Volume 97, Issue 1

In Transylvania, settlements of the Transdanubian Linienbandkeramik (LBK) are predominantly found in the Braşov Depression. Excavations at the LBK settlement of Olteni, located on the right bank of the Olt River, brought to light the fragmented remains of at least two ground plans of Early Neolithic longhouses. These are the first convincing evidence of such structures in Romania. The pottery allows dating the site to a later Notenkopf phase of the LBK. Among the ceramic pieces, a fragment of a small altar and several multiply perforated objects are particularly conspicuous; this is the first time sieves have been discovered in an LBK context in Romania. In addition, the Olteni site yielded the most extensive collection of anthropomorphic and zoomorphic plastic in the entire Eastern Bandkeramik milieu.

The genetically attested migrations of the third millennium BC have made the origins and nature of the Yamnaya culture a question of broad relevance across northern Eurasia. But none of the key archaeological sites most important for understanding the evolution of Yamnaya culture is published in western languages. These key sites include the fifth-millennium BC Khvalynsk cemetery in the middle Volga steppes. When the first part of the Eneolithic cemetery (Khvalynsk I) was discovered in 1977–1979, the graves displayed many material and ritual traits that were quickly recognized as similar and probably ancestral to Yamnaya customs, but without the Yamnaya kurgans. With the discovery of a second burial plot (Khvalynsk II) 120 m to the south in 1987–1988, Khvalynsk became the largest excavated Eneolithic cemetery in the Don-Volga-Ural steppes (201 recorded graves), dated about 4500–4300 BCE. It has the largest copper assemblage of the fifth millennium BC in the steppes (373 objects) and the largest assemblage of sacrificed domesticated animals (at least 106 sheep-goat, 29 cattle, and 16 horses); and it produced four polished stone maces from well-documented grave contexts. The human skeletons have been sampled extensively for ancient DNA, the basis for an analysis of family relationships. This report compiles information from the relevant Russian-language publications and from the archaeologists who excavated the site, two of whom are co-authors, about the history of excavations, radiocarbon dates, copper finds, domesticated animal sacrifices, polished stone maces, genetic and skeletal studies, and relationships with other steppe cultures as well as agricultural cultures of the North Caucasus (Svobodnoe-Meshoko) and southeastern Europe (Varna and Cucuteni-Tripol’ye B1). Khvalynsk is described as a coalescent culture, integrating and combining northern and southern elements, a hybrid that can be recognized genetically, in cranio-facial types, in exchanged artifacts, and in social segments within the cemetery. Stone maces symbolized the unification and integration of socially defined segments at Khvalynsk.

Two features recorded in the 1960s and 1980s in the course of excavations at Flögeln and Hainmühlen, both District of Cuxhaven, in the northern Elbe-Weser triangle, have since been repeatedly discussed in connection with cult houses from Denmark. Parts of these sites, finds and features have only been published in rudimentary form and have so far not been subject of comparative analysis. For some aspects, the information has been passed down orally for decades and has eventually found its way into the literature. In order to improve the record, the two features are presented here, followed by a comparison with similar features from the wider area of the Funnel Beaker Culture.

Plant finds from Neolithic and Bronze Age wetland sites in the Alpine region are usually extraordinarily well preserved and thereby offer realms of possibilities to study the relationship between plants and humans in the past. Changes in the importance of cultivating oil- and/or fibre flax ( Linum usitatissimum L.) in the period between the 43 rd and the 20 th century BC are discussed. These changes might be explained by innovations in textile production at the same time. Thus, the study is considered to be relevant for both archaeologists and archaeobotanists. Flax seeds from 33 Neolithic and Bronze Age wetland sites were measured. The results show that two transitions in seed size occurred in the entire Alpine region. From the 38 th century BC onwards a new variety of flax with smaller seeds was cultivated, and at the same time textile tools such as loom weights and spindle whorls, as well as textiles made of flax increased. In all sites that have been analysed so far, this small-seeded variety that produces a much higher amount of fibres in their stems than the oil variety, dominate from the 35 th century onwards. However, during the 3 rd millennium a change recurred. Increased flax seed size from locations dated to the 20 th century indicates the cultivation of an oil variety. Presumably, fibre flax had lost its importance in favour of usage of animal fibres for textile production.

The Tollense valley in northeast Germany is well known for its substantial evidence indicating a violent conflict dated to the early 13 th century BC (Period III of the Nordic Bronze Age). This article presents a significant new find from a later Bronze Age context, found in the river at a known Bronze Age valley crossing (site Weltzin 13) by Ronald Borgwardt in 2020. The small bronze figurine (14.7 cm tall) has an egg-shaped head with a prominent nose, looped arms, a neckring, two knobs signifying breasts, a belt, an indication of a female sex and two slightly differently shaped legs. In the 19 th century a similar female statuette was found near the village of Klein Zastrow, just a few kilometres from the valley crossing, but mostly these figurines are known from Zealand and Scania. Belts are only present on the statuettes from Zealand and northern Germany, and their presence suggests a close connection between the figures from these areas. Typological evidence places the figure from the Tollense river to the Late Bronze Age (Periods V–VI). Some time ago the figures were discussed as possible balance weights, but their small number does not support this theory. With a mass of 155 g, however, the new figure could be seen as a multiple of 26 g, the previously proposed weight unit of the time. The new find further suggests a connection between the find spots of the statuettes and routes of communication. There is little evidence to support an interpretation as a goddess. The deposition of the new figure at a valley crossing where hundreds of years before a violent conflict happened, might indicate that this was still a place of commemoration.

Horned-helmet imagery continues to raise questions about what is local and what is global in Bronze Age Europe. How similar is the imagery found on Sardinia, in southwestern Iberia and southern Scandinavia in material appearance, medium of representation, and sociocultural setting? Does it occur at the same point in time? Does it spring from or transmit a shared idea? Analysis reveals intriguing patterns of similarity and difference between the three zones of horned-helmet imagery 1000–750 BC. The results point to actors and processes at the local level while also pinpointing interconnections. Across all three contexts, horns signify the potency of the helmet wearer, the quintessential warrior. Horns visualise a defined group of bellicose beings whose significance stems from commemorative and mortuary rites, sites, and beliefs – in conjunction with political processes. We suggest that the eye-catching imagery of very particular males wearing horned insignia relates on the one hand to local control of metals and on the other to the transfer of novel beliefs and cults involving embodied gigantisation. It is characteristic that the horned figure is adapted into some settings, but only sparingly or not at all in others. This imagery has a complex history, with Levantine roots in the LBA Mediterranean. The Scandinavian addendum to the network coincides with the metal-led Phoenician expansion and consolidation in the west from c. 1000 BC. A Mediterranean–Atlantic sea route is suggested, independent of the otherwise flourishing transalpine trading route.

Childhood is the moment in every man’s life when they learn the rules governing the society to which they belong. This process of learning certain principles usually ends when the individual reaches the appropriate age. In primitive communities it was necessary to undergo complex and sometimes painful initiation processes. These moments could be different from one another depending on the community and gender, and what is more, it was often multi-stage. It usually occurred at the age of 14/15 for boys and even a little earlier for girls. It is assumed that up to 60 % of people in the prehistoric populations were under 18 years of age, so it should be assumed that the very moment of initiation could have occurred particularly early. As part of this study, which is the result of NSC grant implemented by the author concerning age and gender determinants in the graves of Tarnobrzeg Lusatian Culture, the author has developed a logit mathematical model that allows to determine on the basis of two variables (vessel size and amount of remains) whether an adult or a child was buried in a given burial. In the case of adults, this model shows very high effectiveness reaching almost 90 %. However, for children, we record ‘only’ 70 % of the correct determinations. There are some indications to believe that among these 30 % false indications there are burials of children who have undergone the initiation process. Confirmation of this thesis and a thorough investigation of this phenomenon are very important because, in a broader source perspective, they can contribute to the discussion on the cultural and biological age in prehistoric populations. It would also create additional opportunities for cooperation between anthropologists and archaeologists, as it is impossible to identify child burials wrongly qualified by the model without the help of the former. In order to verify this regularity, three groups obtained thanks to the model have been assessed in this paper: adults, children correctly indicated by the model and the ones who had been erroneously identified. The tools in the analytical process were various methods of statistical inference, such as: correspondence table, odds ratio chart and chi^2 test. On the basis of the analyses carried out, it was possible to establish that there had been numerous similarities (including similar dimensions and form of urns) between burials of adults and those of children indicated by the model as adults.

Zusammenfassung Zwischen der früheisenzeitlichen Kultur in Schlesien und der Hallstatt-Kultur lassen sich deutliche Verbindungen erkennen, die vor allem mittels der Erforschung von Brandgräberfriedhöfen studiert wurden. Demgegenüber wird im Beitrag der Versuch unternommen, das Phänomen mit Hilfe archäologisch entsprechend datierender Siedlungen zu untermauern. Die Mehrzahl der Forscher, die sich mit der Hallstatt-Kultur beschäftigen, stellen den Wandel sozialer Strukturen heraus, welcher in dieser Zeit stattfand und sich in archäologischem Material widerspiegelt. Ein analoges Phänomen kann bei mehreren Urnenfriedhöfen aus Schlesien festgestellt werden, insbesondere bei gut ausgestatteten Kammergräbern (etwa Domasław, Wrocław), aber auch innerhalb einiger Siedlungen, wie beispielsweise dem früheisenzeitlichen Fundplatz in Milejowice, Kreis Breslau, der während einer großflächigen Untersuchung entdeckt wurde. Hierbei konnten einige Gruppen von Bauwerken unterschieden wurden. Eines davon war mit monumentalen, 85 m durchmessenden, aufeinander folgenden Kreisen umgeben. Die Kreise bestanden aus zahlreichen Pfostenlöchern, die so eine palisadenartige Struktur bildeten. Im Beitrag werden außerdem Siedlungsreste analysiert, die darauf hindeuten, dass der soziale Status und der Wohlstand der Bewohner des Siedlungsareals herausragend gewesen sein muss. Die Untersuchungen ausgewählter schlesischer Fundstätten lassen den Schluss zu, dass das Gebiet kulturell als eine weitere regionale Randgruppe des Hallstattkreises betrachtet werden kann

The idea of covering pottery with polychrome ornaments adopted from the Greek art of the Late Geometric period spread to almost every corner of Early Iron Age Europe, including some areas in present-day Poland. Painted pottery was manufactured in Middle Silesia and southern Greater Poland. Finds of painted vessels are recorded also in Upper Silesia, and a smaller number still, in Lesser Poland. The presented paper addresses painted pottery identified with the Upper Silesian-Lesser Polish regional group of the Lusatian culture from settlement and funerary contexts (cremation and bi-ritual cemeteries). A closer look is taken at the previously unpublished finds of polychrome vessels from the cemetery at Dobrzeń Mały investigated during the 1970s. Their collection is now displayed and preserved in the Museum of Opole Silesia in Opole.

Zusammenfassung Ein einfacher Goldfingerring mit Schlaufenzier von Nackenheim (Lkr. Mainz-Bingen) ohne bekannten Fundkontext wird anhand typologischer und materialanalytischer Parallelen chronologisch näher eingeordnet. Dabei wird deutlich, dass es sich um eine schlichte und daher langlebige Form handelt, die im Raum zwischen Hessen und dem Schweizer Mittelland anzutreffen ist und in ähnlicher Form noch bis in die Spätlatènezeit reicht. Archäometrische Analysen ordnen das Stück in eine Gruppe mit relativ hohem Silber- und Kupfergehalt ein, wie es eigentlich erst als „gestrecktes Münzgold“ ab der Mittellatènezeit üblich wird. Ein Vergleich der Spurenelementmuster, speziell der Platin-Palladium-Verhältnisse, weist darauf hin, dass ein Rohmaterial für seine Herstellung zum Einsatz kam, welches regional bereits ab der Stufe Lt A im nördlichen Oberrheingebiet verwendet wird. Da auch die Mehrheit der stilistischen Parallelen in die Frühlatènezeit (insbesondere Lt B) datiert, spricht Vieles für eine Datierung des Rings in diese Zeitstufe.

Zusammenfassung In Desa sind in den Bereichen Castravița und Lunculița zwei Latène-Nekropolen gefunden worden. Die Nekropole in Desa-Castravița ist die erste Nekropole der Mittel- und Spätlatène-Zeit in der Region des Eisernen Tores, für die menschliche und tierische Überreste paläoanthropologisch und archäozoologisch analysiert worden sind. Menschliche Überreste konnten in sechs Gräbern in kleinen Mengen gefunden werden; sie sind stark fragmentiert und deformiert. Die Bestatteten wurden bei unterschiedlichen Temperaturen, zwischen 600–900º C, in einem sauerstoffreichen Milieu verbrannt. Nicht alle Knochen sind dem Scheiterhaufen entnommen worden. Es gibt keine Auswahl bestimmter Körperteile. Eine Sica wurde bei einer Temperatur von 570–900° C verbrannt und dabei entstand eine Magnetitschicht, deren Konservierung das Dekor erkennen lässt. Die Bestatteten waren adulte, männliche Individuen oder Individuen unbestimmten Geschlechtes; nur der Bestattete aus Grab 6 ist ein Jüngling. Die archäozoologische Analyse der Tierknochenreste dreier Gräber ergab, dass sie entweder bei einer niedrigen Temperatur verbrannt oder unverbrannt beigegegen worden sind. Nur die drei am häufigsten belegten Haustiere dieser Zeit konnten bestimmt werden: Rind, Schaf/Ziege und Schwein (durch Kieferknochen). Die Nekropole in Desa-Castravița wurde in der Mittellatènezeit C 1 angelegt und existierte bis in die Spätlatène D 1 -Stufe weiter; später, wahrscheinlich kurz nach der Mitte des 1. Jhs. n. Chr., wurde dort eine Befestigungsanlage errichtet. Das unvollständing ausgegrabene Gräberfeld besteht aus elf Gräbern (Brandschüttungsgräber und sogenannte Kenotaphe), die zwei sich parallel entwickelnde Gruppen bilden. Die Nekropole im Bereich Lunculiţa wurde zufällig entdeckt, geborgen wurden ausschließlich Metallgegenstände zweier Gräber der Spätlatènezeit. Der archäologische Katalog beschreibt die Befundlage und die Grabbeigaben der elf Gräber aus Desa-Castravița und der zwei aus Lunculița. Die Auswertung der Castravița-Nekropole, die teilweise der aus Karaburma ähnelt, wird in einer späteren Ausgabe dieser Zeitschrift erfolgen.

Zusammenfassung Zu den Objekten aus Ton, die in den Siedlungen der Zarubincy-Kultur von Belii Grud und Litvinovič 3 gefunden wurden, gehören sog. Feuerböcke. Bislang sind lediglich zwei solcher Exemplare bekannt. Die Analogien zu diesen Exemplaren sind im Milieu der Poienești-Lucașeuca-Kultur – Borosești, Lunca Ciurei – sowie in Siedlungen des nördlichen Mitteleuropa, die in die Vorrömische Eisenzeit datiert werden – Bastrup, Hamburg-Volksdorf, Nowa Wieś, Ribe Amt usw. – zu verorten. Da die im nördlichen Mitteleuropa gefundenen Stücke älter sind, liegt der Ursprung der Feuerböcke wahrscheinlich im Norden.

This paper’s primary focus is the investigation of Late Iron Age funeral practices. This is carried out by means of a multidisciplinary study of two necropolises, Randogne – Bluche and Sion – Parking des Remparts, which are located in southwestern Switzerland. The overall purpose of this paper is to enhance the socio-cultural understanding of this period through an integrated approach that combines the fields of bioanthropology, archaeology and ancient cultural history. Consequently, sex, age, pathologies and biological proximity first were assessed for the individuals found in the two studied necropolises. Next, data from these necropolises was contrasted with the archaeological and cultural environment from the surrounding regions. Finally, a combined perspective was developed in order to consider and combine the data collected through these different approaches. The obtained results appear to point to a regional particularism present in southwestern Switzerland’s funerary practices during the Late Iron Age. However, cultural influences from both northern and southern neighbouring regions can be identified in southwestern Switzerland’s funerary rites and material productions, which sheds light on the innerworkings of the Celtic communities populating this region.

Finds of vitreous material from Poland are proof of the long-distance trade routes that passed through the region in the 2 nd –1 st millennium BC. Faience beads produced in central Europe are known from the Early Bronze Age. Objects made of glass melted in Mesopotamia, Egypt and the Alpine region broadly considered made their way into Polish territory from the Bronze Age II. In the Bronze Age II–III faience beads of Mycenaean and Egyptian provenience are encountered on rare occasions. Glassy faience, made in Italy or the Alpine region, was the most common during the Hallstatt C period. The leader in trading glassy material products in Europe from the BA II–III to the La Tène B period was the Alpine region (especially region of northern Italy). The initial aim of mediating in the transfer to the north of faience and glass beads of Eastern Mediterranean origin grew to include also distribution of products of local production. Artifacts of northern Black Sea provenance started streaming into central Europe in the Hallstatt D, whereas in the La Tène C the Danubian Celtic workshops took over as the primary dealers of the glass jewelry that they produced.

Gothic migrations have been repeatedly discussed by historians, archaeologists, anthropologists, and linguists, with the literature on the subject comprising over 1,400 articles and monographs. The interpretation of the notion of Goths has evolved from seeing them as a nation to a multi-ethnic formation. Archaeology therefore distinguishes four Gothic cultures: the Wielbark culture, the Masłomęcz group, the Tschernjachov culture and the Sântana de Mureş culture. DNA tests may support the thesis about multiple multiplicity. The pretext for writing this text is a publication of 2019. In part, it was based on untrue materials. Interpretation of the obtained results is in contradiction with the current state of knowledge about the chronology of the analysed materials. The conclusions of a historical nature are contrary to the entire scientific output of historians and archaeologists.

Archaeology has been attempting to explain the purpose of medieval hemispherical artefacts called glass smoothers, found in much of Europe, for a century and a half. The oldest and most widespread opinion considers them to be tools designed for the care of clothing. This article presents the results of SEM observations of the surface of selected specimens. The identification of streaks of non-ferrous, especially precious metals, shows that they were intended for another purpose. After discussing the anthropological contexts, including burial finds, the authors conclude that glass smoothers were developed and primarily intended for gilding murals with metal leaves. The inertness of glass to mercury also made it possible to use these artefacts in another method of gilding – amalgamation. It was the contact with precious metal that justified the transformation of a glass smoother on the occasion of a funeral from a working tool into an object with symbolic value. Therefore, the occurrence of glass smoothers in graves cannot be associated with the activities of the deceased individual.

Zusammenfassung Der Beitrag thematisiert die Bedeutung dreier Frauen, die im Umfeld bedeutender vor- und frühgeschichtlicher Archäologen der Universitäten Tübingen und Berlin im Zeitraum zwischen 1918 und 1939 ihren Einfluss ausübten und forschungsgeschichtliche Entwicklungen in neuem Lichte erscheinen lassen.