In the last 50 years, studies on the chronology of Neolithic cultures were dominated by the method of radiocarbon dating. The correctness of the chronological models based on this method can nowadays be verified only by means of the dendrochronology. This is possible for the finds from Switzerland, and also partly for those from southern Germany. These problems are discussed in this paper, by way of example of the Corded Ware culture (CWC) - one of the main Neolithic cultures in Central Europe. As a model territory for the analysis, the region of Zurich was chosen, namely the palafitte sites on the lakes: Zurich, Greifen and Pfäffiker. The period of development of the culture under discussion falls between ca 350-300 years (maximum from ca 2750 to 2400 BC).In comparison to Switzerland, the situation on the territories dated by means of the radiocarbon method looks different. The chronological models are characterised by a longer period of the CWC's existence and by the synchronicity of various cultural phenomena. In effect, two compared methods of dating resulted in emerging different points of view on the course of cultural processes. In the case of dendrochronological dating, looking upon archaeological cultures as competitive models was almost mechanically abandoned. Their distinctive attributes, which include mostly pottery, have become significant markers of particular chronology. At the same time, their role in determining distinct human groups, e.g. of ethnical character, has become less stressed.
The Poznan Radiocarbon Laboratory has made 2 radiocarbon dating measurements for graves 2 and 3 from Barrow I in Kolosy, district of Kazimierza Wielka. Human bones from these graves were selected for the radiocarbon dating as 'materials representing the Corded Ware culture' (CWC). However, the measurements placed the bones in the Funnel Beaker culture (FBC) instead. The new dating has provided a pretext for reconsidering the stratigraphical situation of the burial mound in Kolosy. There are also other reasons to link Graves 2 and 3 to the FBC and to assume that the mound was built as early as in the 4th millennium BC. The most important of these reasons are the constructions of graves and the position of the skeletons. If Graves 2 and 3 are correctly linked to the FBC, no CWC feature has been discovered under the mound in Kolosy. The presence of a FBC barrow in Kolosy may be regarded as probable. Nevertheless, another possibility should be taken into account: radiocarbon dated Graves 2 and 3 could have been a part (or perhaps the 'whole') of a flat FBC cemetery that was accidentally covered later with a CWC embankment. The central barrow grave would then have been entirely destroyed by the modern digs. Such a development, though less convincing, is also possible.
Three graves of the Bell Beaker culture recorded at the multicultural Site 6 in Pelczyska in 2004-2005, have a great scientific value to research into the Late Neolithic in Malopolska (Lesser Poland). Exploration uncovered graves from the many periods of the Neolithic, Bronze Age, pre-Roman and Roman period. The finds of the Bell Beaker culture represent the first cemetery that may undoubtedly be attributed to that culture on the lower Nida River, region abounding in other finds dated to the Late Neolithic and the Early Bronze Ages. The three graves in Pelczyska contained poorly preserved remains of single children's burials, none of them in the anatomical arrangement. Two features yielded a set of pottery consisting of a bowl and a cup. One radiocarbon measurement carried out for grave 12/2004 has dated a sample of human bone from the grave to i.e. 2340-2200 BC. The Bell Beakers graves were younger than materials from the late phase of the Kraków-Sandomierz Corded Ware group, while being chronologically close to cemeteries of the oldest phase of the Mierzanowice culture.
The article presents new results of rescue excavations in Malzyce (Little Poland; loess covered upland). The mound marked as 'barrow 2' was a rest of TRB megalithic monument. Also four graves of Corded Ware and two graves of Mierzanowice culture were discovered. The article concerns a detailed description of finds, especially of rich catacomb graves of Corded Ware culture. On the basis of the absolute and the relative chronologies it may be assumed that barrow in Malzyce was used in two phases separated by nearly a thousand years; the first phase was related to the TRB (approx. 3600-3300 BC), and the second phase to the Cracow-Sandomierz group of Corded Ware culture (approx. 2500-2400 BC). Moreover, two graves point to the third phase in the history of the place: Early Bronze age.
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