Pottery, Houses and Graves

The Early Funnel Beaker Culture in Southern Sweden and Central Poland

Abstract

The following essay is about the Early Neolithic in southern Sweden and in central Poland, Kuyavia. The essay is divided into two parts and the material from southern Sweden is discussed in the first part and the Polish material is treated in the second part of the essay, with the emphasis on the new excavations in Kuyavia. Of special interest in the context of this essay is the pottery of the Oxie group. The similarities in both shape and decoration between what Becker called the A group and the early TRB material on the continent were noted early on. On purely typological grounds there is a profound likeness between, for example, the Sarnowo group in Kuyavia and the Oxie group. The obvious spatial demarcation between activity areas and living areas seen at several sites like Mossby, Brunneby, Dagstorp and many others is discussed. It is suggested that this might be interpreted in structural terms, for example, as clean/unclean and wild/tame.

Simultaneous existence of two culture blocks is characteristic of the Middle Neolithic in Kuyavia (c. 4400-3550 BC cal.). The first of them is formed by the Brzesc Kujawski group of the Danubian circle, the other by the early (Middle Neolithic) Funnel Beaker Culture. The TRB-s1 settlements are characterized by the presence of a number of elements which did not occur earlier among the early farming Kuyavian societies of the Danubian circle. The TRB-MN1 settlements were located on sandy areas of black soil base of "linear" economy. They consisted of 1-2 rectangular houses, built in post construction with an are a of 15-30 sq. m. On the grounds of the data for the whole period of the early TRB it seems that cemeteries were located exclusively outside the settlement area.