newly discovered site represents the richest neolithic settlement which should be complexly studied. It is being destroyed by ploughing every year.

2015

The period after initial development of Neolithic society in Central Europe, known as the Post-LBK era, is marked by an influx of new cultural stimuli from the South and the emergence of formalization in monumental architecture, resulting in a cultural diversification while maintaining significant common traits across different regions. An important part of understanding the process of this change is understanding the development of social complexity during the transition. This study addresses this question by examining variations in burial rite coinciding with the age or sex of the deceased or the spatial distribution of 106 graves from the Lengyel Culture settlement in Svodín, dated around 4800 cal BC. The concept of exceptionality rather than richness of burials is introduced. It is based on the composition and spatial distribution of inventories within graves and contrary to the traditional deductive approach does not depend on prior selection of attributes of prestige. Principal Component Analysis is used to assess exceptionality based on ceramic shapes, decoration and non-ceramic grave goods. Resampling tests using a Monte Carlo algorithm are employed to assess the significance of connection of specific attributes with exceptional burials and age, sex or spatial groups. This approach enables us to study social differences in regions and time periods where prestigious materials such as metal are not yet present. New conclusions are drawn about social stratification in the Post-LBK era and confronted with results of existing studies dealing with status and prestige. The image of a vertically differentiated society with middle aged men assuming the highest rank in the community emerges, showing complex social relations both between and within different kinships on the settlement. Observations of diachronic development of social differences indicate a gradually evolving society, foreshadowing the emergence of elites in the following Aeneolithic period.

Neolithic people of the Linear Pottery or Linearbandkeramik (LBK) culture buried their dead in the cemetery on the area of today's city of Nitra (Slovakia) at the end of the 6th millennium BC. This article aims to present a detailed description of skeletons along with a basic anthropological analysis. The material comprised of 77 individuals, including 28 juveniles, 19 males, 27 females and 3 indeterminable adults. Females were dying more often at the age under 35 years, males at an older age. The average stature in males reached 165.0 cm, in females 155.2 cm. Population from Nitra was dolichocranic, moderately robust with platymeric femurs. Distinct muscle topography, enthesopathies and other alterations on bones associated with long-term workload were noted in skeletal material. The health status of the population was affected by numerous dental caries, inflammations occurred, including one case of tuberculosis. Cribra orbitalia, porotic hyperostosis and Harris lines demonstrate stressful periods during the life of some individuals from Nitra. Violence among the first farmers is ilustrated by cranial trauma in five individuals.

Študijné zvesti Archeologického ústavu Slovenskej akadémie vied 71 (2), 2024

In the paper, preliminary results of archaeological research in the Tribeč Mountains are introduced, based on new data acquired by airborne laser scanning and their verification in the field. Thanks to this research, the view on the number and distribution of relics of anthropogenic activities in this area in the Late Bronze and Early Iron Ages has changed substantially. In addition to previously known hillforts, other structures were also newly identified, such as fortifications and new fortification elements, areas formed by numerous artificial terraces, as well as mounds and roads.

Open Archaeology 7, 2021

The purpose of this paper is the presentation of the settlement of the first farming communities of the Linear Pottery culture in the Polish lowlands. A case study of three neighboring micro-regions excavated on a large scale in eastern Kuyavia was conducted, which offered the possibility of analyzing various levels of the settlement. Based on the results obtained a local model of the LBK occupation in Kuyavia could be reconstructed. I argue that despite some regional variability a very general common settlement pattern existed for the whole LBK consisting of an iconic longhouse as the basic unit, the presence of micro-regional clusters of more or less contemporary sites, and the preference for regions with optimal environmental conditions. However, a detailed comparison within and between separate sites in the study area revealed some degree of variability inside this supposedly homogeneous pattern which can indicate the existence of different social units among small regional communities and their changes over time.

Documenta Praehistorica, 2009

This paper examines the archaeological settlement pattern and vegetation history of Bela krajina region of Slovenia in order to better understand the interaction of human activities and environmental processes in the landscape. Pollen record of two small palaeoecological sites (Mlaka and Griblje) indicates that human impact on the vegetation at circa 4150 calBC was intensive (forest cutting/burning, beech decline and formation of fields, pastures, meadows) and can be associated with numerous Neolithic/Eneolithic sites, located in the Lahinja river basin and the Kolpa lowlands. Human pressure on the (lowland/riverine) environment slightly decreased between c. 3750–2850 calBC. This coincides with the appearance of a more dispersed settlement pattern, including the formation of short-term settlement/activity areas on the karst plateau. This change to a more extensive Eneolithic settlement pattern can be presumably associated with change in economy (more intensive pastoralism and transh...

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