The author refers to S. Leczycki's paper (published in vol. 57 of Sprawozdania Archeologiczne) on Eneolithic copper axes from the Central Silesia. An item from Ruszkowice was presented there and misdefined as one of the Plocnik type. Owing to photos found in the State Archive in Wroclaw the artifact has been reanalysed and ranked to the Crestur type.
The paper sums up the present knowledge on settlement strategy of Eneolithic in the region of the Upper Nitra basin. It deals with the questions concerning settlements and with the relationship of settlement towards selected elements of natural environment (elevation above sea level, super elevation of terrain in the surroundings of the settlement, sloping of hillside and its exposition towards cardinal points, relation with soil types and the distance from nearest water source). This region was important in the past because it was an important communication line between the Ponitrie eventually Pohronie and Turiec, which is proven by numerous archaeological finds. The importance of the region was increased also by the presence of copper ore and by rich primary supplies for production of chipped stone industry.
A selection of unpublished samples of Eneolithic daub with distinct construction imprints are the information source of the study. Based on them, constructional bindings and methods of not only production, commercial features (reinforced hearths, domed kilns, production-commercial structures with light construction/roofing) or functionally specifically designed settlement features (linear fence/enclosure) can be created. Individual samples come exclusively from several Baden settlement features (find contexts) selected from prehistoric sites of eastern Slovakia (Brehov, Kašov, Prešov-Solivar, Šarišské Michaľany, Veľká Lomnica, Zemplínske Hradište, Zemplínske Kopčany), where many unanswered questions remain in the Eneolithic settlement. After evaluation of the daub, it is clear that basically almost identical or similar technological, constructional and building methods (solutions) occur in all cases of architectural reconstruction of construction blocks and constructional-architectonic complexes. The methods differ from each other only with small construction alternations, i.e. presence/absence of construction elements, construction bindings or construction forms. Some are complemented with specific technological-constructional design.
The presented study studies the region of former Gemer represented by the Rimavská kotlina basin as a distinct geomorphological unit by means of exploitation of geospatial information (GIS) and their statistical evaluation. As a result, a model of settlement structures in selected prehistoric sequences (Neolithic and Eneolithic in our case) is presented. With regard to the state of research of prehistory, it evaluates only the sequences which are represented in the Rimavská kotlina basin by a certain number of exactly/relatively exactly localizable components, i. e. the Middle Neolithic (Linear Pottery culture and the Bükk culture), Middle, possibly also Late Eneolithic (Baden culture).
The article reflects the ongoing cooperation of the Moravian Slovak Museum in Uherské Hradiště with Nuclear Physics Institute of the CAS in Řež by Prague. This time the analysis focused on older collection fund, to which we have only a few reports of finding circumstances. The presented text thus briefly introduces preserved foundations from Velehrad-Dolní Rákoš (depot of tiles and daggers of the type Malé Leváre), from Uherské Hradiště-Sady (graves of the Chłopice-Veselé culture), from Ostrožská Nová Ves (grave findings of Early Bronze Age from multiple places) and from Kunovice (the grave of the Early Bronze Age). These are supplemented by the results of analysis of copper artefacts. Two analytical methods were used for elemental analysis of the samples – X-Ray fluorescence analysis and neutron activation analysis. Both analytical methods were used when the current state of artefact allowed taking subsample for NAA. Unfortunately the state of historical artefacts doesn’t allow giving representative sampling for NAA. The long-term aim of the interdisciplinary cooperation between historians and natural scientists is more detailed knowledge about artefacts (metals in this case) which can lead to better specification of the historical period of artefact origins. Ideally, the hypothesis of the origin of the used raw materials can be confirmed or refuted.
The study deals more with the manifestations of eastern flows, especially those of the Yamna culture, in the autochthonous North Carpathian milieu. It explores the background of mobile, migration and invasive movements, and last but not least, social aspects of the trans-territorial contacts of different cultural worlds.
In 2009–2012, the Archaeological Institute of the Slovak Academy of Sciences carried out rescue researches in the south-eastern extra region of Prešov, borough of Solivar, on the hill fort rising in Chmeľové-Tichá dolina. The initial rescue research in 2009 was carried out along the lines of construction of access roads and utilities. The following rescue researches from 2010–2012 focused on prospection of ten building sites where family houses are being built. By autumn 2012, 43 settlement objects were recorded. Poly-cultural character of the site settlement is represented by objects from the Neolithic, Eneolithic, late Bronze Age and late Roman era. 25 of them correspond with the middle Eneolithic settlement by the Baden culture people. Then, a fortified settlement protected by a ditch and rampart was built in the westernmost part of the site. The results of the geophysical measuring and terrain configuration suggest that size of the fortified settlement reached 55 x 75 m at least. The eastern part of the fortification was interrupted by the settlement entrance. The placement of the Baden culture objects along the inner and outer lines of the fortification suggests organized construction of residential and farm buildings, which has no analogies available in the current state of research within the Tisza region.
The settlement features from Dulová Ves are extremely important for the research of interactions of Eneolithic cultures near the Northern Carpathian massive. Their exceptionality is seen in the fact that they have provided us with a unique picture of settlement finds from the youngest horizon of the Polgár cultural complex clearly featuring elements of foreign cultures. Identifying features of the Lažňany group (resp. the Hunyadihalom-Lažňany horizon) prevail in the ceramic material. Foreign attributes show features similar to the pottery of the Lublin-Volhynian culture, Wyciąże-Złotniki group, and the Tripolye culture. The analysed finds, thus, at least partly help us create a mosaic of the complex picture of the cultural development in the Eneolithic communities living on the interface of the Carpathian Basin and the adjacent areas north of the Western and Eastern Carpathians. Together with the recently published bi-ritual burials from the cemetery in Książnice, site 2 suggest a certain form of symbiosis of the above mentioned cultures (Lublin-Volhynian and the Hunyadihalom-Lažňany group) which was probably based on the constant demand for the high-quality flint raw material as well as the then highly valued copper industry.
Early copper metallurgy in the western part of the Carpathians is insufficiently documented from a technological point of a view. The Early Chalcolithic copper hoard of Beckov-Zbojnícky vrch (ca. 4100 – 3900 BC) suddenly becomes visible in the eyes of archaeologists as a selective prototype of an individual’s personal equipment and speaks to the autonomous and distinctive development of metallurgy of the Ludanice group in western Slovakia. The standardized inventory replicates the composition of the White Carpathian hoard of Slavkov, thus displaying a strict syntax in the expression of male identity through material objects, and indicating that their owners formed a coherent social group characterized by a common identity, behaviour and lifestyle. The spectrometric signals presented here add new insight into the understanding of early systems of copper acquisition, distribution and consumption, which increasingly require renewed attention, this time with the help of the latest archaeometric techniques and knowledge. The variable composition of the artefacts and the apparent failure to exploit the hardening potential of as underline the early character of this Sb-copper-based metallurgy, which appears to have satisfied consumers’ needs during the late 5th millennium BC.
The prehistoric metal artefacts have been at the centre of archaeological research for over a century. Archeometallurgical analysis largely focused on determining the geological origin of metal and its distribution patterns throughout Europe. For this purpose, among others, analysis of the content of trace elements was used. From 1954 to 1974 in Stuttgart, S. Junghans and E. Sangmeister conducted the largest project to study the chemical composition of copper and bronze artefacts. During the study, 22,000 items from almost all parts of Europe were examined, dated mainly from the Eneolithic period to the Middle Bronze Age. In order to perform the statistical analysis, which was the main purpose of this thesis, items from central and south-eastern Europe were selected from the published data set. The main goal is to compare the results of metal composition analysis with the formal classification of metal artefacts. Based on the content of four elements (arsenic, antimony, silver, and nickel), cluster analysis was performed to divide the material under study into groups. It resulted in the determination of 15 groups (and 17 subgroups of group 1 and five of group 2). Each of the groups has been characterised, taking into account the location, dating, cultural context, and typological category of artefacts. They represent production centres based on copper deposits from a given region. Statistical analysis of the content of trace elements provided relevant information on the general origin of the raw material, changes occurring from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age, differences and similarities between the metallurgy of archaeological taxonomic units, and the level of metallurgical knowledge in prehistory.
The study is focused on assessment of the settlement in the region of Šariš in the drainage basin of the Sekčov and its contributaries. It contains a database and map materials with indicated archaeological sites from the periods of the Paleolithic, Neolithic, Eneolithic, Bronze Age, Hallstatt, La Tène and Roman periods. With regard to the amount and complexity of the information excerpted from analyses in the GIS environment, we have decided to publish the results of our research in two stages, in the chronological succession of subsequent periods. In the first stage, we synthesize – by means of the submitted publication – results of the research from the early prehistoric periods (Paleolithic, Neolithic, Eneolithic). We analyze natural properties of the settled sites in association with the potential water streams and the distance from them, the route of the main communication corridor, the character of slopes and altitude of the terrain, the composition and fertility value of pedo-ecological units (BPEJ/FVPEU), their typology-production categories (TPK/TPC), as well as with other indicators, with their possible tracing in the modern landscape. The suggested settlement zones and their characteristics are finally confronted with previously published information on the settlement near the upper and middle river Torysa.
The main aim of this work was to find out to what extent the society of the Late Eneolithic was differentiated from that of the Early Bronze Age based on the cemeteries situated in Moravia and South-western Slovakia. To answer this question the most suitable were the grave goods whose thorough analysis and comparison was one of the most important parts of this work. Also anthropological data were used (age, appearance, records about diseases) that together with the results of the analysis gave an insight into the burial practices of the mentioned societies. The results were arrived at through a comparison based on similarities and differences. A considerable growth in number and variability of grave goods in rich male, female and child burials was observed in the cultures connected with the beginning of the Bronze Age. Animal burials or symbolic graves occurred just sporadically. The following methods were used: geographic information system (GIS), analysis of individual cultures on the basis of cemeteries (processed as a database in MS Access).
Burials in the settlement are the inherent part of archaeological discoveries which have been carried out in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The study of human skeletons from the Neolithic settlements was focused mainly on the data collection, comparison and evaluation of individuals buried in the area of settlement structure (especially burials outside and inside the house). There were observed 33 sites from the Neolithic and early Eneolithic period within this work. The burials were divided into 3 categories: a) - sacrifices of construction works, b) - burials in the connection with the house (outside the house), c) - burials inside the house. Except for the human burials there are also mentioned animal burials and ceramic vessels/objects for a comparison. A special part of this study is devoted to the burials of human sacrifices which were intentionally deposited in the foundations of a Neolithic house. 53 examples of burials were used for an analysis (in 44 cases there were human individuals in the graves). The burials in the connection with the house (outside the house) predominated. In this way there were mostly buried children at the age from 6 months to six years. Less than one half of the graves contained doles. The ceramic predominates, jewellery appears only sporadically. These special sacrifices/burials (a, b, c) appear from phase Ib of the Linear pottery culture to the Lengyel culture and continue till the Roman Age. Apart from the inhumations also one cremation appeared (children burial from Litice, district Plzeň). The anthropological analysis showed that the buried individuals suffered from a pathological change caused by an insufficient nutrition or fasting - cribra orbitalia. In Vedrovice the children burials were analysed from the perspective of a nutrition reconstruction and migration. The child from the grave 3/1963 was neither of local origin nor from Vedrovice region. The map processing (programme ArcGIS ) showed locality grouping into four noticeable complexes and several in isolation situated excavations (Litice, Čičarovce and Prešov).
Approximately 26 m deep and 10 m high cavity of the Dzeravá skala cave, situated in Plavecký Mikuláš in the Low Carpathians´ Plavecký kras in western Slovakia, has ranked among significant Palaeolithic sites of thea central European importance already since the beginning of the 20th century. However, all of the archaeological explorations carried out so far have not brought any important knowledge concerning also the post-palaeological settlement, especially in the period of the late Lengyel culture. The north-eastern corner of the cave, irregularly modelled through erosion, as well as the cave corridor with sinter decoration intentionally closed already during the Eneolithic. The opening to the underground was laid over by a massive stone and partially also by a flat stone board. The outlet corridor itled originally to the surface on the bottom of the 1/C object, which was of an irregular shape, from three sides adapted to the curving of stone walls. From the west, the only side open to the cave, the pit was bounded three times by an edge bent almost to the right angle, bordered by three column pits and marked traces of burnt wood. From the filling mixed with a large amount of stones there were collected 1876 fragments of ceramics, 10 fragments of copper objects, an unfinished stone polished instrument, fragments of partially burnt or burnt animal bones, and 9 bone and horn instruments. The typological scale of pottery products is characteristic, first of all, for the Ludanice group (Lengyel IV boverlapping to Lengyel IVc), with marked influences from the circle of the Jordanów group, the Bisamberg-Oberpullendorf group, or the Balaton I-Lasinja culture. All metal objects were in a fragmentary state, often with marked traces after breaking or other violent division of the original wholes. Most of them may be classified as garrniture or parts of clothing. So far the only copper object belonging to work instruments or weapons is a flat blade with saddle-shaped bent back. The discovery situation and fund make it possible to assume a unique, perhaps “sacral” function resulting from a tradition of cult pit “thankful” or “bidding” presents for the “representatives of higher power”.
The analysis of remarkable finds from the selected sites of Spiš, monitored within the framework of the EU Structural Funds, operational programme Research and Development. From Poprad-Matejovce (Zadné rovne) comes Mousterian point made of the original Levallois radiolarite point. Typologically, it belongs to the Middle Paleolithic. The Štrba (Za Kolombiarkom) site is known for 12 pieces of chipped stone industry from the beginning of the Upper Paleolithic (Aurignacian) and Mesolithic. A unique value can be attributed to the quartz porphyry of Hungarian origin (Bükk Mountains). Three artefacts from the assumed Epipaleolithic were found in Lučivná (Roveň). In the Spišské Vlachy (Plantal) site it is especially a penknife left backed point made of obsidian, belonging to the Epipaleolithic – t he Federmesser or Witów group. Other artefacts are Mesolithic, the obsidian arrow head comes from the Eneolithic. In the Doľany site (Pod Brusníkom) a clay anthropomorphic plastic art from the Middle Neolithic was found. An Eneolithic stone hammer-axe from the Spišský Hrušov – Vítkovce (Medza) site is a rare find. The torso of a clay anthropomorphic idol from Veľká Lomnica (Burchbrich) is related to the Ottoman-Füzesabony Culture, documented in a hill-top site. An incomplete decorated bronze diadem of the Istebné type was obtained from the Kežmarok (Jeruzalemský vrch) site. In addition to Istebné in Orava, analogical diadems are spread in other Slovak regions (Turiec, Gemer), where they are related to the late Hallstatt Orava group of Lausitz Culture. The dating of the diadems of this type is different for individual authors, fluctuating between the HB to HD stages.
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