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Home , Corded Ware culture, Pitted Ware culture

Fennoscandia archaeologica XII (1995)

Gosta Bagenbolm

CORDED WARE IN AND

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to illustrate the types of transbaltic prehistoric contacts between JakiirHi culture and Swedish and Finnish Battle cultures.

Giista Bdgenholm, Goteborg University, Department of Archaeology, P.O.Box 2133 S-40313 Goteborg, Sweden.

Introduction place. Prehistoric ethnicity was most probably ex­ pressed in a more complicated way than by differ­ The term ethnic group is, in archaeological litera­ ences expressed solely in the decor. ture, almost completely interrelated with the term Corded Ware is the Finnish , although the later term culture's most common leading artefact. Finnish can comprise even an assemblage or a set of ide­ Battle Axe pottery has repeatedly been found on as, or can be used as a chronological instrument settlement sites together with finds from the (Funnel Beaker period, Battle Axe period, Comb period, the Comb Ware pottery styles Ware period style 1:2, etc.). 1:1, 1:2, 11:1, 11:2, ill:l, Jakiirlii-, Uskela-, Bronze In Kontaktstencil (Bagenholm 1992, 153) 1 Age, Asbestos tempered and MorbyWare pottery. pointed out that there is a risk when researchers There are also settlement sites which consist ex­ connect the term ethnic groups to archaeological clusively (Nos. according to Edgren 1970 321, pottery styles. My criticism was directed at the 607,713) and even mainly (Nos. 307,352,401) of tendency to associate asbestos pottery (Siir II) to Battle Axe artefacts. Of the 106 Finnish Battle the Sami ethnos and the attempt to find a Finnish Axe settlement sites, noted by Edgren, the majori­ ethnos in the coastbound Morby Ware culture. ty are classified, based only on the presence of The model anticipates that Finland's Swedish very few potsherds (less than 6) in an otherwise speaking population lacks settlement continuity heterogeneous find material (e.g. sites Nos. 301, prior to the Crusade period. If, instead, the present 302, 332 [11 cord decorated potsherds of 2670], coastal population does have a settlement continu­ 343,402,406, 509, 704, 710, 801. Edgren 1970, ity reaching back to the Morby Ware culture and 63-100). The settlement site (329) Hannusbacken the asbestos pottery belong to the Sami ethnos - in Lapinjarvi sn. Nyland records a stratigraphy then where are the ancestors of Finland's Finnish where Battle Axe pottery is found below Late speaking population to be found? It is, in my view, Comb Ware pottery, style 1:2 (Cleve 1931; Edgren unreasonable to interpret prehistoric pottery styles 1970,71). as ethnic indicators. In Battle Axe pottery is mixed with The Finnish Corded Ware pottery is often un­ Comb and Pitted Ware pottery: derstood as being an Indo-European pottery style "Most of the evidence consists of , iso­ originating in the Baltic region. My hypothesis is lated finds, and of rare sherds of Corded Ware pot­ that the cord decorated pottery is not limited to the tery together with late comb and pit ornamented Battle Axe period during which it is supposed that pottery styles; there is only one pure Corded Ware an Indo-European migration to Finland took site" (Rimantiene 1992, 135).

19 ''The phosphate hypothesis" sibly a specialised variation of the Funnel Beaker culture (Indrelid 1972, 10; Carlie 1986, 156ft), or alternatively, a regional variation inside the Fun­ Assuming that the Finnish Corded Ware pottery is nel Beaker culture (Browall1991). later than the Early Comb Ware pottery, it would The early Pitted Ware settlement sites are al­ mean that the contaminated settlement sites have most always contaminated with Funnel Beaker ar­ had two entirely separate activities at widely sepa­ tefacts and later on with Battle Axe artefacts. 14C rated periods of time. Taking the changing land dated constructions which are dominated by Pit­ levels into account, this implies that only the earli­ ted Ware artefacts in Sweden cover the period est settlement could have been shorebound. 2700-1700 BC (Algotsson 1992,13, uncalibrated Sakari Piilsi proposed that the high phosphate value). The 's time axle levels on original settlement sites prevented forest stretches from the Funnel Beaker phase to the regrowth, the glades being primarily responsible transition period of the Late , and over­ for the occurrence of varying pottery styles in ex­ laps the in the sequence 2290- actly the same area. I would call this "the phos­ 1770 BC (Algotsson 1992, 13, uncalibrated val­ phate hypothesis" and this hypothesis is support­ ue). ed in the Finnish literature (for example, Edgren The profiled vessel shape is an attribute which 1984, 75; Edgren 1993, 87; Purhonen & Ruona­ the Pitted Ware pottery has in common with the vaara 1994). Finnish pottery finds from Pyheensilta, Lyytikiin­ The Pitted Ware culture is found in the regions harju, Hiittenharju and Ristinpelto (Vikkula 1988, of Skagerak and Kattegatt, on Bornholm, in south­ 61). The pit and comb decorations are the other ern up to Aland and on the Swedish attributes which the Finnish Comb Ware pottery mainland in Dalarna (Vindforberget Ore sn, shares with the East Swedish Pitted Ware pottery Oresand Leksand sn, Korsniiset Grangarde sn. (Sater IV/Fagervik IV). A potsherd from Hiitten­ LOfstrand 1969; Ericson 1980, 3f). The Pitted harju in Finland resembles the East Swedish Pit­ Ware culture is considered to have halted east of ted Ware pottery (Vikkula 1988, 62). the Aland archipelago, despite the fact that the The East Swedish Pitted Ware pottery (Browall Finnish Comb Ware pottery is usually pit decorat­ 1991, 120), the Early Comb Ware pottery (Fast ed. 1993, 67ft), and the Jakarla pottery (Edgren 1966, Oskar Almgren interpreted the Megalithic cul­ 84) are all mineral- and chalk tempered. ture as an invading culture and the Pitted Ware The Comb Ware vessels appear to be larger in people as a remnant of the ErtebOlle culture terms of volume capacity than the Pitted Ware (Almgren 1912, 12, 61f). Mats P. Malmer's inter­ vessels which seldom keep more than 10 to 15 li­ pretation is that the Pitted Ware culture developed tres (information received from Christian Lind­ from earlier foraging cultures (ErtebOlle, Trindyx, qvist). The Comb Ware vessels contain between 9 Nostved and Fosna) (MaImer 1969, 100f). Today litres (NM 17238) and 45 litres (NM 14697) it is suggested that the Pitted Ware culture is pos- (Edgren 1982, 24, table 1. A unique vessel hold-

Fig. 1. Comb decorated pottery from the settlement site at Karleby, 148, Viistergotland. (F 119). Drawing: Lisbet Bengtsson. (Unpublished).

20 ing 72 liters from Lieto Kukkarkoski I is recorded and the building techniques in the production of (ibid, 29 fig 16). According to Fast the Comb cord decorated Vra Ware pottery and cord deco­ Ware vessels became reduced in volume between rated Battle Axe pottery in Sweden. the styles 1:1 and 1:2 (Fast 1993,75). "If the datings of the South Scandinavian fmds In the Balticum (Nida, Southwest ) mentioned above (Corded Ware, Vra Ware and cord decorated vessels have been found capable Battle Axe) were not so established, whilst at of holding around 100 litres (EM 2243:6201, the same time so incompatible, then it would 2243:6202, Rimantiene 1990, fig 29). The varia­ make it easier to ascertain whether or not the finds tion in vessel size most likely reflects functional complement each other and in that case possibly requirements rather than ethnical differences. are contemporary" (Olsson & Hulten 1985, 30, my parenthesis, translation Fiona Campbell). It is strange that no Funnel Beaker pottery has Comb Ware pottery, Funnel Beaker been registered in Finland and no Finnish Battle Axe pottery has been registered in Sweden, espe­ pottery and Vra pottery. cially when we know that cord decorated pottery, comb decorated pottery and Pitted Ware have Aarne Ayriipiili considered that the Comb Ware been located on both sides of the Gulf of Bothnia. pottery in Finland has several decorative at­ tributes comparable to the South Scandinavian Funnel Beaker pottery (Beaker period C). He mentions dotted lines, twisted cords, alternating Some implications in the horizontal and vertical lines, garlands, comb fieldarchaeological method stamps, pitted designs and oval or half moon­ shaped impressions (Ayriipiili 1956, 41f). The Per Persson notes that in 4 of the 16 known Battle Comb Ware pottery however lacks the Funnel Axe settlement sites found on the Swedish west Beaker pottery's leading design elements: the ver­ coast there is doubt as to whether the cord decorat­ tical lines on the belly of the vessel, the angled ed pottery should be attributed to the Funnel lines and the cord impressions (vertikala jaror, Beaker or the Battle Axe pottery (Grimeton in linjeknippen, de enkla snorintrycken, vinkellin­ Halland, Lyse 13C in Bohuslan, Skogome and jema are the terms used by Ayriipiili, ibid 42). Angas in Goteborg municipality. Persson 1986, In 1935 an Early Neolithic farming site was dis­ 270f). Nine of the 16 known settlement sites, i.e. covered in Eastern Vra, Stora Malms sn. 56%, are contaminated with Pitted Ware pottery. Sooermanland containing Funnel Beaker pottery. Unless aided by stratigraphy or absolute dating it Vra Ware culture's relative dating is based on ought to be practically impossible to differentiate comparison with South Scandinavian material a settlement site belonging to either the Funnel (Olsson & Hulten 1985,27). Pottery which resem­ Beaker or the Battle Axe culture when the only bles the East Swedish VrA Ware was found in distinguishing design element in the pottery is southern Scandinavia and the earliest dating given cord decoration. was approx. 3000 BC. The Vra Ware pottery is The vertical stratigraphy is not of overbearing decorated with cord, line, comb, and nail impres­ importance for the dating of Finnish pottery. The sions (Florin 1958, pI. I-XV). dating of pottery in Finland is based on shore dis­ The Vra Ware has an assemblage comparable placement, decoration styles and a hypothesis with the Jiikiirlii pottery and the Finnish Battle about decor evolution. Axe pottery. However, both these Finnish groups "Questions relating to the decoration of the are regarded as later. The Vra Ware has attributes (Comb Ware) style 1:2 and its stylistic chronologi­ known from the Early Comb Ware pottery. The cal relationship to other pottery groups... have similarities are the profile, the pointed bottom and played an important part in the publications ... the decoration motifs: pits, twisted cords, many researchers appear to be in agreement with Furchenstich (dotted lines) and small oval inden­ the fact that the development of the style 1:2 has tations (Ayriipiili 1956,46). The Vra Ware bottom progressed in time from simple to more diversi­ could belong to the Pitted Ware (after approx. fied and "elaborate" decoration of the vessel 2600 BC), but it does seem somewhat unlikely. walls" (Fast 1993, 2, my parenthesis; translation No other Pitted Ware pottery has been located at Fiona Campbell). Vra Ware settlement sites, which are not Analogous to what has been previously re­ shorebound settlements (persson 1987, 59). marked upon, I believe it is plausible that the cord Birgitta Hulten has pointed out the similarities decorated pottery found in Finland is earlier, con­ to be found in the clay used, the mineral inclusion temporary, and later than that which has been la-

21 o 2 ....1· --+-~( .(:: r«t

Fig. 2. Comb decorated pottery. A fragment from the vessel from the passage-grave at Gokhem, 71, Viistergotland. (F 73). Drawing: Gosta Bagenholm (Bagenholm et al. 1993).

belled the Battle Axe culture. With support from 2370±170 Be. Bengtsson 1988, 38; Torvinen the recorded stratigraphy (Cleve 1931) where the 1979,80). Battle Axe pottery is located in layers below those It would appear as if the Battle Axe culture of the earlier Comb Ware pottery (style 1:2), it is within a very short time span had managed to cov­ not unlikely that the corded motif in Finland is er a very large area. This emphasizes in my opin­ also part of the Comb Ware pottery tradition, usu­ ion what Mats P Malmer maintains, namely that ally tempered differently. the Battle Axe culture is a sign of cultural change To my knowledge Jukka Luoto is the only in early cultures, which mainly manifests a Finnish archaeologist who is willing to interpret change in custom (Malmer 1962; 1975). the Finnish Battle Axe culture as a local develop­ ment of the earlier Finnish cultures (Luoto 1986). I would like to add that I think it might be possible Seal hunters that the corded motif in Finland is also a part of the Comb Ware pottery tradition. According to Markus Hiekk:anen there is no The facts that speak in favour of a continuity change in the osteological material found at the between the Finnish Comb Ware and Battle Axe settlement site before, during or after the Finnish pottery are according to my view: Battle Axe culture. Seal hunting appears to have 1) 14C dating been stable and seal bones make up the majority 2) Seal hunting of recuperated osteological remains (Hiekkanen 3) The absence of wool fibres in the Fenno­ 1990). If these recent observations are correct, this scandian should more probably suggest a continuity be­ tween the Finnish Battle Axe culture and the Comb Ware culture than an immigration of an 14C dating Indo-European people from the Balticum.

The Battle Axe settlement site at Jonsas (settle­ ment 302) in Yanda outside Helsinki (Hel-l006, Cord impressions 2570±130 BC) has an age close to a German set­ tlement site (DOlaurer-Heeide in - As far as I know, no one has yet examined the H253/208, 2570±11O BC). These are today the Corded Ware pottery's cord impressions. In the two earliest 14C dated Battle Axe settlement sites Nordic countries the only textile fabrics known in the world. There are of course objections to the from this period are made from lime and willow dating of the Finnish settlement site. The case raffia. On the Continent both wool and flax have rests on a single dating and the material in ques­ been identified (Bender J~rgensen 1992, 114ff). tion is charcoal assumed to have some connection This may suggest a continuity between the Funnel with a Battle Axe grave (Purhonen 1986, 133). On Beaker pottery of Sweden, the Comb Ware pot­ the other hand if one is to review 14C datings of the tery of Finland and the Battle Axe pottery in Swe­ Battle Axe culture, the second through the seventh den and Finland, based on the production tech­ earliest datings come from Holland or Germany niques used for making the decoration tools (cords (Bengtsson 1988, 33ff), whilst the first and the of willow or lime raffia). The hypothesis for a mi­ eighth earliest datings are from Finland (Hel-831, grating requires a break in

22 the continuity, pertaining to textile fabrics. One lands historia 1. must otherwise ask why the Indo-European pasto­ Ericson, Per 1980: Korsnaset en gropkeramisk inlandsboplats i Dalarna. C-uppsats i arkeologi. ral culture (Gimbutas 1991, 385 fig 10:32) re­ Stockholms universitet. frained from working with wool fibres (which Fast, Jan 1993: Stilart 1:2 i vastra och mellersta were known on the Continent) as soon as they ar­ Nyland. Pro graduavhandling 5.3.1993. Arkeolo­ rived in Scandinavia and in Finland. giska Institutionen, Helsingfors Universitet, Hel­ singfors. Florin, Sten 1958: Vrakulturen. Stenllldersboplat­ serna vid Mogetorp, Ostra Vra och Brokvam. Acknowledgements Stockholm. Gimbutas, Marija 1991: The Civilization of the Translation: Fiona Campbell. Goddes. San Francisco. Hiekkanen, Markus 1990: A suggested interpreta­ tion of the maritime of Mesolithic and Ear­ ly Neolithic culture in Finland. Iskos 9. Indrelid, Svein 1972: Om opphavet til "den References gropkeramiske kultur". Nicolay 11:14, pp 1~14. Luoto, Jukka 1986: Problem inom Mellan­ neolitikum. Finskt Museum 1986, pp 9-21. Algotsson, Asa 1992: Mellanneolitikum i Ost­ LOfstrand, Lars 1969: Den gropkeramiska kulturens sverige. En diskussion om fOrhAllandet meUan nordgrans och kontakter med norrlandsk sten­ den gropkeramiska kulturen och bAtyxekulturen. Alder. Skytteanska samfundets handlingar 6. C-uppsats, Goteborgs universitet. Arkeologiska Malmer, Mats P. 1962: Jungneolitische Studie. Acta institutionen, Goteborg. Archaeologica Lundensia Series 8, or 2. Almgren, Oskar 1912: NAgra svensk-finska sten­ Malmer, Mats P. 1969: Gropkeramikboplatsen Aldersproblem. Antikvarisk tidskrift 20: 1. Jonstorp RA. Antikvariskt arkiv 36. Bender J~rgensen, Lise 1992: North European Tex­ Malmer, Mats P. 1975: Stridsyxekulturen i Sverige tiles until AD 1000. Aarhus University Press. och Norge. Stockholm. Bengtsson, Kurt 1988: Stridsyxekulturen i Nord­ Olsson, Eva & Hulten, Birgitta 1985: StenMders­ europa - ursprung och utbredning. C-uppsats, boplatsen pA Malmahed. RAA Rapport UV Stockholms universitet ht 1988. 1985:20. Browall, Hans 1991: Om fOrhAllandet mellan tratt­ Persson, Per 1986: NAgra kommentarer till en lista bagarkultur och gropkeramisk kultur. Viistsvenska over SYK boplatsfynd frAn den svenska vast­ stenllldersstudier, Gotarc serie C Arkeologiska kusten. Strids¢ksetid i Sydskandinavien Beretning skrifter no 8. Ed: Browall & Persson & Sjogren. fra et symposium 2B.-3D.X. I9B5 i Vejle. Ed. BAgenholm, Gosta 1992: Diskussion kring renskot­ Adamsen, Christian & Ebbesen, Klaus. K~ben­ selns ursprung - renen och andra etniska mark­ havn. orer i Sameatanam. Kontaktstencil 36, pp. 141- Persson, Per 1987: Etapper i lantbrukets spridning. 156. En rekonstruktion utifrAn de tidigaste sparen i BAgenholm, Gosta, Persson, Per & Sjogren, Karl­ nordvasteuropa Gotarc serie C Arkeologiska Goran 1993: Gokhem 71 HovmansgArden 1:10 skrifter no 4. gAnggrift och boplatsomrAde. Rapport frAn pro­ Purhonen, Paula 1986: Vantaan IOnsaksen nuorake­ jektet "GAnggriftema i centrala Vastergotland och raamiset haudat. Iskos 6. deras bakgrund. Gotarc serie D. Arkeologiska Purhonen, Paula & Ruonavaara, Leena 1994: On rapporter No 21. Subsistence Economy at the Prehistoric Dwelling­ earlie, Ann 1986: Om gropkeramisk kultur i Sllie, Site Area of IOnsas in Vantaa, Southern Finland. speciellt Jonstorp. Arkeologiske skrifter 1. Fenno-ugri et slavi 1992. Prehistoric economy Cleve, Nils 1931: Berattelse over arkeologiska and means of livelihood. Museovirasto. Arkeolo­ undersokningar utforda pA uppdrag av Arkeolo­ gian osaston julkaisu no 5. giska Kommissionen A Hannusbackens stenAl­ Rimantiene, Rimute 1990: Lietuvos istorijos dersboplats Ii Helgars hemmans mark i Lindkoski paminklai. Vilnius. by av Lapptrask socken 1931. National Board of Rimantiene, Rimute 1992: The Neolithic of the Antiquities, Department of Archaeology, the top­ Eastern Baltic. Journal of World . Vol­ ographical archive. (Unpublished report). ume 6 Number 1 (March 1992), pp 97-143. Edgren, Torsten 1966: Jiikiirla-gruppen. En vast­ Torvinen, Markku 1979: Liedon Kukkarkosken finsk kulturgrupp under yngre stenAlder. FFT 64. kivikautinen kalrnisto, Summary: The Stone Age Edgren, Torsten 1970: Studier over den snorkera­ cemetary of Kukkarkoski i Lieto. Suomen Museo miska kulturens keramik i Finland, FFT 72. 1978, pp 79-80. .. Edgren, Torsten 1982: Formgivning och funktion, Vikkula, Anne 1988: Ostersjon som en fOrutsattning en kamkeramisk studie. Iskos 3. for mellan- och senneolitisk utveckling. Iskos 7, Edgren, Torsten 1984: On the economy and subsist­ pp 59-66. ence of the Battle-axe culture in Finland. Iskos 4, Ayrapaa, Aarne 1956: Den yngre stenMderns pp 9-15. kronologi i Finland och Sverige. Finskt Museum Edgren, Torsten 1993: Den fOrhistoriska tiden. Fin- 1955.

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