The Linear Pottery culture face vessel from the site Biskupice 18, southern Poland

Marta Korczyńska; Robert Kenig; Marek Nowak; Agnieszka Czekaj-Zastawny; Maciej Nowak; Magdalena Moskal-del Hoyo

doi:10.23858/SA/73.2021.1.2596

Published: 2021-03-10

Vol. 73 No. 1 (2021)

The Linear Pottery culture face vessel from the site Biskupice 18, southern Poland

Marta Korczyńska , Robert Kenig , Marek Nowak , Agnieszka Czekaj-Zastawny , Maciej Nowak , Magdalena Moskal-del Hoyo

Sprawozdania Archeologiczne

Section: Field Survey and Materials

https://doi.org/10.23858/SA/73.2021.1.2596

Abstract

This paper presents the stylistic analysis of a unique face vessel fragment, found at a recently excavated settlement of the Linear Pottery culture near Biskupice, located in the Carpathian foothill region in southern Poland. The evaluation is based on a multivariate analysis of the stylistic features of 130 human face vessels from 91 Central European Neolithic sites of the Linear Pottery culture and the Alföld Linear Pottery culture, and is conducted with the help of multiple correspondence analysis (MCA). The main objective of the research is to find the closest analogies of the Biskupice by tracking similarities between the manner of execution of the combination of facial elements and accompanying motifs appearing on the Biskupice vessel and on other depictions of the human face. This investigation also aims to make inferences about the chrono-cultural connections of the first agrarian societies in the area of the Carpathian foothills with other regions of the Linear Pottery world.

Keywords:

Linear Pottery culture, Early Neolithic, anthropomorphic representations, face vessels, multivariate statistics, Linear Pottery culture, Early Neolithic, anthropomorphic representations, face vessels, multivariate statistics

Most read articles by the same author(s)

Marek Nowak, Maria Lityńska-Zając, Magdalena Moskal-del Hoyo, Aldona Mueller-Bieniek, Magda Kapcia, Krzysztof Kotynia, Plants of the Funnel Beaker culture in Poland , Sprawozdania Archeologiczne: Vol. 72 No. 1 (2020): Sprawozdania Archeologiczne
Agnieszka Czekaj-Zastawny, Human burials and funeral rites of the Linear Pottery culture from the territory of Poland , Sprawozdania Archeologiczne: Vol. 73 No. 1 (2021): Sprawozdania Archeologiczne
Anna Rauba-Bukowska, Maciej Nowak, Gabriela Jużwińska, Magdalena Moskal-del Hoyo, Early Neolithic red-painted pottery from the Prandocin site, southern Poland. Indirect transfer in a technological context , Sprawozdania Archeologiczne: Vol. 75 No. 2 (2023): Sprawozdania Archeologiczne
Maria Lityńska-Zając , Agnieszka Czekaj-Zastawny , Anna Rauba-Bukowska , Utilisation of cultivated and wild plants in the economy of the Linear Pottery Culture in the Upper Vistula basin , Sprawozdania Archeologiczne: Vol. 69 (2017)
Agnieszka Czekaj-Zastawny, Jacek Kabaciński, Thomas Terberger, Cultural Relations between the Great Hungarian Plain and the Southern Baltic Coast. Imports from the Bodrogkeresztúr Culture on the Site Dąbki 9 (Middle Pomerania) = Relacje kulturowe między terenami Wielkiej Niziny Węgierskiej a południowym wybrzeżem Bał , Sprawozdania Archeologiczne: Vol. 63 (2011)
Agnieszka Czekaj-Zastawny, (review) Peter Stadler and Nadezhda Kotova, Early Neolithic Settlement Brunn am Ge-birge, Wolfholz, in Lower Austria 1. Early Neolithic Settlement Brunn am Gebirge, Wolf-holz, Site 2 in Lower Austria and the Origin of the Linear Pottery Culture (LPC) (= Beiträge zur Ur- und Frühgeschichte Mitteleuropas 88). Langenweißbach 2019: Verlag Beier & Beran. ISBN 978-3-95741-100-6. 2 volumes, 1082 pages with colour figures and tables. , Sprawozdania Archeologiczne: Vol. 74 No. 1 (2022): Sprawozdania Archeologiczne
Barbara Burchard, Agnieszka Czekaj-Zastawny, Prof. dr hab. Anna Teresa Kulczycka-Leciejewiczowa (1.IX.1934-13.VIII.2011) , Sprawozdania Archeologiczne: Vol. 63 (2011)
Magdalena Moskal-del Hoyo, Medieval charcoals from Kokotów site 19 (commune Wieliczka) – some remarks on the sampling method and the interpretation of the anthracological assemblages , Sprawozdania Archeologiczne: Vol. 66 (2014)

Download files

pdf

Citation rules

Korczyńska, M., Kenig, R., Nowak, M., Czekaj-Zastawny, A., Nowak, M., & Moskal-del Hoyo, M. (2021). The Linear Pottery culture face vessel from the site Biskupice 18, southern Poland. Sprawozdania Archeologiczne, 73(1). https://doi.org/10.23858/SA/73.2021.1.2596

Cited by / Share

Licence

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

References

Bánffy E. 1991. Cult and archaeological context in Middle and South-East Europe in the Neolithic and the Chalcolithic. Antaeus 19-20, 183-248.
Google Scholar

Bánffy E. 2019. First Farmers of the Carpathian Basin. Changing Patterns in Subsistence, Ritual and Monumental Figures (= Prehistoric Society Research Paper 8). Oxford & Philadelphia: Oxbow Books.
Google Scholar

Becker V. 2007. Rinder, Schweine, Mischwesen. Zoomorphe Funde der westlichen Linearbandkeramik. In R. Gleser (ed.), Zwischen Mosel und Morava - Neue Grabungen und Forschungen zur Vor- und Frühgeschichte Mitteleuropas (= Saarbrücker Studien und Materialien zur Altertumskunde 11). Bonn: Dr. Rudolf Habelt GmbH, 9-95.
Google Scholar

Becker V. 2011. Anthropomorphe Plastik der westlichen Linearbandkeramik (= Saarbrücker Beiträge zur Altertumskunde 83). Bonn: Dr. Rudolf Habelt GmbH.
Google Scholar

Beljak-Pažinová N. 2018. Faces from the past. Some thoughts about anthropomorphic and zoomorphic figurines and images in the Neolithic period. Studia Historica Nitrensia 22.1, 3-26.
Google Scholar

Conrad M., Ender W., Herbig C. and Homann A. 2012. Eine Straße durch die Zeiten. Archäologische Grabungen an der Ortsumgehung Mügeln. Archaeo 9(2012), 4-17.
Google Scholar

Csengeri P. 2011. Középső Neolitikus Arcos Edények Garadnáról (Hernád-Völgy). A Herman Ottó Múzeum Évkönyve 50, 67-104.
Google Scholar

Csengeri P. 2013. Figural representations from the Initial Phase of the Alföld Linear Pottery culture from Novajidrány (Hernád Valley, Northeast Hungary). In A. Anders and G. Kulcsár (eds), Moments in Time. Papers Presented to Pal Raczky on His 60th Birthday (= Prehistoric Studies 1). Budapest: L’Harmattan, 91-112.
Google Scholar

Csengeri P. 2014. Újabb középső neolitikus arcos edények Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén megyéből. A Herman Ottó Múzeum Évkönyve 53, 41-66.
Google Scholar

Czekaj-Zastawny A. 2008. Osadnictwo społeczności kultury ceramiki wstęgowej rytej w dorzeczu górnej Wisły. Kraków: Instytut Archeologii i Etnologii PAN.
Google Scholar

Czekaj-Zastawny A. 2009. Settlement of the Linear Pottery culture in Southeastern Poland (= The First Neolithic Sites in Central/South-East European Transect Volume V = British Archaeological Reports S2049). Oxford: Archaeopress.
Google Scholar

Czekaj-Zastawny A. 2014. Brzezie 17. Osada kultury ceramiki wstęgowej rytej (= Via Archaeologica. Źródła z badań wykopaliskowych na trasie autostrady A4 w Małopolsce). Kraków: Krakowski Zespół do Badań Autostrad.
Google Scholar

Czekaj-Zastawny A. 2017. The first farmers from the South – Linear Pottery culture. In P. Włodarczak (ed.), 5500-2000 BC (= P. Urbańczyk (ed.), The Past Societies. Polish lands from the first evidence of human presence to the Early Middle Ages 2). Warszawa: Instytut Archeologii i Etnologii PAN, 21-62.
Google Scholar

Czekaj-Zastawny A. and Rauba-Bukowska A. 2014. Technology of the earliest vessels in the upper Vistula River basin – imports against local pottery. In T. L. Kienlin, P. Valde-Nowak, M. Korczyńska, K. Cappenberg and J. Ociepka (eds), Settlement, Communication and Exchange around the Western Carpathians. International Workshop held at the Institute of Archaeology, Jagiellonian University, Kraków, October 27-28, 2012. Oxford: Archaeopress, 95-107.
Google Scholar

Czekaj-Zastawny A., Rauba-Bukowska A. and Hreha R. 2018. Colorants used to decorate the Bükk culture vessels. In Valde-Nowak P., Sobczyk K., Nowak M. and Źrałka J. (eds), Multas per Gentes et Multa per Saecula. Amici magistro et collegae suo Ioanni Christopho Kozłowski dedicant. Kraków: Institute of Archaeology, Jagiellonian University and Alter Radosław Palonka, 351-359.
Google Scholar

Czekaj-Zastawny A., Rauba-Bukowska A., Kukułka A., Kufel-Diakowska B., Lityńska-Zając M., Moskal-del Hoyo M. and Wilczyński J. 2020. The earliest farming communities north of the Carpathians: The settlement at Gwoździec site 2. PLoS ONE 15/1: e0227008. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0227008.
Google Scholar

Czerniak L. 1998. The first farmers. In M. Chłodnicki and L. Krzyżaniak (eds), Pipeline of Archaeological Treasures. Poznań: Poznańskie Towarzystwo Prehistoryczne, 23-36.
Google Scholar

Czerniak R. 2014. Sprawozdanie z badań archeologicznych przeprowadzonych na stanowisku nr 18 w Biskupicach, gm. Biskupice pow. wielicki. Kraków: typescript filed in WKZ.
Google Scholar

Domboróczki L. 2013. Neolithic Cult Objects and Their Symbolism. In A. Anders and G. Kulcsár (eds), Moments in Time. Papers Presented to Pal Raczky on His 60th Birthday (= Prehistoric Studies 1). Budapest: L’Harmattan, 487-502.
Google Scholar

Gimbutas M. 1989. Die Sprache der Göttin: Das verschüttete Symbolsystem der westlichen Zivilisation. Frankfurt am Main: Zweitausendeins.
Google Scholar

Hansen S. 2007 Bilder vom Menschen der Steinzeit: Untersuchungen zur anthropomorphen Plastik der Jungsteinzeit und Kupferzeit in Südosteuropa. Mainz: von Zabern.
Google Scholar

Hodder I. 2006. Çatalhöyük. The leopard’stale. Revealing the mysteries of Turkey’s ancient „town“. New York: Thames & Hudson.
Google Scholar

Höckmann O. 1967. Menschliche Darstellungen in der bandkeramischen Kultur. Jahrbuch Des Römisch-Germanischen Zentralmuseums Mainz 12(1965), 1-34.
Google Scholar

Höckmann O. 1966. Idolplastik der Theiss- und Bükk-Kultur. Jahrbuch Des Römisch-Germanischen Zentralmuseums Mainz 13, 1-29.
Google Scholar

Kadrow S. 2020. Faza i styl żeliezowski kultury ceramiki wstęgowej rytej w Polsce południowo-wschodniej. In M. Dębiec and T. Saile (eds), A planitiebus usque ad montes: studia archaeologica Andreae Pelisiak vitae anno sexagesimo quinto oblata. Rzeszów: Fundacja Rzeszowskiego Ośrodka Archeologicznego, 143-152.
Google Scholar

Kalicz N. and Raczky P. 1982. Siedlung der Körös-Kultur in Szolnok-Szanda (Vorbericht). Mitteilungen des Archäologischen Instituts der Ungarischen Akademie der Wissenschaften 10/11 (1980/81), 13-24 and 329-340.
Google Scholar

Kaminská L., Kaczanowska M. and Kozłowski J. K. 2008. Košice-Červený Rak and the Körös/Eastern Linear transition in the Hornád Basin (Eastern Slovakia)/Košice-Červenýrak a prechod od krišskej kultúry ku kultúre s východnou lineárnou keramikou v údolí Hornádu. Přehled výzkumů 49, 83-91.
Google Scholar

Kaufmann D. 1976. Linienbandkeramische Kultgegenstände aus dem Elbe-Saale-Gebiet. Jahresschrift für Mitteldeutsche Vorgeschichte 60, 61-96.
Google Scholar

Kondracki J. 1998. Geografia regionalna Polski. Warszawa: Polskie Wydawnictwo Naukowe.
Google Scholar

Korczyńska M. 2014. Dynamics of the Depositional Processes: The Example of the Tree Windthrow Structure at the Graveyard in Janowice, site 44 (AZP 106-65/103). In T. L. Kienlin, P. Valde-Nowak, M. Korczyńska, K. Cappenberg and J. Ociepka (eds), Settlement, Communication and Exchange around the Western Carpathians. International Workshop held at the Institute of Archaeology, Jagiellonian University, Kraków October 27-28, 2012. Oxford: Archaeopress, 231-248.
Google Scholar

Lasota-Kuś A. 2013. Sprawozdanie z nadzoru przeprowadzonego na stanowisku nr 18 w Biskupicach gm. Biskupice pow. wielicki. Kraków: typescript filed in WKZ.
Google Scholar

Lehmann C. 2018. Figürliche Darstellungen im Frühneolithikum in Sachsen. Leipzig: unpublished Master-thesis.
Google Scholar

Lityńska-Zając M. and Czekaj-Zastawny A. 2021. Utilisation of plant materials in houses of the Linear Pottery culture. A case study of Brzezie. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 35/2, 102710. DOI: 10.1016/j.jasrep.2020.102710.
Google Scholar

Macheridis S. 2017. The use of multiple correspondence analysis (MCA) in taphonomy: The case of Middle Helladic Asine, Greece. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology 27/3, 477-487. DOI: 10.1002/oa.2571.
Google Scholar

Modderman P. J. R. 1986. On the typology of the houseplans and their European setting. In I. Pavlů, J. Rulf and M. Zápotocká (eds), Theses on the Neolithic site of Bylany. Památky Archeologické 77, 383-394.
Google Scholar

Moskal-del Hoyo M., Rauba-Bukowska A., Lityńska-Zając M., Mueller-Bieniek A. and Czekaj-Zastawny A. 2017. Plant materials used as temper in the oldest Neolithic pottery from south-eastern Poland. Vegetation History and Archaeobotany 26, 329-344. DOI: 10.1007/s00334-016-0595-6.
Google Scholar

Mrówka Ł. 2011. Development of pottery style on the Bronze and Early Iron Age cemetery at Kietrz, Głubczyce district, in the light of statistical analyses. Recherches Archéologiques Nouvelle Serie 3, 67-100.
Google Scholar

Naumov G. 2015. Neolitski figurini vo Makedonija/Neolithic Figurines in Macedonia. Skopje: Magor.
Google Scholar

Pavlů I. and Šumberová R. 2017. The social role of Neolithic pots. In H. Schwarzberg and V. Becker (eds), Bodies of Clay. On Prehistoric Humanised Pottery. Proceedings of the Session at the 19th EAA Annual Meeting at Pilsen, 5th September. Oxford & Philadelphia: Oxbow Books, 110-120.
Google Scholar

Pavúk J. 1969. Chronologie der Želiezovce-Gruppe. Slovenská Archeológia 17/2, 269-367.
Google Scholar

Raczky P. and Anders A. 2003.The internal relations of the Alföld Linear Pottery culture in Hungary and the characteristics of human representation. In E. Jeremand P. and Raczky (eds), Morgenrot der Kulturen. Frühe Etappen der Menschheitsgeschichte in Mittel- und Südosteuropa. Festschrift für Nándor Kalicz zum 75. Geburtstag. Budapest: Archaeolingua, 155-182.
Google Scholar

Raczky P. and Anders A. 2018. The woman, the pots, and the cattle figurine. New materiality of an early ALP burial from Polgár-Ferenci-hát. In P. Valde-Nowak, K. Sobczyk, M. Nowak and J. Źrałka (eds), Multas per Gentes et Multa per Saecula, Amici Magistro et College suo Ioanni Christopho Kozłowski dedicant. Kraków: Institute of Archaeology, Jagiellonian University and Alter Radosław Palonka, 317-328.
Google Scholar

Raczky P., Sümegi P., Bartosiewicz L., Gál E., Kaczanowska M., Kozłowski J. K. and Anders A. 2010. Ecological barrier versus mental marginal zone? Problems of the northernmost Körös culture settlements in the Great Hungarian Plain. In D. Gronenborn and J. Petrasch (eds), Die Neolithisierung Mitteleuropas. Internationale Tagung, Mainz 24. bis 26. Juni 2005 – The Spread of the Neolithic in Central Europe. International Symposium, Mainz 24 June – 26 June 2005 (= Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum Tagungen 4). Mainz: Verlag des Römisch-Germanischen Zentralmuseums, 147-173.
Google Scholar

Rauba-Bukowska A. and Czekaj-Zastawny A. 2020. Changes in the pottery production of the Linear Pottery culture. Origins and directions of ideas. In Spataro M. and Furholt M. (eds), Detecting and explaining technological innovation in prehistory. Leiden: Sidestone Press, 73-84.
Google Scholar

Schwarzberg H. 2011. Durch menschliche Kunst und Gedanken gemacht. Studien zur anthropomorphen Gefäßkeramik des 7. bis 5. vorchristlichen Jahrtausends (= Münchner Archäologische Forschungen 1). Rahden/Westf.: Verlag Marie Leidorf.
Google Scholar

Sebők K. 2018. Evolution of a design system in the eastern part of the Carpathian Basin. Transformations of the vessel-based human representations of the Middle Neolithic Szakalhat culture and the genesis of the Late Neolithic Tiszaculture‘s ‘textile’ decoration. Quaternary International 491, 110-124.
Google Scholar

Sebők K. 2014. Bükk-Keramik in Zwięczyca. In M. Dębiec (ed.), Zwięczyca 3. Eine bandkeramische Siedlung am Wisłok. Rzeszów: Oficyna Wydawnicza Zimowit, 80-85.
Google Scholar

Sebők K. and Kovács K. 2009. Hengeres testű arcos edény töredékei a fiatal Szakálháti-kultúra rákóczifalva határában feltárt településéről. In L. Bende and G. Lőrinczy (eds), Medinától Etéig. Szentes: Koszta Józef Múzeum, 81-90.
Google Scholar

Soják M. 2000. Neolitické osídlenie Spiša. Slovenská Archeológia 48/2, 185-314.
Google Scholar

Tomašovičová T. 2018. The missing faces / Chýbajúce tváre. Studia Archaeologica Brunensia 23, 33-50.
Google Scholar

Twiss K. and Russel N. 2010. Taking the Bull By the Horns: Ideology, Masculinity, and Cattle Horns at Çatalhöyük. Paléorient 35/2, 19-32.
Google Scholar

Zimmermann A. 1997. Zur Anwendung der Korrespondenzanalyse in der Archäologie. In J. Müller and A. Zimmermann (eds), Archäologie und Korrespondenzanalzse. Beispiele, Fragen, Perspektiven. Espelkamp: Verlag Marie Leidorf, 9-15.
Google Scholar