Changes in Late Funnel Beaker Pottery at the End of the 4th Millennium BC on the Polish Lowland: Case of Mrowino, Site 3. Preliminary Report on Mineralogical and Petrographic Research

Archaeological site no. 3 at Mrowino is located on the Polish Lowland, in the Greater Poland region. It was excavated from 1973 until 1980. The excavation produced very rich movable finds, with the core of them being formed by Funnel Beaker culture (FBC) ceramics. The collections hold over 37,500 FBC pottery shards and several intact or reconstructed vessels. The vast majority of pottery comes from an FBC settlement dated to 3300-3150 BC. The pottery set includes vessels of clear Baden culture connections. For the mineral-ogical and petrographic study, 40 samples were selected to identify mineral and rock components of the ceramic body and compare the ways of raw-material preparation. In the studied samples, boulder clay in all probability was used to make the vessels. All studied samples were made from clay with grog and a small amount of sand as temper. In addition, several samples contained igneous rock crumbs. To find out if this was a deliberate or accidental admixture, it is necessary to carry out further research.

A Vessel of the Funnel Beaker Culture at Salgótarján-Pécs-Kő

This study describes and discusses an old find from a wholly new perspective. The non-local fragment or fragments represent imports or imitations that can be linked to the Funnel Beaker culture and not to Kostolác, Coţofeni, Livezile or Bošáca as originally suggested by József Korek. The hallmarks distinctive to the culture are the ornamented rim exterior and rim interior, the zigzag motif under the rim and the ladder motif on the belly. However, the channelling on the belly is a typical Baden trait, which has not been noted on Funnel Beaker vessels to date. The best and closest analogies can be cited from the Baden settlement at Oldalfala/Stránska–Mogyorós, where they were erroneously identified as Coţofeni/Livezile imports. The occurrence of Funnel Beaker pottery on several sites on the southern fringes of the Western Carpathians suggests a more complex situation; however, their stratigraphic contexts on these multi-period, stratified sites remain unclear due to the field techniques employed during the old excavations. The determination of the exact place of origin is rather difficult within the culture’s vast distribution, although they can most likely be assigned to the Funnel Beaker eastern group, Wiórek phase (IIIB – IIIB-C in the current terminology), whose absolute dates fall between 3700/3600 and 3200 BC. The petrographic analyses revealed that the clay and the tempering agents are of local volcanic origin, providing conclusive evidence that Funnel Beaker vessels had been made locally. In this sense, the pottery fragment discussed here can be best described as a local hybrid product.

Second Half of the 4th Millennium BC: Time of Changes in the Tripolye and Funnel Beaker Cultures

The 2012–2019 investigations in Western Ukraine identified the reaches of the Funnel Beaker and Tripolye cultures in western Volhynia and on the upper Dniester, and syncretic phenomena produced in all likelihood by direct contacts between the representatives of these different communities. Moreover, it was found that the contacts were greatly intensified by the exchange of so-called Volhynia flint. It was distributed to both the Late Tripolye Brînzeni group in northern Moldavia and the eastern and south-eastern groups of the FBC. The intensification of contacts between the communities of the two cultures may be associated with the lifetime of the Brînzeni group. The investigations sought to answer the question what changes were induced in these cultures by the intensification of contacts between their populations.

Pottery of Pikutkowo Type in the Funnel Beaker Culture: Characteristics, Dispersion and Context

The article discusses the current state of knowledge concerning the set of specific pottery characteristics of the Funnel Beaker culture that constitutes the so-called Pikutkowo stylistics. It is especially strongly represented in Kujawy, where the changes in the Pikutkowo set of characteristics define Phases IIIB and IIIB-C dated to 3700-3200 BC. Already in 3700/3650-3500 BC, Pikutkowo pottery appears not only on the Polish Lowland (including Wielkopolska and central Poland as well as the Chełmno Land and Gostynin Lake District), but also on the old Uplands in the upper Vistula basin. The latest data indicate that at the same time Pikutkowo characteristics are also present in Funnel Beaker assemblages from the Subcarpathian foothills and upper Dniester area. It is argued that this wide distribution delimits the Pikutkowo stylistics space, which was a zone of active circulation of cultural patterns within the Funnel Beaker culture. The culture-forming potential of this zone is best seen in the increased transfer of one of the key technological innovations of the Eneolithic, i.e. copper (including arsenic copper) use and processing.

Impact of the Baden Complex Upon the Tripolye and Funnel Beaker Cultures in Western Ukraine

In scientific literature the discussion over the evident ties between the Baden complex and Tripolye culture dates back to the mid 1990s and is related to Sofievka type complexes. In earlier papers by scholars on TC Stage CII only passing mention was given to Baden influences, the exception being works by Mykhailo Videiko, who paid particular attention to contacts with the Carpathian Basin. He noted their impact upon Troyaniv-Gorodsk type complexes and pointed out the presence of the Baden pottery style in the settlements of the Kasperivtsy-Gordineşti complex. The adoption of Baden traits by communities belonging to the Funnel Beaker and Tripolye cultures in western Volhynia ran along very different lines. The quantity of data on Baden influence upon Funnel Beaker culture communities in the area between the Western Bug, Upper Dniester and Styr rivers remains small.

New Radiocarbon Dates for Stage Cii Tripolye Culture, Northern Moldova

According to Tamara Movscha, vessels from the Funnel Beaker culture settlement in Zhvanets can be synchronized with the period of existence of the settlements in Zimno, Leżnica and Gródek. Based on the currently available radiocarbon dates, we can say that the long-term settlements in Gródek and Zimno existed from around 3650 BC. The older phase of the settlement in Gródek is dated to 3650-3400 BC, while the younger ones to 3400-3100 BC. The first is characterized by the presence of imports of tableware with the characteristics of the Brînzeni group dated to 3400-3100 BC. In order to verify the current attempts to position the above at a more precise time, several radiocarbon analyses of the samples from the sites of Brînzeni and Gordinești group in northern Moldova were conducted.

Tripolye Culture Chronology in Volhynia. Remarks Based on Materials from Ostrog-Zeman and Mezhyrich-Mistechko

Authors present results of analysis of the collection of pottery from pit no. 4 in Mezhyrich-Mistechko and pit no. 4 in Ostrog-Zeman. Both sites are located in the middle Horyn basin. The analyzed complexes are important due to the fact the relative chronology of the Malice culture and Lublin-Volhynia culture within western Volhynia and their possible connections with later communities represented by the Funnel Beaker culture and especially the Tripolye culture.

Pottery of the Funnel Beaker Culture in Settlement Contexts of the North-Eastern Coast of the Vistula Lagoon: Case Studies of Ushakovo and Pribrezhnoye Sites

The article characterises new materials obtained in the course of studies of Neolithic (according to the Baltic periodisation) settlements of the Vistula Lagoon coast. These sources according to all their features belong to the Funnel Beaker culture, whose monuments were previously unknown in the region. All Funnel Beaker materials were identified in settlements, the main cultural complexes of which belong to the Primorskaya culture. Small sites of the Funnel Beaker culture existed here before the arrival of the Primorskaya population. In Ushakovo 3, Funnel Beaker pottery were found in the cultural layer in the eastern part of the excavation area, where it lies mainly separate from ceramics of the Primorskaya culture. In Pribrezhnoye, in addition to pottery, traces of two constructions with a double-row pillar wall structure were found. Buildings were of a ground type, elongated, with a width of not more than 3.20 m. Technological and morphological characteristics of ceramic fragments found within the buildings leave no doubt that these complexes belong to the Funnel Beaker culture. Also, two amphorae with typical features of the ‘badenised’ Funnel Beaker culture were revealed here. Funnel Beaker ceramic ware was also found in the cultural layer of settlements. All these materials from the settlements of Ushakovo 3 and Pribrezhnoye are dated in the range of 3500-3100 BC. It is most likely that inconsiderable human groups of the Funnel Beaker culture reached the coastal area around the middle of the 4th millennium BC when local communities of the Neolithic Zedmar culture had existed on this territory for a long time.

A Spatial Pattern(S) of the Eneolithic Multi-Phase Settlement of Brînzeni IV (North-Western Moldova) from the Perspective of Non-Invasive Geophysical Surveys

Non-invasive geophysical methods are often very useful and efficient in the investigation of various archaeological sites. Using one of the most popular of them, i.e. magnetometry, we carried out a survey of the area of the multi-phase Eneolithic site of Brînzeni IV (north-western Moldova) in 2019. As a result, the spatial arrangement of the site and its current state of preservation were preliminarily identified.

The Late Eneolithic Groups from the Dniester-Prut Interfluve: Some Questions of their External Contacts and Chronology

In this article we would like to point out some issues related to a series of ceramic materials found in sites attributed to the Late Enolithic groups of Brînzeni and Gordinești in the Dniester-Prut interfluve. In terms of technology and stylistics in the case of pottery from the Brînzeni type sites and stylistics in the case of pottery from the Gordinești type sites, we can see some analogies in the cultural environment of the central European area. For the Brînzeni group the clearest analogies tend to be seen in eastern, southern and south-eastern areas of the Funnel Beaker culture, whereas for the Gordinești group this seems to be visible within the Złota culture in the Sandomierz Upland, Middle Vistula region. Another issue of our study concerns the chronological frames of these two groups. Analyses of the radiocarbon data series obtained so far allow us to make some careful corrections in the chronological scheme of the Late Eneolithic for eastern Europe. Both mentioned issues fit into socio-cultural relations in the East Carpathian area in the context of the cultural transformations in the second half of the 4th millennium BC.