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Cremation Burials of Stone Age Hunter-Gatherers on the European Plain

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Bugajska K.

Światowit

2020

vol. 59

15-45

Cremation burials of Stone Age hunter-gatherers were found at 21 sites across the European Plain (including southern Scandinavia). In total, there are 54 graves and deposits containing bones of at least 89 individuals. Sites with Mesolithic cremations are unevenly spread over the European Plain and there are some regions where this type of burial was more common, such as the Seine Valley and the Low Countries, southern Scandinavia or north-eastern Poland. In all of these regions, the oldest burials are dated to the Early Mesolithic, which indicates a parallel and independent origin of this custom. Moreover, each region or even cemetery has its own features of the cremation rite. In both the Western European Plain and southern Scandinavia, most burials are dated to the Middle Mesolithic and there are only a few examples linked to the Late Mesolithic. North-eastern Poland, including the Dudka cemetery, is probably the only region where cremation was practised on a wider scale in the Late Mesolithic and para-Neolithic. The share of cremations among all burial types differs between regions and cemeteries. It was probably a dominant practice in the Middle Mesolithic in the Netherlands. In other cases, cremation probably involved a large part of the local hunter-gatherer society, for instance at the Dudka cemetery in Masuria or in the Middle Mesolithic of Vedbæk Fiord (Zealand), whereas at the cemeteries in Skateholm it amounted to only a few percent, suggesting that it was practised in the case of the deceased of particular status or in unusual circumstances only.

The Neolithic vs. the Mesolithic in Southern Poland: Is Everything Known Yet?

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Nowak M., Zając M., Zakrzeńska J.

Światowit

2020

vol. 59

47-77

According to a common belief, southern Poland was a typical area of Early Neolithic settlements which was rarely exploited and even ignored by Mesolithic communities. However, the prehistoric reality was more complex. Indeed, the zones largely omitted by the hunter-gatherers were fertile loess uplands and foothills settled by the first Neolithic farmers (Linear Band Pottery culture) in the third quarter of the 6th millennium BC. However, such ecological zones are by no means the only or even predominant zones within the territory in question. Areas with other ecological conditions, mainly those close to the Polish Lowland, yielded surprisingly numerous remains of Mesolithic settlements, including late Mesolithic ones. Radiocarbon data makes it clear that the Late Mesolithic communities coexisted with their Neolithic counterparts. However, the temporal dimension of this coexistence remains a debatable and controversial issue. Nevertheless, it is highly probable that the late hunter-gatherers would use ‘their own’ pottery also in southern Poland. Similarly to many other European regions, the anthropological and historical interpretations that describe and explain the interactions between early farmers and late hunter-gatherers in southern Poland (as well as archaeologically discernible transformations within the latter group) are difficult to construct. It is even more difficult to assess the role played by hunter-gatherers in the neolithisation of this territory. This paper presents and analyses the relevant chronological, chorological, settlement, and typological data. As a result, the hypothesis that the hunter-gatherer communities were but ‘passive’ witnesses to the first neolithisation and functioned independently at least throughout the entire Neolithic period was considered most probable.

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2 Światowit

1 Bugajska K.

1 Nowak M.

1 Zając M.

1 Zakrzeńska J.

2 2021

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Cremation Burials of Stone Age Hunter-Gatherers on the European Plain

The Neolithic vs. the Mesolithic in Southern Poland: Is Everything Known Yet?