A 2014 surface survey made on the Solinka and the Beskidnik streams in the eastern area of the Polish Bieszczady Wysokie mountain range resulted in a discovery of five previously unknown prehistoric archaeological sites (Fig. 1). They are represented by cores of siliceous sandstone (Fig. 2 & 3): single platform flake cores and flake cores with changed orientation. They were discovered along the course of the Solinka and the Beskidnik, on the river terrace within a narrow zone about 300 m in length, close to the outcrops of siliceous flint. The broad dating proposed for the finds is Late Neolithic and the onset of the Bronze Age. Chronologically, they correspond to the earliest manifestation of human activity recorded in the pollen diagrams secured in the Bieszczady region: Tarnawa Wyżna and Wołosate, Bieszczady County, and Smerek, Lesko County. The finds can be interpreted in two ways. They could document seasonal livestock grazing activity carried out far from a permanent habitation area. Transhumance was frequently practiced in mountainous regions of Europe starting from the Late Neolithic. An alternate explanation, one that does not rule out the earlier interpretation, would link at least some of these finds with a route running in a north-south direction through the Czerteż Pass. The flints would be the remains of camps, set up in convenient locations, with easy access to water but safe from flash floods in the Solinka and the Beskidnik, and close to a lithic resource which could be used, when the need arose, to make simple, possibly disposable, tools. In each case the flint finds are an important confirmation of diverse human use of this part of the Bieszczady in the Late Neolithic and the Early Bronze Age. Their discovery shows also that there may be more similar material awaiting discovery to add to the understanding of the prehistory of this region. Fieldwork in the area around Wetlina is to be continued in the coming years. A recently formulated interdisciplinary project includes different kinds of fieldwork and analyses using data from “bird’s eye view” photographs, with special emphasis on data from LIDAR laser scanning.
This study contains information about flint materials discovered at the site 1 in Wysoka, Łańcut commune. This inventory consists of 57 items. Most of them were discovered in the context of features of the Mierzanowice culture. They are made mainly of Świeciechów flint, and they are of typical Early Bronze Age flintwork nature (half-products of bifacial axes, backed blade knife). In addition, not numerous Neolithic artefacts of the Malice culture were discovered there.
By 2019 more than 70 sites had been discovered in the area of the High Bieszczady Mountains, most of them located within the Połonina Wetlińska massif. The sites discovered in 2017-2019 constitute two groups: sites represented by (1) single artefacts (Wetlina 56, 57, 58, 59, 61, 63, 64, 65, Bukowska Pass, site 1) and (2) small series of artefacts (Wetlina 54, 55, 60, 62). Both groups include artefacts datable to the Late Neolithic and the Bronze Age. Moreover, there are no sufficient grounds to claim homogeneity of assemblages found in Wetlina 54, 55, 60 and 62. It is possible that at least some of these sites could have been used many times during the Late Neolithic and Bronze Age periods. These finds confirm seasonal use of the High Bieszczady for grazing animals, probably within a system similar to the transhumant pastoralism practiced in European mountains.
The anthropomorphic stone figurine was discovered at Tupadły 1 in Kujawy (Fig. 1, 2), during a rescue excavation made in w 2014, directed by Andrzej Wójcik. The material of the figurine is an amphibolite pebble, presumably from a postglacial deposit. The local origin of its lithic resource suggests tha t the figurine was manufactured in the region. The figurine was discovered outside an archaeological feature, within the subsoil stratum. This prevents a closer determination of its chronology and culture attribution. Basing on indirect evidence, its similarity to figurines recorded elsewhere in Europe and their dating, and the broader context of the early Neolithic settlement in the region of present day Inowrocław, the figurine’s chronology may be assigned generally to the 5th millennium BC and attributed to the settlement of late Banded Pottery culture groups. If this proposal is accepted, this would be the first anthropomorphic stone statuette from Poland dating to the early Neolithic. Similar images are observed in the art dating to the 5th millennium recorded across much of Europe to the south and the south-east of the Carpathians. It is in this region, and in different cultural environments, that we need to seek the source of inspiration of the maker of the artefact from Tupadły. The exact location or even the region of origin cannot be specified. In any case, the figurine from Tupadły must be taken into account when studying the network of contacts and the information flow covering much of Europe in the 5th millennium BC.
Lake Gościąż is located in a Gostinińskie Lake District (Central Poland). It contains long and good preserved continuous sequence of the annually laminated lake sediments spanning from the end of the last glaciation to contemporary times. They offer unique opportunities for investigating changes in the environment and human activity in the vicinity of the lakes. This paper is focused on correlation of palynological indicators of activity of the Mesolithic people with the picture of settlement in the region. Another problem discussed there question of reliability of palynological data, and therefore their usefulness for studies on settlement and economy
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