Being at Home in the Early Chalcolithic. The Longhouse Phenomenon in the Brześć Kujawski Culture in the Polish Lowlands

• Authors: Lech Czerniak , Joanna Pyzel
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

The Brześć Kujawski culture emerged in the Polish Lowlands in the second half of the 5th millennium BC. It shares many characteristic features with Chalcolithic cultures of the Carpathian Basin indicating that BKK communities belonged to the wider ‘late Lengyel interaction sphere’. However, there are very striking regional distinctions in the material culture of these communities, which appear to reflect a conscious attempt to emphasize local identity, incorporating both innovation and conservatism. This article focuses on one of the most distinctive features of this culture – trapezoidal longhouses, presented here in the context of astonishingly various and hierarchical settlement system of the BKK. In this respect the iconic character of houses expressed by the uniformity of their form and size, seems to be a deliberate decision that stressed local identity in reference to the LBK heritage as well as other contemporary communities inhabiting the Polish Lowlands in the 5th millennium BC.

Keywords

EN

Polish Lowlands; Neolithic; Chalcolithic; Brześć Kujawski culture

• Publisher: Sciendo
• Journal: Open Archaeology
• Year: 2016
• Volume: 2
• Issue: 1

Dates

received

2016-05-16

accepted

2016-06-27

online

2016-09-12

Contributors

author

Lech Czerniak

• nstitute of Archaeology and Ethnology, University of Gdańsk, ul. Bielańska 5, PL 80-851 Gdańsk

author

Joanna Pyzel

• nstitute of Archaeology and Ethnology, University of Gdańsk, ul. Bielańska 5, PL 80-851 Gdańsk

Identifiers

DOI

10.1515/opar-2016-0007