Published: 2025-12-16

Between Two Worlds: on figurative representations of the Middle Neolithic Stroked Pottery culture

Rebecca Bristow
Sprawozdania Archeologiczne
Section: Articles
DOI https://doi.org/10.23858/SA/77.2025.2.3904

Abstract

Once characteristic of the Southeastern and, to a lesser extent, Central European Neolithic lifestyle, the use of
clay figurines, figurative vessels and applications took a turn at the start of the Middle Neolithic (5000 BCE). While thousands were still found in Southeastern Europe, their number dropped significantly in large parts of Central Europe. This article focuses on the Stroked Pottery culture, the Samborzec-Malice culture, and the Southeastern Bavarian Middle Neolithic group as an area of transition between a figurative Southeastern Europe and a non-figurative Northwestern Europe. Observing notable changes in both the shapes and contexts of the finds as early as when farmers settled in Central Europe, I argue that the disappearance of the Southeastern clay
tradition was tied to changes within communal practices, as well as a transformation of figuration through a common, stylised motif.

Keywords:

neolithic, figurines, representations, fifth millennium, stroked pottery culture, middle neolithic, toad engravings

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Bristow, R. (2025). Between Two Worlds: on figurative representations of the Middle Neolithic Stroked Pottery culture. Sprawozdania Archeologiczne, 77(2), 13–37. https://doi.org/10.23858/SA/77.2025.2.3904

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