A Ritual Feature with Bell Beaker Elements in a Late Neolithic Hunter- Gatherer Campsite in North-Eastern Poland

European Journal of Archaeology 24 (2) 2021, 226–248 This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution- NonCommercial-ShareAlike licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-ncsa/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the same Creative Commons licence is included and the original work is properly cited. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained for commercial re-use. A Ritual Feature with Bell Beaker Elements in a Late Neolithic Hunter- Gatherer Campsite in North-Eastern Poland 1 1 2 DARIUSZ MANASTERSKI ,KATARZYNA JANUSZEK ,ADAM WAWRUSIEWICZ 3 AND ALEKSANDRA KLECHA 1Institute of Archaeology, University of Warsaw, Poland = = = = 2Podlaskie Museum, Bial = ystok, Poland 3South-Eastern Europe Research Centre, University of Warsaw, Poland The ephemeral nature of religious practices and rituals makes them challenging to trace in the archaeological record of Late Neolithic hunter-gatherer communities in central and eastern Europe. A ritual feature with Bell Beaker elements discovered in north-eastern Poland, a region occupied by hunter- gatherer groups of the Neman cultural circle, is thus exceptional. Its syncretic character indicates its role as a harbinger of wider cultural change that led to the emergence in this region of the western group of the Bronze Age Trzciniec cultural circle. Keywords: Late Neolithic, hunter-gatherers, ritual feature, Bell Beaker set, north-eastern Poland, Neman cultural circle, Trzciniec cultural circle INTRODUCTION material evidence of their presence is sparse and scattered, and burial rites leave Rapid progress in scientific methods has no or few tangible archaeological traces. opened new vistas for research, putting an Groups from the Neman cultural circle array of modern analytical tools at the (sensu Manasterski, 2016: 21) in central service of archaeologists examining behav- and eastern Europe, still practising a iour that had previously been elusive. This hunter-gatherer mode of life in the Late is particularly true of ‘irrational’ practices, Neolithic, are such an example. They occu- such as religious ceremonies, which leave pied a region that was being penetrated in little if any evidence in the archaeological the Neolithic by groups of farmers and pas- record (e.g. Renfrew, 1994:50–53). The toralists, interactions with whom impacted issue is all the more important in the localculturalprocessesofthelocalpeople. case of ‘mute’ prehistoric communities, Site 6 at SupraslinPodlachia(́ Figures 1 such as hunter-gatherer groups, where the and 2A) constitutes one of the most Copyright © European Association of Archaeologists 2020 doi:10.1017/eaa.2020.52 Manuscript received 13 February 2020, accepted 25 September 2020, revised 20 July 2020 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. IP address: 170.106.35.229, on 27 Sep 2021 at 21:00:27, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/eaa.2020.52 Manasterski et al. ‒ Ritual Feature in Late Neolithic Poland 227 Figure 1. Location of Site 6 in Suprasl.́ 1: Site 6 at Suprasl;́ 2: Borderland between western and eastern Europe; 3: Neman cultural circle; 4: Bell Beaker phenomenon (sources: Józwiak, 2003: map 8; Wawrusiewicz et al., 2015: fig. 5). interesting recent central-eastern European Neolithization of north-eastern Poland, as archaeological discoveries relating to the both an inhibitor and a stimulator (Koskó nature of these cultural interactions, & Szmyt, 2004:81–82). It had serious including ritual practices consequences for the cultural make-up of Podlachia, or Podlasie in Polish, is a the region, which remained a zone occu- geographical and historical region in pied by hunter-gatherer societies up to the north-eastern Poland on the border with beginning of the Bronze Age in the early Belarus, part of the wider North Podlasie second millennium BC. Traces of Neolithic Plain, one of the westernmost regions of farming and pastoral cultures have been eastern Europe (Kondracki, 2002: 236). found in Podlachia, but not in quantities Podlachia is distinguished by its con- that would indicate that the economic tinental climate and forms a border zone model based on hunting and gathering between the Western and Eastern was significantly affected (Wawrusiewicz, European Plains, the former characterized 2011; Wawrusiewicz et al., 2015:15–16). by its Atlantic climate, the latter by its The communities of the Neman culture continental climate. Aleksander Koskó at Site 6 in Suprasĺ belonged to the sub- and Marzena Szmyt noted the key role Neolithic Neman cultural circle, which this distinction in climate played in the consists, apart from the classic Neman Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. IP address: 170.106.35.229, on 27 Sep 2021 at 21:00:27, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/eaa.2020.52 228 European Journal of Archaeology 24 (2) 2021 Figure 2. Suprasl,́ Site 6. A: Model of the relief around the town of Suprasĺ marking the location of the site; B: Site 6, excavated areas: trenches (1), stone hearth with ritual deposit Feature 30 (2), ephemeral shelter (3), domestic features (4), damaged area (5), Neman culture sherds (6), visualization of sherd clusters and density (7) (sources: Kwiatkowski, 2015: fig. 1; Wawrusiewicz et al., 2015: = = = = fig. 69). Reproduced by permission of the Podlachian Museum in Bial = ystok. Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. IP address: 170.106.35.229, on 27 Sep 2021 at 21:00:27, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/eaa.2020.52 Manasterski et al. ‒ Ritual Feature in Late Neolithic Poland 229 culture, of the Linin group in Masovia MATERIALS AND METHODS and the Ząbie-Szestno group in Masuria, both in central north-eastern Poland Materials (Manasterski, 2016: 21, fig. 2). These communities made pottery while still prac- The feature known as Feature 30 at Site 6 tising a hunting-gathering economy. In in Suprasĺ formed an integral part of a the Late Neolithic, they occupied the vast Late Neolithic settlement and ritual territories between the upper Pripet river complex (Figures 2B and 3; Wawrusiewicz and the Vistula, sporadically reaching the et al., 2015:90–94). It consists of a Notećand Oder rivers in western Poland hearth, within which a bag made of (Charnyavski, 2011a: 49; Józwiak, 2003: unidentified organic material containing 189–95, map 11; Manasterski, 2016: 19). an array of ecofacts and artefacts was Their material culture reveals Neolithic found. The only evidence of this ‘pouch’ cultural influences and an Early Bronze was a ring of darker sand surrounding the Age impact in its final phase, which contents (Figure 4B). would seem a natural consequence of The hearth (Figure 4A), which mea- human interaction. Ceramic vessels consti- sured 0.50 m in diameter, was constructed tute the chief evidence of cultural diffusion of pebbles. These stones were fire-cracked. in the Neman cultural circle (e.g. The deposit inside it, which must have Kempisty, 1973, 1989: 313–16; Józwiak, been contained in a bag, included yellow- 2003: 189ff.; Charnyavski, 2011b; ish sand distinct from the surrounding Manasterski, 2009:62–64, 2014a:41–53, sand matrix, heavily fragmented burnt 2014b), hence they are a key factor for bones, five small sherds of differently identifying the cultural components of ornamented ceramic vessels, a small piece groups influencing change. Other types of of metal plate with a thick patina, an archaeological evidence have yet to be amber pendant, and three flint tools. clearly defined (Józwiak, 2003:69–76, The yellow sand (Figure 4) was clearly 147, 151–53, 158–61; Manasterski, 2016: different from the surroundings in terms 19–21). Evidence of spiritual life in the of grain structure and homogeneity. It form of ceremonial or ritual features is must have come from elsewhere, from a uncommon (Wawrusiewicz et al., 2017: location yet to be identified. The bones 188). Feature 30 from Site 6 in Suprasĺ (presumed to be animal, but see below) (Figure 2B) is one such extremely rare mixed with it, as well as the ceramic example. The context and the finds assem- sherds, flint artefacts, and amber pendant blage, coupled with results from archaeo- suggest that it formed an integral part of metric studies, suggest unique activities the deposit. The bones were the only indicative of ritual practices. organic macro-remains recovered, consist- In the Early Bronze Age, alongside ing of a small quantity of heavily fragmen- other Late Neolithic and Early Bronze ted burnt bone weighing 39.6 g, the larger Age cultural units, including Bell Beaker fragments being cracked and deformed elements, the Neman cultural circle fed (Figure 5A). The strong fragmentation, into the formation of the western part of porosity and white colour indicate burning the Trzciniec cultural circle (sensu at high temperatures of around 900– Makarowicz, 2010: 437). This latter repre- 1000oC. Identification to species, possible sents the cultural community of the bor- only for a few larger fragments, deter- derland between western and eastern mined the presence of domestic animals, Europe (Makarowicz, 2010: 24, 387). i.e. cattle, goat/sheep, and pig (Gręzak, Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. IP address: 170.106.35.229, on 27 Sep 2021 at 21:00:27, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/eaa.2020.52 230 European Journal of Archaeology 24 (2) 2021 Figure 3. Suprasl,́ Site 6. Ephemeral gully for shelter (1); stone hearth with ritual deposit Feature 30 (2); damaged area (3); pottery sherds (4); density of sherd clusters (5). 2015: 247). Nothing can be said about the stuck to the inside of this fragment other bones; it is not even certain whether (Figures 5C and 8C).

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