DOI chapter:
Grenzgänger, traders and the last hunter-gatherers of the North European Plain
DOI chapter:Kabaciński, Jacek; Czekaj-Zastawny, Agnieszka: Long distance contacts in the area of the north European plain: The Late Mesolithic and Early Neolithic in Poland and its relations to neighbouring cultures
DOI Page / Citation link: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.66745#0250
Stone Age Borderland Experience (MAN 60, 2022, 249-261)
249
Long distance contacts in the area of the north
European plain: The Late Mesolithic and
Early Neolithic in Poland and its relations to
neighbouring cultures
Jacek Kabaciriski and Agnieszka Czekaj-Zastawny
Abstract This paper discusses the relatively scarce evidence of contacts between last hunter-gatherer-fisher groups and dif-
ferent farming societies known from the Polish lowlands. It points out different forms and scales of their relations. Two pos-
sible ways of interactions between the two so different cultural systems are suggested. The first one is a gradual transformation
from a hunter-gatherer to a farming way of life. As the Mesolithic economic system at that time was optimal and very effective,
it can be supposed that non-economic reasons played a substantial role in that transition. An example of such a transformation
is visible in the aggregation of sites at Dqbki in Polish Pomerania. The second way of interaction resulted in an integration of
both systems. Bilateral exchange contacts led to closer inter-human relations that also resulted in physical incorporation of
hunter-gatherer individuals or groups into the Neolithic society. They brought with them strong beliefs and customs that were
for some reasons and to some extent accepted by Danubian farmers, and the phenomenon resulted in the emergence of a
unique entity in the lowlands: the Brzesc Kujawski group of the Lengyel culture that included and integrated different traditions.
Keywords Late hunter-gatherers, early farmers, contacts, system transformation
Zusammenfassung Der Beitrag diskutiert die Kontakte zwischen den spaten Jager-Sammler-Fischern und verschiedenen
bauerlichen Gemeinschaften in derpolnischen Tiefebene, die unterschiedliche Intensitaten solcherBeziehungen widerspiegeln.
Es werden zwei Formen der Interaktion zwischen den so unterschiedlichen kulturellen Systemen diskutiert. Die erste 1st ein
gradueller Ubergang von einer Lebensweise als Jager-Sammler-Fischer hin zur bauerlichen Wirtschaftsweise. Aufgrund des
effektiven mesolithischen Okonomiesystems zu dieser Zeit kbnnen wir annehmen, dass bkonomische Grunde fur den Uber-
gang keine entscheidende Rolle spiel ten. Der zweite Weg der Interaktion fuhrte zu einer Integration beiderSysteme: Bila tera-
le Tauschkontakte hatten engere menschliche Beziehungen und die Eingliederung erster Jager-Sammler-lndividuen in die
neolithischen Gemeinschaften zur Folge. Sie brachten ihren Glauben und ihre Gewohnheiten mit, die in gewissem MaE von
den donaulandischen Bauerngemeinschaften akzeptiert warden. Dieser Vorgang fuhrte zu einem einzigartigen Phanomen in
der Tiefebene: der Brzesc-Kujawski-Gruppe der Lengyel Kultur die verschiedene Traditionen integrierte.
Introduction
The middle of the 6th millennium calBC was a crucial
time for the hunter-gatherer societies who had inhab-
ited the territory of today’s Poland for the preceding
half a million years of human occupation (Kabacinski
2016c). The first farmers who had crossed the moun-
tain ridges of the Carpathians and Sudetes from the
south brought a whole set of innovations, not only
in the sphere of economy (like agriculture and hus-
bandry), but also in ideology. This is sometimes called
the ‘Neolithic package’ (Gronenborn 1997). The
neolithisation of Poland was a part of a much wider
process documented all over Europe from c. 7,000
calBC; this process - which certainly had different
faces in different areas - was and still is a subject of
discussions and different concepts,1 concerning also
the role played by Mesolithic groups.2
1 Childe 1925; 1951; Ammerman / Cavalli-Sforza 1971;
1984; Zvelebil 1986; 1998; Kozlowski 1994; 1998; 1999;
Gronenborn / Petrasch 2010; Kozlowski / Nowak 2019.
2 Banffy 2000; 2003; Whittle 1996; Gronenborn 1997;
Jeunesse 1997; Pavuk 2002; 2004; Lenneis 2007; Czekaj-
Zastawny / Przybyla 2012; Terberger et al. 2018.
249
Long distance contacts in the area of the north
European plain: The Late Mesolithic and
Early Neolithic in Poland and its relations to
neighbouring cultures
Jacek Kabaciriski and Agnieszka Czekaj-Zastawny
Abstract This paper discusses the relatively scarce evidence of contacts between last hunter-gatherer-fisher groups and dif-
ferent farming societies known from the Polish lowlands. It points out different forms and scales of their relations. Two pos-
sible ways of interactions between the two so different cultural systems are suggested. The first one is a gradual transformation
from a hunter-gatherer to a farming way of life. As the Mesolithic economic system at that time was optimal and very effective,
it can be supposed that non-economic reasons played a substantial role in that transition. An example of such a transformation
is visible in the aggregation of sites at Dqbki in Polish Pomerania. The second way of interaction resulted in an integration of
both systems. Bilateral exchange contacts led to closer inter-human relations that also resulted in physical incorporation of
hunter-gatherer individuals or groups into the Neolithic society. They brought with them strong beliefs and customs that were
for some reasons and to some extent accepted by Danubian farmers, and the phenomenon resulted in the emergence of a
unique entity in the lowlands: the Brzesc Kujawski group of the Lengyel culture that included and integrated different traditions.
Keywords Late hunter-gatherers, early farmers, contacts, system transformation
Zusammenfassung Der Beitrag diskutiert die Kontakte zwischen den spaten Jager-Sammler-Fischern und verschiedenen
bauerlichen Gemeinschaften in derpolnischen Tiefebene, die unterschiedliche Intensitaten solcherBeziehungen widerspiegeln.
Es werden zwei Formen der Interaktion zwischen den so unterschiedlichen kulturellen Systemen diskutiert. Die erste 1st ein
gradueller Ubergang von einer Lebensweise als Jager-Sammler-Fischer hin zur bauerlichen Wirtschaftsweise. Aufgrund des
effektiven mesolithischen Okonomiesystems zu dieser Zeit kbnnen wir annehmen, dass bkonomische Grunde fur den Uber-
gang keine entscheidende Rolle spiel ten. Der zweite Weg der Interaktion fuhrte zu einer Integration beiderSysteme: Bila tera-
le Tauschkontakte hatten engere menschliche Beziehungen und die Eingliederung erster Jager-Sammler-lndividuen in die
neolithischen Gemeinschaften zur Folge. Sie brachten ihren Glauben und ihre Gewohnheiten mit, die in gewissem MaE von
den donaulandischen Bauerngemeinschaften akzeptiert warden. Dieser Vorgang fuhrte zu einem einzigartigen Phanomen in
der Tiefebene: der Brzesc-Kujawski-Gruppe der Lengyel Kultur die verschiedene Traditionen integrierte.
Introduction
The middle of the 6th millennium calBC was a crucial
time for the hunter-gatherer societies who had inhab-
ited the territory of today’s Poland for the preceding
half a million years of human occupation (Kabacinski
2016c). The first farmers who had crossed the moun-
tain ridges of the Carpathians and Sudetes from the
south brought a whole set of innovations, not only
in the sphere of economy (like agriculture and hus-
bandry), but also in ideology. This is sometimes called
the ‘Neolithic package’ (Gronenborn 1997). The
neolithisation of Poland was a part of a much wider
process documented all over Europe from c. 7,000
calBC; this process - which certainly had different
faces in different areas - was and still is a subject of
discussions and different concepts,1 concerning also
the role played by Mesolithic groups.2
1 Childe 1925; 1951; Ammerman / Cavalli-Sforza 1971;
1984; Zvelebil 1986; 1998; Kozlowski 1994; 1998; 1999;
Gronenborn / Petrasch 2010; Kozlowski / Nowak 2019.
2 Banffy 2000; 2003; Whittle 1996; Gronenborn 1997;
Jeunesse 1997; Pavuk 2002; 2004; Lenneis 2007; Czekaj-
Zastawny / Przybyla 2012; Terberger et al. 2018.