Biologia versus kultura. Przegląd bioewolucyjnych i kulturowych teorii wojny w przedpaństwowych społecznościach pradziejowych

The paper’s main aim is to outline the problem of polarisation of contemporary discussion concerning the concept of origins of warfare. Basically, two leading trends can be distinguished: the first one accentuates the biological basis of human violence and places its origins deep into our evolutionary past. The second one recognises conflict as a relatively late and typically cultural phenomenon in human prehistory, which cannot be interpreted in terms of natural selection and evolution. The existence of a sharp ideological border between ‘hawks’ and ‘doves’ enables a comparison of both perspectives and facilitates the analysis of internal dynamics of their development

Grób z Beremian nad Dniestrem – rewizja wyników badań z XIX wieku. Ze studiów nad grupą białopotocką kultury komarowskiej

The article presents a re-analysis of results of the 19th-century research carried in one of the graves from the burial ground of the Biały Potok group of the Komarów culture in Beremiany, in Ukraine. Field-walking prospection was repeated, archaeological (a stone cist with contents) and anthropological materials (skeletons of the dead) were analysed. Obtained results indicate that a male and a female of the adultus age, equipped with a “Komarów-style” vessel and a bronze twisted pin with a disc-shaped (nail-like) head, were buried in the grave, most probably beneath a barrow. Radiocarbon dating determined the chronology of the grave at the 1st half of the 18th century B.C

Funeral rite of the Komarów culture societies

Wydział HistorycznyCelem niniejszej dysertacji była kompleksowa charakterystyka rytuału pogrzebowego społeczności kultury komarowskiej, który cechował się dużą różnorodnością zachowań funeralnych. W rozprawie po raz pierwszy kompleksowo podjęto zagadnienie lokalnych tradycji pogrzebowych. Związane one są głównie z ugrupowaniami zdefiniowanymi w zapisie archeologicznym jako „grupa białopotocka”, kompleks „Costiȿa-Komarów” oraz synkretyczne zespoły „trzciniecko-komarowskie”. Na podstawie danych funeralnych szczegółowo scharakteryzowano rytuał pogrzebowy społeczności „komarowskiej”. Społeczność opisywanej jednostki taksonomicznej wznosiła cmentarzyska kurhanowe, w nawiązaniu do „mitu założycielskiego przodków”, często adaptując zastaną już przestrzeń funeralną, głównie cmentarzyska kultury ceramiki sznurowej budowane na omawianym obszarze w III tys. BC. Na powierzchni pierwotnej, przed wzniesieniem nasypów z kawałków darni, budowano różnego typu konstrukcje architektoniczne w typie „domów zmarłych”, które palono po złożeniu do nich zmarłego. Żałobnicy zaopatrywali go w liczne dary grobowe.The purpose of this dissertation is to characterize the funeral rites of the Komarów culture, which exhibited a variety of sepulchral behaviors. This is also the first study to examine the problem of local funeral traditions throughout the Komarów culture area. These formations are defined in the archaeological record as the 'Biały Potok group', 'Costişa-Komarów' complex and syncretic 'Trzciniec-Komarów' groups. The societies of the described culture constructed barrow graves cemeteries with reference to the 'ancestors founding myth', often adopting earlier funeral space (usually Corded Ware culture cemeteries which were built in the 3rd millenium BC in this territory). Before erecting barrows, the Komarów culture community built various grave constructions in the 'mortuary house' style on the ancient ground surface, which were burnt after the burial of the deceased. The mourners supplied the deceased with numerous grave goods. The conducted study allowed the features of the Neolithic cultures in the Komarów culture funeral rite (type of cemeteries and graves) to be observed. Over time, a number of patterns characteristic of cultures from advanced Bronze Age societies appeared in this funeral tradition. The Komarów culture funeral tradition disappeared at the beginning of the second half of the 2nd millennium BC

Funeral rite of the Komarów culture societies

Wydział HistorycznyCelem niniejszej dysertacji była kompleksowa charakterystyka rytuału pogrzebowego społeczności kultury komarowskiej, który cechował się dużą różnorodnością zachowań funeralnych. W rozprawie po raz pierwszy kompleksowo podjęto zagadnienie lokalnych tradycji pogrzebowych. Związane one są głównie z ugrupowaniami zdefiniowanymi w zapisie archeologicznym jako „grupa białopotocka”, kompleks „Costiȿa-Komarów” oraz synkretyczne zespoły „trzciniecko-komarowskie”. Na podstawie danych funeralnych szczegółowo scharakteryzowano rytuał pogrzebowy społeczności „komarowskiej”. Społeczność opisywanej jednostki taksonomicznej wznosiła cmentarzyska kurhanowe, w nawiązaniu do „mitu założycielskiego przodków”, często adaptując zastaną już przestrzeń funeralną, głównie cmentarzyska kultury ceramiki sznurowej budowane na omawianym obszarze w III tys. BC. Na powierzchni pierwotnej, przed wzniesieniem nasypów z kawałków darni, budowano różnego typu konstrukcje architektoniczne w typie „domów zmarłych”, które palono po złożeniu do nich zmarłego. Żałobnicy zaopatrywali go w liczne dary grobowe.The purpose of this dissertation is to characterize the funeral rites of the Komarów culture, which exhibited a variety of sepulchral behaviors. This is also the first study to examine the problem of local funeral traditions throughout the Komarów culture area. These formations are defined in the archaeological record as the 'Biały Potok group', 'Costişa-Komarów' complex and syncretic 'Trzciniec-Komarów' groups. The societies of the described culture constructed barrow graves cemeteries with reference to the 'ancestors founding myth', often adopting earlier funeral space (usually Corded Ware culture cemeteries which were built in the 3rd millenium BC in this territory). Before erecting barrows, the Komarów culture community built various grave constructions in the 'mortuary house' style on the ancient ground surface, which were burnt after the burial of the deceased. The mourners supplied the deceased with numerous grave goods. The conducted study allowed the features of the Neolithic cultures in the Komarów culture funeral rite (type of cemeteries and graves) to be observed. Over time, a number of patterns characteristic of cultures from advanced Bronze Age societies appeared in this funeral tradition. The Komarów culture funeral tradition disappeared at the beginning of the second half of the 2nd millennium BC

Evaluation of the Development Changes and #reats for the Early Medieval Settlement Complex in Giecz and Its Vicinities

The article concerns the evaluation of the development changes and threats connected with the early medieval settlement complex in Giecz. Its authors strive for an attempt at answering the questions of how for hundreds of years the way of spatial development in the vicinities of the Giecz complex has been changing and what potential threats can be detected on the basis of the analysis of presented information. Introducing the issue, the authors rely on various supplies of data, which make an analysis of this kind considerably easier. The vast array of non-invasive methods enabling to investigate and comprehend the past of our lands has become more and more often a common practice in throughout Poland. The data that follows are presented and analyzed in relation to the discussed subject: the results of the surface survey conducted as a part of the Polish Archaeological Record (further: PAR, abbreviated in Polish as AZP), aerial photographs, spatial data (satellite imagery, orthophotomap, topographic map), historic maps as well as information obtained from the zoning plan of the commune within which the Giecz settlement complex is located. All the resources mentioned above were integrated by means of the GIS software. The authors point out the need of data integration in the context of national heritage protection and they also emphasize general access to information and software that facilitates the analysis of integrated data bases gained using a variety of non-invasive methods. The article presents the analysis of the development of the early medieval stronghold on the basis of data dated back to different times. It shows how an integration of this information in the GIS environment has eased the evaluation of infrastructure and buildings within the analyzed area. Numerous threats resulting from e.g. urban processes were put forward and attention was paid to direct factors influencing the security and condition of archaeological relics. These reflections were exemplified by specific cases provided with appropriate illustrative material. Phenomena like: intensive agriculture, illegal activity of detectorists, the draining of bogs and the regulation of river channels were recognized and described among the threats as well as ignoring the PAR data in land use plans. On the basis of existing materials the authors made a few demands which might be helpful in protecting the supplies of archaeological heritage on the presented example of the stronghold in Giecz. These suggestions, apart from stipulating the further need of non-invasive research, do not require considerable financial resources. One of the demands was for closer cooperation between archaeologists, the conservation and preservation service and civil servants responsible for the administration of a given area. The authors perceive also a need of standardization and dissemination of a specific way of integrating the information obtained by the use of various methods within the spatial data base. Data integrated accordingly to the point of view of restoration protection and archaeological interpretation are of immense value and enable protection much better than hitherto of non-renewable stores of national heritage

The barrow culture of the Upper Dniester Basin in the 3 rd and 2 nd millennia BC: The Polish-Ukrainian research projects

Since 2009, the international Upper Dniester Expedition has conducted field research (field-walking surveys, non-invasive and excavation) and analytical studies in the Eastern Transcarpathia. These investigations are part of a broader research programme – a study of ‘The Biocultural Borderland between the East and the West of Europe’. The projects concern a comprehensive reconnaissance of barrow cemeteries dated to the 3 rd and 2 nd millennia BC, located in the mixed forest-steppe and forest belt in the basin of the Upper Dniester River. For almost 1500 years, this type of funeral architecture shaped the ‘mortuary landscapes’ of the communities successively inhabiting that area. Hence, the barrow cemeteries are an important source for understanding the mechanisms and trajectories of cultural development in this part of Europe, and consequently the subject of intensive studies within several research projects. This article describes the aims and results of two already completed and one ongoing project in the Upper Dniester Basin. Thanks to the use of modern research methods, both in the field of archaeology and ‘archaeological sciences’, it has been possible to present a wide spectrum of regularities/principles concerning the ‘barrow landscapes’, the chronology of the creation of selected cemeteries, and the construction of regular, linear arrangements of barrows. Furthermore, the projects have and are providing large collections of archaeological (ceramic, lithic, metals, etc.), anthropological, archaeobotanical and archaeofaunal material for future analyses.176195Treasures of Time: Research of the Faculty of Archaeology of Adam Mickiewicz University in Pozna

SURVEY, DRILL AND EXCAVATE. Complex geoarchaeological prospection of Bronze Age mounds as a key for understanding undermound architecture. A case study from Myluvannia, Western Ukraine

In the area of Western Ukraine, some aspects of mound (barrow) chronology might be resolved by using non- or minimally invasive archaeological prospection. As the cemeteries usually comprise two temporal units—the Late Neolithic Corded Ware Culture (third millennium BC) and Middle Bronze Age Komarów culture (second millennium BC)—by referring to particular funerary rites Komarów culture and their magnetic reflection, they can be distinguished by means of magnetometry survey supported with verification drilling. Recognition of the internal structure of the cemeteries is essential when confronted with their vast occurrence in Western Ukraine and also the morphological similarity of mounds. However, due to the great diversity in known grave architecture of the Komarów culture, it is essential to stress that the methodological approach presented here applies only to the specific construction type of burnt wooden and clay structures, which rarely appear in Corded Ware Culture funerary practices. In addition to excavation, the applied methods provided preliminary information on the cultural affiliation and time of the construction of two mounds in Myluvannia in the pre-excavation stage of research. In this light, it is therefore possible to assess the potential occurrence of Komarów culture mounds in other Western Ukrainian mound cemeteries

Barrows from the Late Neolithic and Bronze Age in the Upper Dniester River Basin in Ukraine. Geophysical Research and Archaeological Verification

This article evaluates the potential of magnetometry to establish the internal structure of three mounds in the barrow cemetery of Bukivna in the Upper Dniester River Basin in Ukraine.We also evaluate the effects of geomorphological processes on the magnetometric results. The three-stage research method we applied comprises the preparation of a digital elevation model of the mounds, conducting geomagnetic surveys and, finally, targeted excavations, the latter enabling the verification of previously detected magnetic anomalies. In effect our studies show exceptionally complex geophysical anomalies, difficult to interpret with any certainty. In the peculiar case of the barrows 6 and 7 in group I, partly connected by an earthen mantle, the overlapping magnetic fields did not allow the two mounds to be distinguished from each other; it was possible to achieve only through subsequent excavations. In both barrows, a series of ritual and sepulchral structures were discovered that provided clear magnetic signals. The arrangement of the anomalies in the mound 1, group II, potentially reflects various aspects of the barrow’s structure and its state of preservation, beginning with postdepositional processes related to erosion or to the run-off of material down the slope, and ending with the mound’s stratigraphy, formed over the course of two phases. In turn, in the case of mounds 6 and 7, it can be assumed that the effects of these processes have been somewhat “suppressed” in the magnetometric image, due to the strong impact of the burnt wooden structures located underneath the feature