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#0258
Jacek Kabacihski and Agnieszka Czekaj-Zastawny
257
Fig. 10 Dgbki. A Mesolithic lamp decorated with Funnel Beaker
culture ornamentation; B-C Early funnel beakers (drawings:
J. Ozog, photo: J. Kabacihski).
stylistically new pots, or whether they were replaced
by funnel beakers. But certainly, according to results
of paleoenvironmental studies (Kalis et al. 2015) the
societies inhabiting the Dqbki island until around
3,700 calBC were hunter-gatherers, and only after
that date the first signs of agriculture are recognisable
in this area. Therefore the change from Mesolithic
to early FBC at its initial stage was nothing but a
stylistic change in pottery production. Summing up,
what we observed in the case of Dqbki is a gradual
transformation of hunter-gatherers resulting finally in
the adoption of some elements of farming economy.
The Brzesc Kujawski group of the
Lengyel culture: integration of systems
The Brzesc Kujawski group of the Lengyel culture
(LC) displays a fully developed agricultural system
based on cultivation of wheat and barley, accompa-
nied by cattle husbandry and less frequently sheep /
goats and pigs (Czerniak 1980; Grygiel2008). Hun-
ting played a minor role in the economy. This cul-
tural group is also known for building long wooden
houses and using copper. The BKG, dated to the 5th
millennium calBC, is the youngest group of the LC,
and, contrary to other groups recognised in southern
Poland, it occupied almost exclusively the lowlands;
there is no doubt that as far as subsistence is concer-
ned it was a society characterised by an advanced
and stable Neolithic economy. However, a surprising
number of elements characteristic for this culture
can be directly linked with a Mesolithic heritage
(Czerniak 1994; Czerniak / Kabacinski 1997).
Typically for the BKG, like all cultures of Danu-
bian origin, the deceased were buried in pits within
the settlements in a flexed position on the side. Before
burial, dead individuals were adorned with richly
ornamented armlets and bracelets made of animal
ribs, with hip-belts with hundreds of beads made of
small shells, necklaces of animal teeth, and equipped
with T-shaped axes made of red deer antler (Fig. 11).
Either domesticated or wild animal bones could be
used for manufacturing armlets and bracelets, but the
ornamentation has close analogies in the Maglemo-
sian world (Czerniak / Kabacinski 1997; Peonka
2003; Bogucki 2008). Also necklaces and pendants
made of teeth of wild animals or beads produced of
fish bones may be accounted as reflections of hunter-
gatherer roots.
T-axes, made of red deer antlers, were popu-
lar tools manufactured by BKG people, and in our
opinion the idea of their production derived from
the circum-Baltic Mesolithic area (Kabacinski et al.
2014). Such tools are only rarely discovered in the
context of other LC groups, representing contacts
between different societies of the same origin. The
most intriguing fact is that numerous T-shaped axes
were recorded as grave goods.
Burial customs belong to the sacred zone and
reflect traditions deeply rooted in the society, repe-
senting an integral component of each cultural sys-
tem, the BKG in this case. The evidently Mesolithic
roots of the BKG burial tradition present within a
fully developed agricultural society might point to
a syncretic nature of the BKG - a result of a specific
integration of the Danubian population inhabiting
the Polish lowlands with local foragers. Those Meso-
lithic elements that are visible in the burial rites are
particularly important, given their overall role in the
entire social life. And from that perspective the wide-
spread and intensive social contacts of the BKG with
the Mesolithic world should not come as a surprise.
257
Fig. 10 Dgbki. A Mesolithic lamp decorated with Funnel Beaker
culture ornamentation; B-C Early funnel beakers (drawings:
J. Ozog, photo: J. Kabacihski).
stylistically new pots, or whether they were replaced
by funnel beakers. But certainly, according to results
of paleoenvironmental studies (Kalis et al. 2015) the
societies inhabiting the Dqbki island until around
3,700 calBC were hunter-gatherers, and only after
that date the first signs of agriculture are recognisable
in this area. Therefore the change from Mesolithic
to early FBC at its initial stage was nothing but a
stylistic change in pottery production. Summing up,
what we observed in the case of Dqbki is a gradual
transformation of hunter-gatherers resulting finally in
the adoption of some elements of farming economy.
The Brzesc Kujawski group of the
Lengyel culture: integration of systems
The Brzesc Kujawski group of the Lengyel culture
(LC) displays a fully developed agricultural system
based on cultivation of wheat and barley, accompa-
nied by cattle husbandry and less frequently sheep /
goats and pigs (Czerniak 1980; Grygiel2008). Hun-
ting played a minor role in the economy. This cul-
tural group is also known for building long wooden
houses and using copper. The BKG, dated to the 5th
millennium calBC, is the youngest group of the LC,
and, contrary to other groups recognised in southern
Poland, it occupied almost exclusively the lowlands;
there is no doubt that as far as subsistence is concer-
ned it was a society characterised by an advanced
and stable Neolithic economy. However, a surprising
number of elements characteristic for this culture
can be directly linked with a Mesolithic heritage
(Czerniak 1994; Czerniak / Kabacinski 1997).
Typically for the BKG, like all cultures of Danu-
bian origin, the deceased were buried in pits within
the settlements in a flexed position on the side. Before
burial, dead individuals were adorned with richly
ornamented armlets and bracelets made of animal
ribs, with hip-belts with hundreds of beads made of
small shells, necklaces of animal teeth, and equipped
with T-shaped axes made of red deer antler (Fig. 11).
Either domesticated or wild animal bones could be
used for manufacturing armlets and bracelets, but the
ornamentation has close analogies in the Maglemo-
sian world (Czerniak / Kabacinski 1997; Peonka
2003; Bogucki 2008). Also necklaces and pendants
made of teeth of wild animals or beads produced of
fish bones may be accounted as reflections of hunter-
gatherer roots.
T-axes, made of red deer antlers, were popu-
lar tools manufactured by BKG people, and in our
opinion the idea of their production derived from
the circum-Baltic Mesolithic area (Kabacinski et al.
2014). Such tools are only rarely discovered in the
context of other LC groups, representing contacts
between different societies of the same origin. The
most intriguing fact is that numerous T-shaped axes
were recorded as grave goods.
Burial customs belong to the sacred zone and
reflect traditions deeply rooted in the society, repe-
senting an integral component of each cultural sys-
tem, the BKG in this case. The evidently Mesolithic
roots of the BKG burial tradition present within a
fully developed agricultural society might point to
a syncretic nature of the BKG - a result of a specific
integration of the Danubian population inhabiting
the Polish lowlands with local foragers. Those Meso-
lithic elements that are visible in the burial rites are
particularly important, given their overall role in the
entire social life. And from that perspective the wide-
spread and intensive social contacts of the BKG with
the Mesolithic world should not come as a surprise.