Abstract
Our knowledge of the Bandkeramik (LBK) to the east of the Carpathian Mountains is rather limited, especially when compared to the level of scientific discourse reached in some western parts of the vast area of LBK's distribution. Therefore, it would seem useful to examine selected LBK settlements in western Ukraine and Moldova. Our research focused on the question of whether the full LBK package ...
Abstract
Our knowledge of the Bandkeramik (LBK) to the east of the Carpathian Mountains is rather limited, especially when compared to the level of scientific discourse reached in some western parts of the vast area of LBK's distribution. Therefore, it would seem useful to examine selected LBK settlements in western Ukraine and Moldova. Our research focused on the question of whether the full LBK package reached the easternmost area of distribution of the Bandkeramik, especially with regard to the longhouses that are so characteristic of this culture. Until recent years the existence of these structures was questioned by various scholars. Six sites with LBK layers were chosen for magnetometer survey, and on some of them additional test trenches were dug; evidence of earlier excavations was reconsidered. As a first result of our work, proof of the long-debated presence of longhouses could be established, mainly on the basis of parallel long pits. Most of the longhouses are orientated more or less NE-SW, which seems to be a common peculiarity of the eastern region. But at the same time, due to unfavourable soil conditions of the local chernozem, it was not possible to obtain detailed ground plans. Only in some cases could a limited number of postholes be detected. At the Bandkeramik settlement of Kamyane, situated on the right bank of the middle course of the Southern Bug river, abundant LBK material and some pottery fragments decorated in the style of the Romanian Dudesti Culture were unearthed during small-scale excavations. In the vicinity of the settlement a shoe-last adze was found whose raw material originated from the Iser Mountains of northern Bohemia. Hence, long-distance contacts were apparently also a key feature of the easternmost LBK sites.
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