EN
A discussion on the end of the Rzucewo Culture has been lasting for many years. Earlier suggestions on the existence of the Early Bronze Age phase of this group were based on the analysis of similarities between vessels of the late Rzucewo Culture and of the Trzciniec Culture. The separated Type Juodkrante (DĄBROWSKI 1963) was a harbinger of a considerable assemblage of pottery with the Iwno and the Trzciniec Cultures’ stylistic traits. This assemblage came from Site 1 in Suchacz, which was excavated in the 1980s (MAZUROWSKI 1987). Pottery from this settlement has not been published so far. At present, in con¬nection with the progress of research, it offers a basis for the analysis, which is discussed in this paper. Vessels from Suchacz may generally be divided into two groups. The first one comprises vessels which fit into the characteristics of the Rzucewo Culture, while the other group includes fragments with mixed late Rzucewo and Iwno-Trzciniec traits (Figs. 2-9). Within the latter group there are S-shaped vessels, vase-like vessels as well as bowls in the shape of a section of a sphere. These vessels were ornamented in their upper parts with incised ambient lines, which were interrupted with manifold vertical details. Grooves were often accompanied with zigzags, chevrons and stamp marks. In a few cases vessels were also ornament¬ed on their internal sides, under the rims. A formal analysis allowed for an identification of a few cultural components. Apart from local ornamentation (the late Rzucewo Culture and that from the East European forest zone), one can notice an extraneous (Iwno-Trzciniec) component, which is a reflection of Early Bronze Age stylistics. It corresponds to the characteristics proposed by J. Dąbrowski for Type Juodkrante. Clear stylistic similarities between vessels from the territory of the south-eastern coast of the Baltic Sea and pottery from the Masurian Lake District point to the existence of a Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age cultural community in this part of the Central European Plain. The Late Neolithic background was formed by units with traits of the Central European Neolithic and Para-Neolithic. These units were subject to an impact from groups with Eneolithic characteristics (the Bell Beaker Culture and/or the Single Grave Culture - in its Dagger and Zone Beaker Periods). In the Early Bronze Age the mentioned units adopt and transform elements of the Iwno and the Trzciniec Cultures. The direction of impact of “Iwno” communities was in all probability related to the penetration of amber-bearing areas. On the other hand, the participation of the “Trzciniec” component may be considered as a trace of transformations within the framework of the concept of the “translocation of the ‘Trzciniec’ cultural packet” (cf. CZEBRESZUK 1998: 412ff.). In result of a broadly understood “Early Bronze Age process ofcirculation ofcultural models in the Central Europan Plain,” which led to the origin of the Trzciniec Cultural Circle, it came to a formation of local stylistics in the territory of the late Rzucewo Culture. This stylistics demonstrates Iwno-Trzciniec references and Type Juodkrante pottery is distinctive for it.