Stanisław Wilk

Significance We sequenced the genomes of 15 skeletons from a 5,000-y-old mass grave in Poland associated with the Globular Amphora culture. All individuals had been brutally killed by blows to the head, but buried with great care. Genome-wide analyses demonstrate that this was a large extended family and that the people who buried them knew them well: mothers are buried with their children, and siblings next to each other. From a population genetic viewpoint, the individuals are clearly distinct from neighboring Corded Ware groups because of their lack of steppe-related ancestry. Although the reason for the massacre is unknown, it is possible that it was connected with the expansion of Corded Ware groups, which may have resulted in violent conflict.

The third millennium BCE was a period of major cultural and demographic changesin Europethat signaled the beginningof the Bronze Age. People from the Pontic steppe expanded westward, leading to the formation of the Corded Ware complex and transforming the genetic landscape of Europe. At the time, the Globular Amphora culture (3300–2700 BCE) existed over large parts of Central and Eastern Europe, but little is known about their interaction with neighboring Corded Ware groups and steppe societies. Here we present a detailed study of a Late Neolithic mass grave from southern Poland belonging to the Globular Amphora culture and containing the remains of 15 men, women, and children, all killed by blows to the head. We sequenced their genomes tobetween1.1- and3.9-foldcoverageandperformed kinshipanalyses that demonstrate that the individuals belonged to a large extended family. The bodies had been carefully laid out according to kin relationships by someone who evidently knew the deceased. From a population genetic viewpoint, the people from Koszyce are clearly distinct from neighboring Corded Ware groups because of their lack of steppe-related ancestry. Although the reason for the massacre is unknown, it is possible that it was connected with the expansion of Corded Ware groups, which may have resulted in competition for resources and violent conflict. Together with the archaeological evidence, these analyses provide an unprecedented level of insight into the kinship structure and social behavior of a Late Neolithic community.

Trapezoidal flint microliths have been attributed to various early agricultural cultures in Central Europe. They are found in both settlements and cemeteries. The cemetery of the Lublin-Volhynian Culture in Książnice, Site 2, one of the two biggest necropolises of younger Danubian cultures in southern Poland, has provided the
greatest number of trapezes. Use-wear analysis has revealed the manner in which trapezes were used and has shed some light on the reasons for the presence of these artifacts in graves. Microliths differ in terms of their shapes, their production and usage. The location of microliths within grave pits is heterogeneous, both in relation to the human remains and to other flint artifacts. We observe a different situation at the cemetery of the Jordanów Culture in Domasław, Site 10/11/12. Despite the fact that burial rites of both societies were similar in many respects, the distribution and the function of trapezes from graves in Domasław is quite uniform as compared to Książnice.

From around 4,000 to 2,000 BC the forest-steppe northwestern Pontic region was occupied by people who shared a nomadic lifestyle, pastoral economy and barrow burial rituals. It has been shown that these groups, especially those associated with the Yamnaya culture, played an important role in shaping the gene pool of Bronze Age Europeans, which extends into present-day patterns of genetic variation in Europe. Although the genetic impact of these migrations from the forest-steppe Pontic region into central Europe have previously been addressed in several studies, the contribution of mitochondrial lineages to the people associated with the Corded Ware culture in the eastern part of the North European Plain remains contentious. In this study, we present mitochondrial genomes from 23 Late Eneolithic and Bronze Age individuals, including representatives of the northwestern Pontic region and the Corded Ware culture from the eastern part of the North European Plain. We identified, for the first time in ancient populations, the rare mitochondrial haplogroup X4 in two Bronze Age Catacomb culture-associated individuals. Genetic similarity analyses show close maternal genetic affinities between populations associated with both eastern and Baltic Corded Ware culture, and the Yamnaya horizon, in contrast to larger genetic differentiation between populations associated with western Corded Ware culture and the Yamnaya horizon. This indicates that females with steppe ancestry contributed to the formation of populations associated with the eastern Corded Ware culture while more local people, likely of Neolithic farmer ancestry, contributed to the formation of populations associated with western Corded Ware culture. The forest-steppe northwestern Pontic region of the middle Dniester and Prut interfluve was a place of contact and exchange routes between human populations inhabiting the drainages of the Black and Baltic Seas from around 4,000 to 2,000 BC 1. During this time, the region was occupied by forest-steppe populations attributed to Published: xx xx xxxx OPEN

From around 4,000 to 2,000 BC the forest-steppe northwestern Pontic region was occupied by people who shared a nomadic lifestyle, pastoral economy and barrow burial rituals. It has been shown that these groups, especially those associated with the Yamnaya culture, played an important role in shaping the gene pool of Bronze Age Europeans, which extends into present-day patterns of genetic variation in Europe. Although the genetic impact of these migrations from the forest-steppe Pontic region into central Europe have previously been addressed in several studies, the contribution of mitochondrial lineages to the people associated with the Corded Ware culture in the eastern part of the North European Plain remains contentious. In this study, we present mitochondrial genomes from 23 Late Eneolithic and Bronze Age individuals, including representatives of the northwestern Pontic region and the Corded Ware culture from the eastern part of the North European Plain. We identified, for the first time in ancient populations, the rare mitochondrial haplogroup X4 in two Bronze Age Catacomb culture-associated individuals. Genetic similarity analyses show close maternal genetic affinities between populations associated with both eastern and Baltic Corded Ware culture, and the Yamnaya horizon, in contrast to larger genetic differentiation between populations associated with western Corded Ware culture and the Yamnaya horizon. This indicates that females with steppe ancestry contributed to the formation of populations associated with the eastern Corded Ware culture while more local people, likely of Neolithic farmer ancestry, contributed to the formation of populations associated with western Corded Ware culture. The forest-steppe northwestern Pontic region of the middle Dniester and Prut interfluve was a place of contact and exchange routes between human populations inhabiting the drainages of the Black and Baltic Seas from around 4,000 to 2,000 BC 1. During this time, the region was occupied by forest-steppe populations attributed to Published: xx xx xxxx OPEN

From around 4,000 to 2,000 BC the forest-steppe north-western Pontic region was occupied by people who shared a nomadic lifestyle, pastoral economy and barrow burial rituals. It has been shown that these groups, especially those associated with the Yamnaya culture, played an important role in shaping the gene pool of Bronze Age Europeans, which extends into present-day patterns of genetic variation in Europe. Although the genetic impact of these migrations from the forest-steppe Pontic region into central Europe have previously been addressed in several studies, the contribution of mitochondrial lineages to the people associated with the Corded Ware culture in the eastern part of the North European Plain remains contentious. In this study, we present mitochondrial genomes from 23 Late Eneolithic and Bronze Age individuals, including representatives of the north-western Pontic region and the Corded Ware culture from the eastern part of the North European Plain. We identified, for the first time in ancient populations, the rare mitochondrial haplogroup X4 in two Bronze Age Catacomb culture-associated individuals. Genetic similarity analyses show close maternal genetic affinities between populations associated with both eastern and Baltic Corded Ware culture, and the Yamnaya horizon, in contrast to larger genetic differentiation between populations associated with western Corded Ware culture and the Yamnaya horizon. This indicates that females with steppe ancestry contributed to the formation of populations associated with the eastern Corded Ware culture while more local people, likely of Neolithic farmer ancestry, contributed to the formation of populations associated with western Corded Ware culture.

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-29914-5.

Published online: 2 August 2018.

The subject of this article is the first eneolithic cremation burial in south-eastern Poland which was discovered on the cemetery of the Lublin-Volhynia culture at site 2 in Książnice, voiv. świętokrzyskie. Grave 14 was unearthed while exploring the western part of the necropolis in August 2012. The burial pit, 122 x 75 cm, was shaped like a rectangle with rounded corners, elongated along the north-south axis. In the southern part of the grave, at the depth of 40-45 cm, a concentration of charred human bones was found belonging to an individual at the age of maturus. The grave goods consist of two clay vessels (a pear-shaped cup with knobs on the larger bulge of its body, and a miniature pot with a gooseneck profi le and notched spout) and twelve fl int artefacts.
The analyzed burial is another example of the intense cultural influences of the Hunyadihalom-Lažňany horizon to the late younger Danubian communities inhabiting Lesser Poland at the turn of the 5th and 4th millennia BC.

Abstract: This article presents a typological and physical metallurgy analysis of copper artifacts found in
child grave (no 7) at the Lublin-Volhynian culture cemetery in Książnice (Lesser Poland). The burial, dating
to approx. 4050–3940 BC, contains a rich set of copper jewellery: a massive earring, small earring, bracelet
- made of copper wire, and two beads made of a rolled piece of metal sheet. As part of metallographic analysis
of metal finds from grave 7, site 2 in Książnice, quantitative and qualitative analyses were conducted,
regarding chemistry and microstructure of all the five artifacts. In the artifacts tested, there were identified
the elements significant from the perspective of raw material origin and smelting technology: arsenic, antimony,
silver, tin, zinc, lead, bismuth, cobalt, nickel and iron. The highest total content of impurities was
noted for the bracelet. Against the background of other elements, the arsenic content stands out here and it
is 2.1%, and lead 0.26%. For the remaining artifacts, the arsenic content was 0÷0,24%, and lead 0÷0,039%.
Antimony (0.098%) and zinc (0.15%) was only recorded for the one of the bead. Also, the highest content of
silver (0.05%) was established in this case. In the remaining ornaments, the silver content was below 0.02%.
Based on the X-ray fluorescent spectroscopy results, chemical profiles were established for the individual,
and they were ascribed to raw material groups according to R. Krause: 1) pure copper, 2) arsenic copper and
3) antimony copper (Krause 2003: 90–91, Abb. 40–41). The presented inventory of copper artifacts from
grave 7, having many analogies in the Carpathian Basin and the areas to the north and east of the Carpathians,
confirms the thesis about wide, trans-Carpathian contacts of the group which was using the necropolis
in Książnice at the turn of 5th and 4th millennium BC.

This paper presents a metallographic analysis of copper artifacts from an extraordinary Polish cemetery of Lublin– Volhynian culture dated 4000–3800 BC (Wilk in Analecta Archaeologica Ressoviensia, 2014, pp. 209–243). The Ksia ˛ _ znice necropolis, Busko-Zdrój county located in South Poland, is characterized by an unprecedented collection of prestigious objects made of copper, rare in the Eneolithic period in Poland. The archaeological studies supplemented with materials analyses give knowledge of prehistoric metallurgy and the processing of copper. For the described group of artifacts, non-destructive microscopic studies were performed including chemical analysis by means of X-ray fluorescence and energy-dispersive X-ray spec-troscopy using a scanning electron microscope. The mentioned studies allowed for raw material characteristics of this important discovery.

The Lublin-Volhynian culture retouched blade daggers are unique forms of flint tools in the Eneolithic in Poland. They are most often found in male graves, around the chest or skull, as signs of prestige and high status of men possessing them. Anna Zakościelna also suggested that such kind of tools did not served utilitarian function. Contrary to prevailing opinion usewear analyses of retouched blade daggers from the Lublin-Volhynian culture burial ground site 2 in Książnice, Busko Zdrój district, showed that they bear intense and various traces of use.

This paper presents a metallographic analysis of copper artifacts from an extraordinary Polish cemetery of Lublin– Volhynian culture dated 4000–3800 BC (Wilk in Analecta Archaeologica Ressoviensia, 2014, pp. 209–243). The Ksia ˛ _ znice necropolis, Busko-Zdrój county located in South Poland, is characterized by an unprecedented collection of prestigious objects made of copper, rare in the Eneolithic period in Poland. The archaeological studies supplemented with materials analyses give knowledge of prehistoric metallurgy and the processing of copper. For the described group of artifacts, non-destructive microscopic studies were performed including chemical analysis by means of X-ray fluorescence and energy-dispersive X-ray spec-troscopy using a scanning electron microscope. The mentioned studies allowed for raw material characteristics of this important discovery.