Chalcolithic Pottery

The fundamental purpose of the monograph is to present the sources of two Neolithic cultures, i.e. TRB and GAC , obtained at the site of Wilkostowo 23/24, Aleksandrów Kujawski commune (POLAND). However, wide analytical possibilities of registered materials cause that it is not a typical monograph, but rather  a case study showing analytical and interpretative possibilities of Neolithic sites situated in sandy soils environments.
Wilkostowo 23/24 is located in the north part of Kujavia (geographic coordinates: N - 52˚48᾿31.53᾿᾿; E - 18˚36᾿28.69᾿᾿), in a zone of so-called middle Tążyna river basin.
Within archaeologically recognized area wealthy remains of the TRB culture occupation were identified. They concentrate mainly on the culmination occupied by the site. Moreover, relics of the GAC culture occupation were recognized, although decidedly less numerous, which partly co-occur with the TRB culture materials.

"Le passé de Sierentz est plutôt bien connu, notamment grâce aux nombreuses fouilles réalisées depuis la fin des années 70 dans la partie nord de la commune près de la petite chapelle de la Hochkirch (Tiergarten, Sandgrube, Zac HOELL). Le site des « Villas d’Aurèle » est lui situé au sud, il semblait donc intéressant de documenter une zone entièrement vierge de recherche. Qui plus est, le contexte topographique et géologique est sensiblement différent du secteur de la Hochkirch : on se trouve ici dans les premiers contreforts loessiques du Sundgau oriental.
A l’issue de l’opération d’évaluation, la problématique principale était de mieux appréhender l’occupation du Néolithique récent qui avait été repérée et qui se matérialisait principalement par un ensemble de fosses circulaires (dont une contenait des inhumations) et des fentes.
La fouille a permis la mise au jour de plusieurs occupations datant de différentes périodes, essentiellement néolithique mais aussi protohistoriques.
Le Néolithique moyen (groupe de Bruebach-Oberbergen) est représenté par trois fosses circulaires et surtout un ensemble de 34 fentes, incluant celles déjà repérées lors du diagnostic, dont l’organisation spatiale est inédite. Orientées sud-ouest / nord-est, elles sont disposées le long d’un couloir sud-est / nord-ouest d’une trentaine de mètres de large traversant la zone fouillée du nord au sud.
Objet principal de la problématique originelle, l’occupation du Néolithique récent repérée lors du diagnostic n’a été complétée que par cinq fosses circulaires dont une seule contenait une inhumation. L’étude de l’ensemble céramique qu’elles ont livré, associée à une série de datation au carbone 14, a permis d’alimenter la récente remise en question de la typo-chronologie de cette période.
La fin du Néolithique est marquée par quatre sépultures campaniformes. Disposées sur un axe nord-ouest / sud-est, elles contenaient les corps d’un enfant, d’une femme et de deux hommes. L’excellent état de conservation des tombes masculines a en outre permis la reconnaissance d’une architecture en bois. D’une manière générale, ce type de découvertes des années 60. Leur état de conservation et leur riche mobilier font des sépultures de Sierentz une découverte majeure de cette période dans la région.
Le site est ensuite occupé durant la Protohistoire, mais les indices qui ont pu être mis au jour lors de la fouille restent cependant assez réduits et la nature de ces occupations n’a pu être précisée.
Le Bronze final IIb est essentiellement représenté par un ensemble de 15 fosses circulaires et de fosses-silos. Certaines de ces fosses contenaient des dépôts de vases entiers et s’organisaient le long d’un axe sud-ouest / nord-est dans la moitié ouest de l’emprise. Six autres fosses et silos sont datés du Hallstatt D1. Il est possible que durant ces périodes, la zone d’occupation humaine principale soit plutôt à chercher dans la partie nord la commune.
Enfin quelques menus indices d’occupations postérieures, éventuellement romaines, ainsi qu’une probable aspergerie d’époque Moderne et/ou Contemporaine ont été mis en évidence"

This chapter reviews the archaeological evidence
for the Vinča culture, the broader archaeological
context for the majority of the metal production and
metal artefacts extensively explored in Chapter 3, as
well as for the sites of Belovode and Pločnik, whose
investigation forms the core of The Rise of Metallurgy
in Eurasia project. The chapter will provide a lengthy
introduction to the current data and interpretations of
the Vinča culture that are subsequently developed in
far greater detail in the thematic overviews by many
of the leading specialists in later chapters (Chapters
39–52). This monograph seeks to address, at least
in part, the absence of a dedicated synthesis of the
Vinča culture since Chapman’s (1981) monograph (see
Chapman 2020b for a critical reflection).
The concept of archaeological cultures remains
problematic in European prehistory in terms of
definition and interpretation, yet extremely resilient
in the absence of comparable empirically orientated
alternatives (Roberts and Vander Linden 2011). Due
to competing national traditions of scholarship, the
culture history groupings and terminologies are
strikingly complex in the later prehistoric Balkans (Gori
and Ivanova 2017; Tsirtsoni 2016a). As such, the chapter
explores the historiography and complex debates that
surround the archaeological and temporal definitions
of the Vinča culture. The importance of the Vinča
culture lies not only in the evidence of early metallurgy
but also in the evidence for the expansion of material
culture production and circulation, the intensification
of agriculture and increase in sedentism and settlement
growth, which are all subsequently reviewed. The
chapter concludes by examining past and present
interpretations of the communities who lived and died
within what we now term the Vinča culture.

In this study, the inter-period settlement typology of Delikkaya, located 3 km south of Melekli town in Iğdır province, was investigated. Melekli-Delikkaya is located on the northern extension of Mount Ararat. Although Chalcolithic Age, Early Bronze Age and Middle Iron Age data were obtained in the settlement, Early Iron Age findings have not been found yet. It was understood that the detected phases were not organized by stratification, but as a single phase at a distance of 30 to 77 m from each other. Although Melekli-Delikkaya has periodic similarities in Karagündüz,
Delikkaya and Van Castle mounds in the region, it differs from the others due to its horizontal stratification in terms of settlement model. The absence of Middle and Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age findings on the surface at Melekli-Delikkaya revealed that more data is needed in the
research area. In this context, during the field studies around the settlement, Late Bronze Age findings were found in Aşağı Erhacı, located 11 km southwest of Melekli-Delikkaya. Early Iron Age ceramics were found in Kasımtığı, 3.5 km south of Delikkaya. All these new data confirm that
there is an uninterrupted settlement in the region.

Müller, J., Hofmann, R., Ohlrau, R., Shatilo, M., 2018. The social constitution and political organisation of Tripolye mega-sites: hierarchy and balance, in: Meller, H., Gronenborn, D., Risch, R. (Eds.), Überschuss ohne Staat - Politische Formen  in der Vorgeschichte. Surplus without State - Political Forms in Prehistory, Landesmuseum, Halle, pp. 247-262.

An exceptional phenomenon of European Prehistory is the concept of well-planned mega-sites of Late Tripolye communities at the borderland between the North-European forest zone and North-Pontic Grass steppe ca. 4100–3700 BCE. Even though population agglomerations of about 10.000–15.000 inhabitants within singular sites are evident, archaeological indicators of social stratification are difficult to detect. Is it possible to reconstruct political institutions of societies without rule that integrated such huge settlements into a balanced social constitution?

Unlike most of the areas of Western Europe, where the Bell Beaker
culture is at the centre of the patterns corresponding to the transition between the end of the Neolithic and the beginning of the Bronze Age, it is the Artenac culture which seems to hold this place in the north of the Aquitaine Basin and along its eastern margins. New field work on the site of La Perte du Cros (Saillac, Lot) calls for this scenario to be revised. The discovery of an important open-air settlement of the end of the Neolithic and
of a stratigraphic sequence in a cave covering this period and the Early Bronze Age brings new documentation. It shows a surprising insertion of this site in long-distance exchange networks of lithic materials and testifies to a complex cultural landscape. The ceramic productions are lacking the most outstanding features of the Artenac, Véraza or Treilles cultures, but are inspired by them, without however presenting characteristics of their own. The Bell Beaker culture also contributes to this cultural environment,
partly in its decorated form but especially by the common ware (Begleitkeramik). This patchwork of relations and influences is difficult to characterise through the traditional archaeological cultures. This complexity continues during the Early Bronze Age, when regional ceramic sets combine several stylistic components, whose geographical distribution overlaps only partially. These characteristics call for a reconsideration of the conceptual tools used to apprehend this transition phase.

Résumé/Abstract À la différence de la plupart des régions d'Europe occidentale, où le Campaniforme est au centre des schémas de transition entre la fin du Néolithique et le début de l'Âge du bronze, c'est l'Artenacien qui semble tenir cette place dans le nord du ...