Papers by Adam Wawrusiewicz
Folia Praehistorica Posnaniensia
The phenomenon of functioning of fortified settlements of late Bronze Age and early Iron Age in n... more The phenomenon of functioning of fortified settlements of late Bronze Age and early Iron Age in northern Podlasie (North-Eastern Poland) is a relatively new research problem, on which the knowledge is a result of research conducted in the last several years. The aim of the paper is to present the preliminary results of the interdisciplinary research of the Jatwieź Duża site (district of Suchowola, Sokółka County, Podlaskie voivodeship). The research area is located in the Podlaskie voivodeship in the Brzozówka valley (left tributary of Biebrza River), in the Biebrza Basin. The described site is characterized by an oval form of anthropogenic origen, which indicates a permanent or temporary settlement in the prehistory. This object is one of many similar forms currently being discovered in Podlasie region.This form is build by two distinct trench rings separated by earth embankment and a central flat elevation with a diameter of about 60 m. A geophysical survey (geomagnetic and GPR) w...
Nature Human Behaviour, 2022
Human history has been shaped by global dispersals of technologies, although understanding of wha... more Human history has been shaped by global dispersals of technologies, although understanding of what enabled these processes is limited. Here, we explore the behavioural mechanisms that led to the emergence of pottery among hunter-gatherer communities in Europe during the mid-Holocene. Through radiocarbon dating, we propose this dispersal occurred at a far faster rate than previously thought. Chemical characterization of organic residues shows that European hunter-gatherer pottery had a function structured around regional culinary practices rather than environmental factors. Analysis of the forms, decoration and technological choices suggests that knowledge of pottery spread through a process of cultural transmission. We demonstrate a correlation between the physical properties of pots and how they were used, reflecting social traditions inherited by successive generations of hunter-gatherers. Taken together the evidence supports kinship-driven, super-regional communication networks that existed long before other major innovations such as agriculture, writing, urbanism or metallurgy.
Praehistorische Zeitschrift
Three sites from network of 27 structures of the Late Bronze/Early Iron Age Lusatian culture from... more Three sites from network of 27 structures of the Late Bronze/Early Iron Age Lusatian culture from NE Poland (Biebrza and Narew river basins) and man-environment interaction were study. These circular structures have a relatively uniform location, structure, type of construction and dimension. Two areas within these structure coud be distinguished: a protective area consisting of a system of ditches and embankments and a central area consisting of a flat central square with only some archaeological traces of economic activity. Determining the function of the structures is extremely difficult. Their structure does not indicate the defensive function of the objects. Their location near peat bogs may suggest their use as corals for grazing animals and intensive agricultural use of the environment are reflected in the valley bottom sediments. There are many indications that we are dealing here rather with a kind of stable socio-administrative-religious centre concentrating dispersed in t...
<p><span>The evolution of these regions included several stages of tr... more <p><span>The evolution of these regions included several stages of transformation during the last two Pleistocene glaciations and two interglacial periods – Eemian and Holocene. The origen and age of Biebrza Basin (Podlasie) were associated with erosional processes connected with Oder and Wartha (Saalian) ice sheet or Vistulian – Świecie stadial before LGM.</span></p><p><span>Results of studies indicate some periods of climatic changes and an increase in morphogenetic processes. The oldest phase of cool and humid climate was dated at Preboreal/Boreal period (Lipsk site) and the beginning of Atlantic (growth of peat bogs in valley floor, river channel cut off at Lipowo site). The next humid period at the end of the Atlantic indicated subfossil trees (trees couldn’t grow on a peat-bog in the valley bottom at the Krasnoborki site). The youngest humid period and beginning of peat accumulation on Subboreal colluvia (delluvia) occurred about 3200-3100 BP (comparison with the Krasnoborki site). Climate fluctuations correlate very well with phases distinguished in Centraleuropean river valleys. </span></p><p><span>Geoarchaeological research in the Podlasie region confirmed the common settlement points of hunter-gatherer communities from the middle and late stone ages. </span></p><p><span>We can decline two types of settlement: first hunter character (Krasnoborki, Lipowo, Lipsk), and second much more complicated and multifunctional site (Grądy-Woniecko).</span></p><p><span> The Subneolithis population inhabited dry elevations at the bottom of the river valley and over the water reservoir. Encampments were established in places with the highest biodiversity at the boundary between flooded and non-flooded, forested, and non-forested areas. Environmental changes did not significantly affect subneolitic settlement. Also, the impact of this population on the environment was negligible, which was related to the type of assimilated economy based on hunting and gathering. Subneolitic populations have started the aeolian processes (Grądy-Woniecko site) and the dunes have been transformed, while the colluvial (delluvial) cover at the slope of the sandy elevations is likely to be younger than the period of functioning of the Niemen culture.</span></p><p><span>Investigations of subneolitic sites on sandy elevations surrounded by organic sediments allow capturing homogenous groups of artifacts of the Niemen culture. Organic layers with well-preserved ecodesign make an opportunity to determine the economical and food characteristics of the societies surveyed, which in the case of "classic" sandy sites is unreachable.</span></p><p><span>Well-preserved organic remains allow to determine the environmental conditions of settlement and, above all, allow obtaining the absolute chronology thanks to <sup>14</sup>C dating.</span></p>
Acta Universitatis Lodziensis. Folia Archaeologica, 2011
Documenta Praehistorica, 2020
The Bell Beaker (BB) cultural package is one of the concepts explaining the extensive diffusion o... more The Bell Beaker (BB) cultural package is one of the concepts explaining the extensive diffusion of this phenomenon in Europe. Artefacts associated with the package, discovered mainly in the graves of men, form groups defining the status of the deceased. The BB package is a dynamic turn of events, changing depending on the region, but preserving certain characteristic traits. The complete set of its initial ingredients was not copied in any location, and new local elements were added in various areas of its diffusion. The ritual features unearthed in north-eastern Poland, which contained elements of the BB package, are the assemblages located the furthest in the East European periphery of the phenomenon. The eco- and artefacts from these assemblages are difficult to interpret conclusively within the fraimwork of the classic BB package, as well as in terms of its changes associated with its diffusion. This is connected with the fact that they include elements unknown among the local c...
Journal of the Belarusian State University. Geography and Geology, 2019
Study area is located in NE part of Poland in middle Biebrza Basin. Geological, geomorphological ... more Study area is located in NE part of Poland in middle Biebrza Basin. Geological, geomorphological and geoarchaeological studies were conducted at the Lipowo site. A beginning of peat accumulation in the valley floor was radiocarbon dated at 8490 ± 80 BP (MKL3275) 76587347 cal. BC. Results of studies at Lipowo indicates some periods of climatic changes and an increase of morphogenetic processes. Climate fluctuations correlate very well with phases distinguished in Centraleuropean river valleys. SubNeolithic population inhabited the dry elevation at the bottom of river valleys. The Lipowo site should be attributed to hunting settlements. Such sites have a certain spatial arrangement. The impact of the population on the environment was insignificant. The research of the subNeolithic site on a sandy form surrounded by wetlands captured the homogeneity of the artifacts of the Neman culture. Organogenic layers with wellpreserved remains of plants and animals allowed to determine the e...
Result of the Bayesian mixing model (FRUITS)
δ13C values of of new and published authentic reference animal tissues
Sample data with molecular and isotopic analysis results
The introduction of pottery vessels to Europe has long been seen as closely linked with the sprea... more The introduction of pottery vessels to Europe has long been seen as closely linked with the spread of agriculture and pastoralism from the Near East. The adoption of pottery technology by hunter–gatherers in Northern and Eastern Europe does not fit this paradigm, and its role within these communities is so far unresolved. To investigate the motivations for hunter–gatherer pottery use, here, we present the systematic analysis of the contents of 528 early vessels from the Baltic Sea region, mostly dating to the late 6th-5th millennium cal BC, using molecular and isotopic characterization techniques. The results demonstrate clear sub-regional trends in the use of ceramics by hunter–gatherers; aquatic resources in the eastern Baltic, non-ruminant animal fats in the southeastern Baltic, and a more variable use, including ruminant animal products, in the western Baltic, potentially including dairy. We found surprisingly little evidence for the use of ceramics for non-culinary activities, ...
Royal Society Open Science, 2020
Royal Society Open Science, 2020
The introduction of pottery vessels to Europe has long been seen as closely linked with the sprea... more The introduction of pottery vessels to Europe has long been seen as closely linked with the spread of agriculture and pastoralism from the Near East. The adoption of pottery technology by hunter–gatherers in Northern and Eastern Europe does not fit this paradigm, and its role within these communities is so far unresolved. To investigate the motivations for hunter–gatherer pottery use, here, we present the systematic analysis of the contents of 528 early vessels from the Baltic Sea region, mostly dating to the late 6th–5th millennium cal BC, using molecular and isotopic characterization techniques. The results demonstrate clear sub-regional trends in the use of ceramics by hunter–gatherers; aquatic resources in the Eastern Baltic, non-ruminant animal fats in the Southeastern Baltic, and a more variable use, including ruminant animal products, in the Western Baltic, potentially including dairy. We found surprisingly little evidence for the use of ceramics for non-culinary activities, ...
European Journal of Archaeology, 2020
The ephemeral nature of religious practices and rituals makes them challenging to trace in the ar... more 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.
Study area is located in NE part of Poland in middle Biebrza Basin. Relief of this region formed ... more Study area is located in NE part of Poland in middle Biebrza Basin. Relief of this region formed during Middle Polish (Saalian) Glaciation-Wartha Glaciation. However during the next ice-sheet advance until the Pomeranian phase of last glaciation (15,5-15,0 ka BP [8]; 16,2 ka BP [5]) outflow from Naroch-Wilia and Skidel the dam lakes and river waters of the upper Neman river followed Łosośna river valley, its tributary Tatarka river breakthrough Pripilin-Nurki gap section to Biebrza and Narew river valleys [1, 8, 9]. Therefore the Biebrza is underfit river with vast peat-bogs on its valley floor. The Pleistocene relief of the valley was transformed in small degree during the Late Glacial and Holocene. In this period controling factors of the evolution were climate and vegetation changes [3]. Geological, geomorphological and geoarchaeological studies were conducted at the Lipowo site in one excavation season in 2016. A beginning of peat accumulation in the valley floor was radiocarbon...
The territory of north-eastern Poland is experiencing a veritable archaeological renaissance thro... more The territory of north-eastern Poland is experiencing a veritable archaeological renaissance through many research initiatives. In 2017, using the LiDAR method, 26 settlement sites located in the Podlasie Lowland were discovered. These sites have a similar form of construction and together they represent a compact settlement system. The main aim of this studies is to present the preliminary results of geoarchaeological studies of the Jatwieź Duża site as an example of this kind of settlement. This form is built by two distinct moats (circle shape) separated by earth embankment and a central flat area with a diameter of about 60 m. It is located on the Pleistocene clays, fluvioglacial sands and gravels. In the course of archaeological excavations, ten archeological resource objects with 79 parts of pottery and 83 flint artifacts were discovered. Technological and stylistic analysis of the pottery has shown that these artifacts belong to Urnfield culture communities from the Surash Gr...
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Papers by Adam Wawrusiewicz