Spatial organization and population size of small Cucuteni-Tripolye settlements: Results of geomagnetic surveys in Baia and Adâncata, Suceava County, Bucovina, Eastern Romania

Geomagnetic research and drillings provide new results regarding settlement organisation and population size of three small settlements from the Pre-Cucuteni and Cucuteni AB period in the Suceva County in Romanian Bucovina. In these settlements from different stages of the Pre-Cucuteni complex domestic dwellings can be distinguished from clearly oversized (special?) buildings which are situated in central positions and which contain partly special inventories. Different principles of settlement organisation are visible which show each far-reaching references to the Central Balkans on the one hand and the Bug-Dnieper interfluve on the other hand. Consistently populations with less than 200 inhabitants are reconstructed based on analogies to other Cucuteni-Tripolye sites

Spatial organisation and population size of small Cucuteni-Tripolye settlements: Results of geomagnetic surveys in Baia and Adâncata, Suceava County, Bucovina, Eastern Romania

Geomagnetic research and drillings provide new results regarding settlement organisation and population size of three small settlements from the Pre-Cucuteni and the Cucuteni A-B period of Suceava County in Romanian Bucovina. In these settlements from different stages of the Cucuteni-Tripolye complex, domestic dwellings can be distinguished from clearly oversized (special?) buildings, which are situated in central locations and sometimes contain special inventories. Different principles of settlement organisation are visible, which each show far-reaching references to the Central Balkans, on the one hand, and the Bug-Dnieper interfluve on the other hand. Based on analogies with other Cucuteni-Tripolye sites, consistent populations with less than 200 inhabitants are reconstructed

Archaeo-magnetic plans of the Pre-cucuteni and Cucuteni A-B settlements Baia-În Muchie and Adâncata-Dealul Lipovanului, Suceava County, Bucovina, Eastern Romania

Geomagnetic research and drillings provide new results regarding settlement organisation and population size of three small settlements from the Pre-Cucuteni and the Cucuteni A-B period of Suceava County in Romanian Bucovina. In these settlements from different stages of the Cucuteni-Tripolye complex, domestic dwellings can be distinguished from clearly oversized (special?) buildings, which are situated in central locations and sometimes contain special inventories. Different principles of settlement organisation are visible, which each show far-reaching references to the Central Balkans, on the one hand, and the Bug-Dnieper interfluve on the other hand. Based on analogies with other Cucuteni-Tripolye sites, consistent populations with less than 200 inhabitants are reconstructed

A new approach to the temporal significance of house orientations in European Early Neolithic settlements

This paper shows that local differences in house orientation in settlements from the Early Neolithic in Central Europe reflect a regular chronological trajectory based on Bayesian calibration of 14C-series. This can be used to extrapolate the dating of large-scale settlement plans derived from, among other methods, geophysical surveys. In the southwest Slovakian settlement of Vráble, we observed a progressive counter-clockwise rotation in house orientation from roughly 32° to 4° over a 300 year period. A survey of published and dated village plans from other LBK regions confirms that this counter-clockwise rotation per settlement is a wider Central European trend. We explain this observation as an unintentional, unconscious but systematic leftward deviation in the house builders’ cardinal orientation, which has been termed “pseudoneglect” in studies of human perception. This means that whenever houses were intended to be oriented towards a specific direction and be parallel to each other, there was an error in perception causing slight counter-clockwise rotation. This observation is used as a basis to reconstruct dynamics of Early Neolithic settlement in the Slovakian Žitava valley, showing a rapid colonization, followed by increased agglomeration into large villages consisting of strongly autonomous farmsteads

The Žitava-valley with the LBK sites with magnetic imagery.

1 Sľažany 'Na Domovine'; 2 Čierne Kľačany 'Mlynské diely'; 3 Nevidzany 'Konopiská'; 4 Horný Ohaj 'Dolne siatie'; 5 Čifare 'Kapustniská'; 6 Telince 'Horné lúky'; 7 Vráble 'Véľke Lehemby'; 8 Vráble 'Drakovo'; 9 Maňa 'Za hlbokou cestou'; 10 Vlkas 'Do hulského chotára'; 11 Úľany nad Zitavou 'Dolné diely’.</p

Relationship between the modeled first dates (represented by their weighted mean) and the orientation of the respective house of Vráble.

Regression line with 95%-confidence intervals for Vráble as a whole and each of its three settlements (see text).</p

Kernel density estimation (Gaussian Kernel, bandwidth = 15 m) of the maxima of the distances between houses with similar orientation (difference < = 4°) (n = 10; only settlements with magnetic measurements of areas of 5+ha).

Kernel density estimation (Gaussian Kernel, bandwidth = 15 m) of the maxima of the distances between houses with similar orientation (difference < = 4°) (n = 10; only settlements with magnetic measurements of areas of 5+ha).</p

Hypothetical settlement development in the Žitava-valley based on house orientations and compared to KDE-modeled ¹⁴C-dates (function „KDE_plot”of OxCal 4.3).

Hypothetical settlement development in the Žitava-valley based on house orientations and compared to KDE-modeled 14C-dates (function „KDE_plot”of OxCal 4.3).</p

Orientation of houses of the LBK-settlements of the Žitava-valley in steps of 4°.

Orientation of houses of the LBK-settlements of the Žitava-valley in steps of 4°.</p