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

100%

Czerniak L., Pyzel J.

Open Archaeology

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2016

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vol. 2

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issue 1

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.

2

Scapulae – Kultgeräte, Werkzeuge oder Votivgaben?

75%

Elkowicz D.

Études et Travaux (Institut des Cultures Méditerranéennes et Orientales de l’Académie Polonaise des Sciences)

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2014

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issue 27

121–127

EN

The paper attempts to show the chronology, regional distribution and function of notched animal scapulae (shoulder blades). Before the Iron Age, notched animal scapulae appear only sporadically in the southern Levant: in the Upper Palaeolithic Hayonim Cave; at Neolithic Atlit Yam and Jericho; and at the Chalcolithic site of Tell Turmus, and they are totally absent in the Bronze Age sites. Notched scapulae appear mostly in the Iron Age I and the largest group of these objects found in Palestine comes from Ekron. At least one example was found in a residential area of Ashkelon. Three notched scapulae were found at Tel Dor, although none in a clear stratified context. An incised scapula was found also in Tel Kinrot. The four Tell es-Safi/Gath scapulae, which date to the Iron Age IIA, are the latest in the sequence. Some scholars believe that notched scapulae were used in divination rites of scapulomancy or omoplatoscopy; others authors suggest that notched scapulae were used as musical instruments – as rasps or scrapers. Others still proposed that these artifacts were used for account-keeping of commodities produced for cultic use or brought to the cultic place as offerings or taxes. Another option is that they were used as a part of a loom. Since the exact function and meaning of scapulae is difficult to ascertain, a new hypothesis concerning their function is proposed: because many of them were found in cultic context, it is possible that they could have been used as votive objects.

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Settlement history of Iraqi Kurdistan: an assessment halfway into the project

63%

Koliński R.

Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean

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2017

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vol. 26(1)

579-590

EN

The objectives of the “Settlement history of Iraqi Kurdistan” project include the identification and recording of archaeological sites and other heritage monuments across an area of more than 3000 km2 located on both banks of the Greater Zab river, north of Erbil. A full survey of the western bank was carried out over three field seasons, in 2013, 2014 and 2015 (leaving the Erbil/Haūler province to be studied in the next two seasons). To date, at least 147 archaeological sites dating from the early Neolithic Hassuna culture to late Ottoman times have been registered. Moreover, the project documented 39 architectural monuments, as well as the oldest rock reliefs in Mesopotamia dating from the mid 3rd millennium BC, located in the village of Gūnduk. Altogether 91 caves and rock shelters were visited in search of Paleolithic and Pre-Pottery Neolithic remains. The paper is an interim assessment of the results halfway into the project, showing the trends and illuminating gaps in the current knowledge.

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1 Koliński R.

1 Pyzel J.

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

Scapulae – Kultgeräte, Werkzeuge oder Votivgaben?

Settlement history of Iraqi Kurdistan: an assessment halfway into the project