Stone Age Poland
Encyclopedia
The Stone Age
in Poland is divided into the Paleolithic
, Mesolithic
and Neolithic
eras. The Paleolithic extended from about 800,000 BCE
to 8000 BCE. The Paleolithic is subdivided into periods, the Lower Paleolithic
, 800,000 to 350,000 BCE, the Middle Paleolithic
, 350,000 to 40,000 BCE, the Upper Paleolithic
, 40,000 to 10,000 BCE, and the Final Paleolithic, 10,000 to 8000 BCE. The Mesolithic lasted from 8000 to 5500 BCE, and the Neolithic from 5500 to 2300 BCE. The Neolithic is subdivided into the Neolithic proper, 5500 to 2900 BCE, and the Copper Age
, 2900 to 2300 BCE.
The Stone Age era in Poland lasted 800,000 years, and involved three different human species
: Homo erectus
, Homo neanderthalensis and Homo sapiens. The Stone Age cultures ranged from early human groups with primitive tools to advanced agricultural
societies, which used sophisticated stone tool
s, built fortified settlements and developed copper
metallurgy. As elsewhere in central Europe
, the Stone Age human cultures went through the stages known as the Paleolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic, each bringing new refinements of the stone tool making techniques. The Paleolithic human activities (the earliest site of these activities is about 800,000 years old) were intermittent because of the recurring periods of glaciation
. With the recession of the last glaciation, a general climate warming and the resulting increase in ecologic
environment
diversity was characteristic of the Mesolithic (from 9000-8000 BCE). The Neolithic brought the first settled agricultural communities; their founders migrated from the Danube
River area (from 5500 BCE). Later the native post-Mesolithic populations also adopted and further developed the agricultural way of life (from 4400 to about 2000 BCE).
colder (glacial
) and warmer (interglacial) periods in Poland began with the South Poland glaciation (San River
glaciation, until 450,000 BCE), followed by the Masovian interglacial (450,000-370,000 BCE), the Middle Poland glaciation (370,000-128,000 BCE), the Eemian interglacial (128,000-115,000 BCE), and the Vistula glaciation (115,000-10,000 BCE).
. The earliest (about 800,000 years old) remnants of the Homo
genus activities, possibly of a transient group of Homo erectus
that ventured north of the Carpathian Mountains
, were located in the area of Kończyce Wielkie
in Cieszyn Silesia
(southern part of the Silesian Voivodeship
). Other gatherers-hunters campsites, together with their inhabitants' primitive stone tools (choppers
and microlith
s), bones of the large mammals they hunted and the fish they caught, were found below the San River glaciation period sediments in Trzebnica
and are about 500,000 years old. Younger sites related to the same species were found at Rusko near Strzegom
, located, like Trzebnica, in the Lower Silesia
region. This represents the microlithic complexes of the Lower Paleolithic
period. Homo erectus, earlier known as Pithecanthropus erectus
, was a species of early humans.
(otherwise known as Homo sapiens neanderthalensis) lived in the southern half of Poland during the Middle Paleolithic
period, that is between 300,000 and 40,000 BCE. Various relics were found and different Neanderthal cultures are distinguished. Acheulean
handaxes
from Silesia dated 200,000-180,000 years ago are among the older tools. Gatherer-hunter sporadic groups of Neanderthals penetrated southern Poland also during the Eemian interglacial, 128,000-115,000 BCE. Examination of the Micoquien-Prądnik culture
(East Micoquien complex) sites in the Prądnik River Valley north of Kraków
and in Zwoleń
near Radom
from about 85,000 to 70,000 BCE (early phase of the Vistula River
glaciation period) shows that some Neanderthals were skilled collective hunters, able to kill numerous large mammals
characteristic of the cold Pleistocene climate and process the meat, skin and bones using specialized tools.
type) appears in the Upper Paleolithic
, which lasted from 40,000 to 9,000 BCE. During the coldest part of this Ice age
period, 20,000 to 15,000 BCE, humans did not inhabit Poland. The latter, warmer part, after the climatic discontinuity and the reappearance of humans, is considered the Late Paleolithic.
Upper Paleolithic people specialized in organized, group hunting of large mammals; they sometimes pursued and drove entire herds into traps. Their nutritional needs were met largely by meat consumption, as the vegetation was limited to tundra
and steppe
and the land was covered by ice and snow (Vistula final glaciation) for long periods. More sophisticated tool making methods resulted in the production of long (some over two feet), narrow and sharp flintstone splits. In a cave near Nowy Targ
(East-Gravettian
culture), a 30,000 year old boomerang
, the world's oldest, was found. It is a crescent-shaped 70 cm long object with a fine finish, made of mammoth
tusk
. Mammoths were hunted in the Kraków
area during 25,000-20,000 BCE. Also 30,000 years old are the so-called Mladeč
blades of the Aurignacian
culture, made of bone, found in Wierzchowie, Kraków County.
A 27,500 years old burial of a 1.5 year old child, complete with burial gift decorative artifacts, pendant or necklace elements made of teeth of large ungulates, was discovered in Borsuk Cave near Kraków (southern Kraków-Częstochowa Upland). It is believed to be the oldest intentional burial located in Poland.
Rydno is a complex of archeological sites along the Kamiennna River valley between Skarżysko-Kamienna
and Wąchock
. Several hundred Paleolithic campsites have been located there, which makes it the world's largest accumulation of such finds. They extend over a number of periods, beginning with the Mousterian
(Neanderthal) culture, followed by the Hamburg culture
of reindeer
hunters. The Final Paleolithic is represented there by the Komornica culture, named after a village in Legionowo
County. The best known Late Paleolithic campsites in the area, which include some dugout huts, belonged to the people preoccupied with hematite
ore mining, from which ochre
pigment used for body painting was being made. The red dye was widely traded, which is why rocks and minerals originating from distant regions of today's Poland
, Slovakia
and Hungary
are found at Rydno. Pieces of "chocolate" flint brought into this area for processing were stored in quantities that were always multiples of three. Because of this and other evidence, it is believed that the Paleolithic people developed a counting system based on this number. A 12,600 BCE Hamburg culture site with tents, camp-fire and stone meat baking devices was discovered in Olbrachcice, Wschowa
County.
A rich source of Late Paleolithic sites and artifacts (the Magdalenian culture of 14,500 BCE) is the Prądnik River Valley. The Maszycka Cave there contained the remains of a typical (at that time) social unit of several families, 20-30 people, as well as numerous tools and other artifacts of their culture, including ornamented bone utensils. Remnants of a 15,000 to 17,000 years old Magdalenian culture dwelling (a dugout cabin site with traces of supporting posts, a hearth and imported materials) were discovered recently in Ćmielów, Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski
County.
Traces of younger (Final Paleolithic) campsites identified with the Swiderian
, Federmesser
and Ahrenburgian
cultures were located at Stare Marzy near Świecie
, among other places.
lasted from 9000 BCE (rapid climate warming) to 5500 BCE (arrival of first farmers from the Danube River area). It was the last period when the food production economy was entirely opportunistic, based on assimilation of plant and animal material found in nature, that is gathering and hunting. Because of warmer temperatures, complex forest ecosystems and wetlands developed and this natural diversity necessitated new hunting and fishing strategies. As new populations entered Poland from the west, hunters and fishermen working individually or in small groups had to pursue single large and small animals using traps, javelins, bows and arrows, boats and fishing equipment, and utilizing dogs. Women engaged in gathering of such products as roots, herbs, nuts, bird eggs, mollusks, fruit or honey, which possibly was even more important than hunting. Mesolithic human settlements became quite numerous and by the end of this period the economy of harvesting nature became very highly developed. Tools and devices were made of materials such as stone (flint strip mines have been found at the northern edge of Świętokrzyskie Mountains
), bone, wood, horn, or plant material for rope and baskets, and included such fine utensils as fishing hooks and sewing needles. Animal figurines were made of amber
. At least during the later Mesolithic, the dead were placed in graves and outfitted with familiar objects of their surroundings. One such well preserved grave of an apparent tool-maker, together with his tools and other items, was found in Janisławice near Skierniewice
and dated 5500 BCE.
era began around 5500 BCE with the arrival from the middle Danube
area of people
, who kept livestock, cultivated crops, made pottery and smooth-surface tools. Their land tilling predecessors had been coming into the Balkans
and then the Danube region from Anatolia
beginning a thousand years earlier. They formed the first settled rural communities, thus forging the most fundamental civilizational advance.
The original newcomers represented the Linear Pottery culture
. Their uniform culture survived in Poland in its original form until about 4600 BCE. Despite the big impact they made, the first waves came in small numbers - hundreds, or at most a few thousand people, judging by the sizes of the known settlements. They populated mainly fertile soils of southern highlands and river valleys further north, all the way to the Baltic Sea
. They lived alongside the more numerous native people who were still pursuing the Mesolithic lifestyle, but during the Linear Pottery culture times there wasn't much interaction, as the two groups inhabited different environments. Their villages consisted of several, but sometimes up to a dozen or so rectangular communal long-houses, some over 30 meters long, supported by wooden posts, the oldest of which come from the Lower Silesia
region. One such location from about 5000 BCE was also unearthed at Olszanica, which is now at the west end of Kraków
just within the city limits.
Large Danubian complexes were in recent years excavated in the Targowisko and Szarów (Wieliczka
County) area of fertile loess
ial hills. The settlements, which included massive post construction houses even over 50 meters long as well as industrial facilities, extended continuously over a stretch of land more than three kilometers long. Some of the identified structures functioned together, as was the case when the buildings were connected by a courtyard and protected by a common fence.
Plants were cultivated mostly in small nearby gardens, but wheat and barley were also grown on small fields obtained by burning the forest. In the absence of animal-drawn plowing devices, soil was being hoed manually.The forest burning activity brought about significant ecological and environmental changes in Lesser Poland
, Silesia
and Kujawy. Further out were the pastures, the entire area utilized by a single settlement having a radius of about 5 km. Cattle, sheep and goats were even more numerous in the northern flatlands, where the land was less fertile. The Danubian people communities kept in touch and exchanged goods over large areas, all the way to their regions of origin beyond the Carpathian Mountains
.
After 5000 BCE new waves of immigrants arrived from the south again, which accelerated the process of differentiation of the agrarian society into several distinct cultures during the first half of 5th millennium BC and afterwards. In the Oder River basin mostly there was the culture named after the punctured variety of Linear Band pottery
- Stroked Pottery culture
, while in the Vistula River basin the Lengyel
and Polgár
cultures appeared. The two regions developed in some separation, but within them the different cultural traditions of the younger Danubian circle often overlapped. The houses were now of an elongated trapezoidal shape, up to 40 meters long, grouped in larger complexes, often protected by beam and earth walls, moats and other fortifications, as such defensive measures apparently became necessary against people from the still Mesolithic native population or other Danubian settlements. These defensive structures, built from the mid 5th millennium BCE on, were complicated and consumed significant time and resources. Their design followed that of the similar construction that was taking place in the Danube River areas, starting in the early part of this millennium. Large cemeteries and graves supplied with fancier objects such as jewelry, including the first so-called "princely" graves (the princesses had imported copper
necklaces, earrings and diadems in addition to locally made decorations), testify to the emergence of a relatively more affluent society. Cattle raising and trading (large varieties resulted from cross-breeding with the aurochs
) and land tillage provided basic sustenance. Salt was obtained and traded and became a much sought after commodity, at first probably to help preserve stored food. The salt springs around Wieliczka
were utilized already by the Lengyel culture people, who left ceramic vessels used in salt production there. The Danubian people produced many richly decorated objects, including clay containers with animal head ornaments and figurines of women.
A settlement and cemetery of the Lengyel-Polgár cultural zone, dated around or after 4600 BCE, was discovered in Ślęza, Wrocław County. It consisted of a central long trapezoidal house accompanied by several post-built supporting structures. Among the large explored settlements of the Lengyel culture from the 4400-4000 BCE period, there is one in Brześć Kujawski, and another one in Osłonki, solidly fortified about 4200 BCE after an assault incident involving arson and murder, both located in the Kujawy region. At the Osłonki settlement nearly 30 trapezoidal houses and over 80 graves were located, some of them with many copper ornaments. The agricultural and construction activities of the communities centered on the two large settlements (hunting and fishing were also practiced) caused very likely an accumulation of environmental damage, which eventually forced them to abandon the area. 4th millennium BC constructions reinforced with ditches and palisades and ceramics molded into figural representations of the Lengyel-Polgár culture were located in Podłęże, Wieliczka County.
The Malice farming culture of southern Poland (all of 5th millennium and until 3800 BCE, named after a site in Malice near Sandomierz
) was the first Neolithic culture to originate north of the Carpathian Mountains and spread south. A rare discovery of 5th millennium Malice culture buildings and decorated pottery was made in Targowisko, Wieliczka County.
shores and were specialized in utilizing the resources of the sea, thus still representing the Mesolithic ways of life. At their settlement in Dąbki near Koszalin
Stroke-ornamented pottery
was found, obtained probably through trade with the Danubian people.
The native Mesolithic populations were slow in gradually assimilating the agricultural way of life, beginning with just the use of ceramics. It took a thousand years into the Neolithic period before they adopted animal husbandry
(which became especially important to them) and plant cultivation to any appreciable degree. When they eventually developed interest in the more fertile areas utilized by the late Danubian cultures, they became the threat that compelled the Danubian farmers to fortify their settlements. The native post-Mesolithic groups expanded beyond the traditional Danubian areas of agricultural development, moving also into ecologically less favorable environments, which included utilization of sandy soils.
The first truly native Neolithic culture was the Funnelbeaker culture
, named after the shape of their typical clay vessels. It developed starting around 4400 BCE and lasted some two thousand years. Like other post-Mesolithic cultures, the Funnelbeaker culture was Megalith
ic. They built tombs of large stones, some of them huge (for example trapezoidal structures up to 150 meters long) and resembling pyramids. Few survived until now because of the demand for stone as building material, but a well-preserved one from the first half of 4th millennium BC was found in Wietrzychowice near Włocławek. From this place and period came the skull, on which the trepanation
procedure was performed for medical or magic reasons. Timewise the beginnings of the post-Mesolithic cultures in Poland coincide with the beginnings of the Eneolithic
period in the Balkans. Copper
objects, mostly ornamental or luxurious items, were traded and then developed locally, first by the Danubian and then by the indigenous people. Copper metallurgy facilities were identified in Złota near Sandomierz
. Clay decorative objects include realistic representations of animals and containers with images engraved on them. A pot from Bronocice, Pińczów
County (3400 BCE) has a unique narrative scene and the world's oldest semblance of a four-wheeled cart drawn on its surface. Stone tools became most highly developed and acquired their then characteristic smooth surfaces. Well preserved settlements with rectangular buildings were unearthed in Gródek Nadbużny near Hrubieszów
(where remnants of a vertical loom for weaving were found), in Niedźwiedź near Kraków, and in northern Poland in Barłożno, Starogard Gdański
County, where the structures are similar to the ones in Niedźwiedź. In Barłożno three post supported houses were discovered, the largest of which had the main part 16 meters long and 6.5 meters wide. As dated from the ceramics found, they represent the developed, "Wiórecka" phase of the Funnelbeaker culture.U źródeł Polski, p. 40-44 and 46-47, Ryszard Grygiel
Originating from central European lowlands, the Funnelbeaker people were able to utilize large expanses of less fertile soils, obtained by extensive reduction of forested areas, with the increased role of livestock.They moved south into the regions previously developed by the Danubian cultures, all the way to Bohemia
and Moravia
. Being more numerous, better fit for the environment, organized and economically more productive, the Funnelbeaker culture people replaced the Danubian cultures in their late phase.
The Globular Amphora culture
was the next major Neolithic culture. It originated in the Polish lowlands during the first half of 4th millennium BC, lasted to about 2400 BCE in parallel with the Funnelbeaker culture, and is named after the bulging shape of its representative pottery. They specialized in breeding domestic animals and lived in a semi-settled state, seeking optimal pastures and moving as needed. This semi-nomadic lifestyle was probably necessitated by the poor condition of the soils, by that time depleted and rendered infertile because of the preceding centuries of forest burning and extensive exploitation. Globular Amphora were the first culture in Poland known for utilizing the domesticated horse, and swine became important as the source of food. Ritual animal, especially cattle burial sites, often with two or more individuals buried together and supplied with objects as strange as drums have been discovered, but their role is not well understood. Globular Amphora people were involved in the north-south amber
trade. Their megalithic burials included ceramics, stone tools and ornamental gifts.
The Baden culture
in southern Poland was the latest of the Danubian ancestry cultures and continued between 3200 and 2600 BCE. They made vessels with characteristic protruding radial ornaments. A large fortified Baden culture settlement of around 3000 BCE was found in Bronocice near Pińczów
.
Finally there were still in existence the forest zone cultures, representing the ceramic phase of hunting and gathering communities. Some of them lasted into the early Bronze Age
.
The major industry of this period was flintstone mining. One of the largest Neolithic (middle to late periods) flint mines in Europe with over 700 vertical shafts and preserved underground passages was located in Krzemionki Opatowskie
near Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski
. The axes produced from the material obtained there were exported to distant parts of the continent.
, in existence in central Europe between 3000 and 2000 BCE, originated most likely from Proto-Indo-European
nomadic people of the Black Sea
steppes. It was a pastoral culture at least in its early stages, for the most part lacking permanent settlements and known primarily from the burial grounds (a large one with many richly furnished graves was discovered in Złota near Sandomierz
). They moved together with their herds of cattle, sheep, goats and horses along the river valleys of southern Poland, but also engaged in flint mining and manufacturing of tools and weapons for their own use and trade.
A Corded Ware culture princely burial was found in Szczytna, Subcarpathian Voivodeship
. The grave, well-secured three meters below the surface, contained a man's skeleton and a funerary gift collection of highly valuable copper decorations, containers, stone tools and arrowheads. The uniquely equipped burial of a warrior-chief has close analogies with finds from Transylvania
, a testimony to geographically extensive contacts of Corded Ware culture nomadic people.
The Rzucewo culture
(named after the village near Puck
where the discoveries took place) developed from northern populations of the Corded Ware culture as an offshoot specialized in exploitation of the sea resources and lasted in parallel with their mother culture for a comparable period of time. Their settlements consisting of characteristic sea erosion reinforced houses were located along the Bay of Gdańsk
and east of there. They engaged in fishery and hunting, especially of seals, then numerous along the Baltic coast. The Rzucewo culture people produced in special shops the widely used and traded amber
decorative items.
From the opposite end of Europe (the Iberian Peninsula
) came the few people who formed during the 2500-1900 BCE period the Bell-Beaker culture
. It was named after the shape of their typical, carefully finished and precisely ornamented pottery. Southwestern Poland was at the eastern edge of their range. Because of their mobility, the Bell-Beaker people helped spread new inventions, including developing metallurgy, over large areas of Europe.
Stone Age
The Stone Age is a broad prehistoric period, lasting about 2.5 million years , during which humans and their predecessor species in the genus Homo, as well as the earlier partly contemporary genera Australopithecus and Paranthropus, widely used exclusively stone as their hard material in the...
in Poland is divided into the Paleolithic
Paleolithic
The Paleolithic Age, Era or Period, is a prehistoric period of human history distinguished by the development of the most primitive stone tools discovered , and covers roughly 99% of human technological prehistory...
, Mesolithic
Mesolithic
The Mesolithic is an archaeological concept used to refer to certain groups of archaeological cultures defined as falling between the Paleolithic and the Neolithic....
and Neolithic
Neolithic
The Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BC in some parts of the Middle East, and later in other parts of the world. It is traditionally considered as the last part of the Stone Age...
eras. The Paleolithic extended from about 800,000 BCE
Common Era
Common Era ,abbreviated as CE, is an alternative designation for the calendar era originally introduced by Dionysius Exiguus in the 6th century, traditionally identified with Anno Domini .Dates before the year 1 CE are indicated by the usage of BCE, short for Before the Common Era Common Era...
to 8000 BCE. The Paleolithic is subdivided into periods, the Lower Paleolithic
Lower Paleolithic
The Lower Paleolithic is the earliest subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age. It spans the time from around 2.5 million years ago when the first evidence of craft and use of stone tools by hominids appears in the current archaeological record, until around 300,000 years ago, spanning the...
, 800,000 to 350,000 BCE, the Middle Paleolithic
Middle Paleolithic
The Middle Paleolithic is the second subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age as it is understood in Europe, Africa and Asia. The term Middle Stone Age is used as an equivalent or a synonym for the Middle Paleolithic in African archeology. The Middle Paleolithic and the Middle Stone Age...
, 350,000 to 40,000 BCE, the Upper Paleolithic
Upper Paleolithic
The Upper Paleolithic is the third and last subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age as it is understood in Europe, Africa and Asia. Very broadly it dates to between 40,000 and 10,000 years ago, roughly coinciding with the appearance of behavioral modernity and before the advent of...
, 40,000 to 10,000 BCE, and the Final Paleolithic, 10,000 to 8000 BCE. The Mesolithic lasted from 8000 to 5500 BCE, and the Neolithic from 5500 to 2300 BCE. The Neolithic is subdivided into the Neolithic proper, 5500 to 2900 BCE, and the Copper Age
Copper Age
The Chalcolithic |stone]]") period or Copper Age, also known as the Eneolithic/Æneolithic , is a phase of the Bronze Age in which the addition of tin to copper to form bronze during smelting remained yet unknown by the metallurgists of the times...
, 2900 to 2300 BCE.
The Stone Age era in Poland lasted 800,000 years, and involved three different human species
Homo (genus)
Homo is the genus that includes modern humans and species closely related to them. The genus is estimated to be about 2.3 to 2.4 million years old, evolving from australopithecine ancestors with the appearance of Homo habilis....
: Homo erectus
Homo erectus
Homo erectus is an extinct species of hominid that lived from the end of the Pliocene epoch to the later Pleistocene, about . The species originated in Africa and spread as far as India, China and Java. There is still disagreement on the subject of the classification, ancestry, and progeny of H...
, Homo neanderthalensis and Homo sapiens. The Stone Age cultures ranged from early human groups with primitive tools to advanced agricultural
Agriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
societies, which used sophisticated stone tool
Stone tool
A stone tool is, in the most general sense, any tool made either partially or entirely out of stone. Although stone tool-dependent societies and cultures still exist today, most stone tools are associated with prehistoric, particularly Stone Age cultures that have become extinct...
s, built fortified settlements and developed copper
Copper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29. It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Pure copper is soft and malleable; an exposed surface has a reddish-orange tarnish...
metallurgy. As elsewhere in central Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, the Stone Age human cultures went through the stages known as the Paleolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic, each bringing new refinements of the stone tool making techniques. The Paleolithic human activities (the earliest site of these activities is about 800,000 years old) were intermittent because of the recurring periods of glaciation
Glacier
A glacier is a large persistent body of ice that forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. At least 0.1 km² in area and 50 m thick, but often much larger, a glacier slowly deforms and flows due to stresses induced by its weight...
. With the recession of the last glaciation, a general climate warming and the resulting increase in ecologic
Ecology
Ecology is the scientific study of the relations that living organisms have with respect to each other and their natural environment. Variables of interest to ecologists include the composition, distribution, amount , number, and changing states of organisms within and among ecosystems...
environment
Natural environment
The natural environment encompasses all living and non-living things occurring naturally on Earth or some region thereof. It is an environment that encompasses the interaction of all living species....
diversity was characteristic of the Mesolithic (from 9000-8000 BCE). The Neolithic brought the first settled agricultural communities; their founders migrated from the Danube
Danube
The Danube is a river in the Central Europe and the Europe's second longest river after the Volga. It is classified as an international waterway....
River area (from 5500 BCE). Later the native post-Mesolithic populations also adopted and further developed the agricultural way of life (from 4400 to about 2000 BCE).
Glaciation
The PleistocenePleistocene
The Pleistocene is the epoch from 2,588,000 to 11,700 years BP that spans the world's recent period of repeated glaciations. The name pleistocene is derived from the Greek and ....
colder (glacial
Glacial period
A glacial period is an interval of time within an ice age that is marked by colder temperatures and glacier advances. Interglacials, on the other hand, are periods of warmer climate within an ice age...
) and warmer (interglacial) periods in Poland began with the South Poland glaciation (San River
San River
The San is a river in southeastern Poland and western Ukraine, a tributary of the Vistula River, with a length of 433 km and a basin area of 16,861 km2...
glaciation, until 450,000 BCE), followed by the Masovian interglacial (450,000-370,000 BCE), the Middle Poland glaciation (370,000-128,000 BCE), the Eemian interglacial (128,000-115,000 BCE), and the Vistula glaciation (115,000-10,000 BCE).
Homo erectus
Human settlements on Polish lands occurred later than in the more climatically hospitable regions of southern and western Europe and were dependent on the recurring episodes of glaciationGlacier
A glacier is a large persistent body of ice that forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. At least 0.1 km² in area and 50 m thick, but often much larger, a glacier slowly deforms and flows due to stresses induced by its weight...
. The earliest (about 800,000 years old) remnants of the Homo
Homo
Homo may refer to:*the Greek prefix ὅμο-, meaning "the same"*the Latin for man, human being*Homo, the taxonomical genus including modern humans...
genus activities, possibly of a transient group of Homo erectus
Homo erectus
Homo erectus is an extinct species of hominid that lived from the end of the Pliocene epoch to the later Pleistocene, about . The species originated in Africa and spread as far as India, China and Java. There is still disagreement on the subject of the classification, ancestry, and progeny of H...
that ventured north of the Carpathian Mountains
Carpathian Mountains
The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians are a range of mountains forming an arc roughly long across Central and Eastern Europe, making them the second-longest mountain range in Europe...
, were located in the area of Kończyce Wielkie
Konczyce Wielkie
is a village in Gmina Hażlach, Cieszyn County in Silesian Voivodeship, southern Poland, near the border with the Czech Republic. It has a population of 1,857 . It lies in the historical region of Cieszyn Silesia....
in Cieszyn Silesia
Cieszyn Silesia
Cieszyn Silesia or Těšín Silesia or Teschen Silesia is a historical region in south-eastern Silesia, centered around the towns of Cieszyn and Český Těšín and bisected by the Olza River. Since 1920 it has been divided between Poland and Czechoslovakia, and later the Czech Republic...
(southern part of the Silesian Voivodeship
Silesian Voivodeship
Silesian Voivodeship, or Silesia Province , is a voivodeship, or province, in southern Poland, centering on the historic region known as Upper Silesia...
). Other gatherers-hunters campsites, together with their inhabitants' primitive stone tools (choppers
Chopper (archaeology)
Archaeologists define a chopper as a pebble tool with an irregular cutting edge formed through the removal of flakes from one side of a stone....
and microlith
Microlith
A microlith is a small stone tool usually made of flint or chert and typically a centimetre or so in length and half a centimetre wide. It is produced from either a small blade or a larger blade-like piece of flint by abrupt or truncated retouching, which leaves a very typical piece of waste,...
s), bones of the large mammals they hunted and the fish they caught, were found below the San River glaciation period sediments in Trzebnica
Trzebnica
Trzebnica is a town in Lower Silesian Voivodeship in south-western Poland. It is the seat of Trzebnica County, and of the smaller administrative district called Gmina Trzebnica. Prior to 1945 it was in Germany...
and are about 500,000 years old. Younger sites related to the same species were found at Rusko near Strzegom
Strzegom
Strzegom is a town in Świdnica County, Lower Silesian Voivodeship, in south-western Poland. It is the seat of the administrative district called Gmina Strzegom. It lies approximately north-west of Świdnica, and west of the regional capital Wrocław...
, located, like Trzebnica, in the Lower Silesia
Lower Silesia
Lower Silesia ; is the northwestern part of the historical and geographical region of Silesia; Upper Silesia is to the southeast.Throughout its history Lower Silesia has been under the control of the medieval Kingdom of Poland, the Kingdom of Bohemia and the Austrian Habsburg Monarchy from 1526...
region. This represents the microlithic complexes of the Lower Paleolithic
Lower Paleolithic
The Lower Paleolithic is the earliest subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age. It spans the time from around 2.5 million years ago when the first evidence of craft and use of stone tools by hominids appears in the current archaeological record, until around 300,000 years ago, spanning the...
period. Homo erectus, earlier known as Pithecanthropus erectus
Java Man
Java Man is the name given to fossils discovered in 1891 at Trinil - Ngawi Regency on the banks of the Solo River in East Java, Indonesia, one of the first known specimens of Homo erectus...
, was a species of early humans.
Homo neanderthalensis
Now often also considered a distinct species, Homo neanderthalensisNeanderthal
The Neanderthal is an extinct member of the Homo genus known from Pleistocene specimens found in Europe and parts of western and central Asia...
(otherwise known as Homo sapiens neanderthalensis) lived in the southern half of Poland during the Middle Paleolithic
Middle Paleolithic
The Middle Paleolithic is the second subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age as it is understood in Europe, Africa and Asia. The term Middle Stone Age is used as an equivalent or a synonym for the Middle Paleolithic in African archeology. The Middle Paleolithic and the Middle Stone Age...
period, that is between 300,000 and 40,000 BCE. Various relics were found and different Neanderthal cultures are distinguished. Acheulean
Acheulean
Acheulean is the name given to an archaeological industry of stone tool manufacture associated with early humans during the Lower Palaeolithic era across Africa and much of West Asia, South Asia and Europe. Acheulean tools are typically found with Homo erectus remains...
handaxes
Hand axe
A hand axe is a bifacial Stone tool typical of the lower and middle Palaeolithic , and is the longest-used tool of human history.-Distribution:...
from Silesia dated 200,000-180,000 years ago are among the older tools. Gatherer-hunter sporadic groups of Neanderthals penetrated southern Poland also during the Eemian interglacial, 128,000-115,000 BCE. Examination of the Micoquien-Prądnik culture
Micoquien
The Micoquien is an early middle paleolithic industry, that is found in the Eem and in early episode of the Würm glaciation . The Micoquien is distinguished technologically by the appearance of distinctly asymmetrical bifaces. Its discoverer and namer was the archeologist and art trader Otto Hauser...
(East Micoquien complex) sites in the Prądnik River Valley north of Kraków
Kraków
Kraków also Krakow, or Cracow , is the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in the Lesser Poland region, the city dates back to the 7th century. Kraków has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, cultural, and artistic life...
and in Zwoleń
Zwolen
Zwoleń is a town in Poland, in Mazowsze Voivodeship, about 30 km east of Radom. It is the capital of Zwoleń County. Population is 8048 .- People :* Stanisław Chomętowski* Jan Karol Tarło* Stanisław Tarło...
near Radom
Radom
Radom is a city in central Poland with 223,397 inhabitants . It is located on the Mleczna River in the Masovian Voivodeship , having previously been the capital of Radom Voivodeship ; 100 km south of Poland's capital, Warsaw.It is home to the biennial Radom Air Show, the largest and...
from about 85,000 to 70,000 BCE (early phase of the Vistula River
Vistula
The Vistula is the longest and the most important river in Poland, at 1,047 km in length. The watershed area of the Vistula is , of which lies within Poland ....
glaciation period) shows that some Neanderthals were skilled collective hunters, able to kill numerous large mammals
Pleistocene megafauna
Pleistocene megafauna is the set of species of large animals — mammals, birds and reptiles — that lived on Earth during the Pleistocene epoch and became extinct in a Quaternary extinction event. These species appear to have died off as humans expanded out of Africa and southern Asia,...
characteristic of the cold Pleistocene climate and process the meat, skin and bones using specialized tools.
Homo sapiens
Homo sapiens proper (Homo sapiens sapiens, the Cro-MagnonCro-Magnon
The Cro-Magnon were the first early modern humans of the European Upper Paleolithic. The earliest known remains of Cro-Magnon-like humans are radiometrically dated to 35,000 years before present....
type) appears in the Upper Paleolithic
Upper Paleolithic
The Upper Paleolithic is the third and last subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age as it is understood in Europe, Africa and Asia. Very broadly it dates to between 40,000 and 10,000 years ago, roughly coinciding with the appearance of behavioral modernity and before the advent of...
, which lasted from 40,000 to 9,000 BCE. During the coldest part of this Ice age
Ice age
An ice age or, more precisely, glacial age, is a generic geological period of long-term reduction in the temperature of the Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental ice sheets, polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers...
period, 20,000 to 15,000 BCE, humans did not inhabit Poland. The latter, warmer part, after the climatic discontinuity and the reappearance of humans, is considered the Late Paleolithic.
Upper Paleolithic people specialized in organized, group hunting of large mammals; they sometimes pursued and drove entire herds into traps. Their nutritional needs were met largely by meat consumption, as the vegetation was limited to tundra
Tundra
In physical geography, tundra is a biome where the tree growth is hindered by low temperatures and short growing seasons. The term tundra comes through Russian тундра from the Kildin Sami word tūndâr "uplands," "treeless mountain tract." There are three types of tundra: Arctic tundra, alpine...
and steppe
Steppe
In physical geography, steppe is an ecoregion, in the montane grasslands and shrublands and temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biomes, characterized by grassland plains without trees apart from those near rivers and lakes...
and the land was covered by ice and snow (Vistula final glaciation) for long periods. More sophisticated tool making methods resulted in the production of long (some over two feet), narrow and sharp flintstone splits. In a cave near Nowy Targ
Nowy Targ
Nowy Targ is a town in southern Poland with 34,000 inhabitants , and the historical capital of the mountain region . The town is situated in the confluence of the rivers Biały and Czarny Dunajec, in a valley beneath the Gorce Mountains. It's in Nowy Targ County, Lesser Poland Voivodeship...
(East-Gravettian
Gravettian
thumb|right|Burins to the Gravettian culture.The Gravettian toolmaking culture was a specific archaeological industry of the European Upper Palaeolithic era prevalent before the last glacial epoch. It is named after the type site of La Gravette in the Dordogne region of France where its...
culture), a 30,000 year old boomerang
Boomerang
A boomerang is a flying tool with a curved shape used as a weapon or for sport.-Description:A boomerang is usually thought of as a wooden device, although historically boomerang-like devices have also been made from bones. Modern boomerangs used for sport are often made from carbon fibre-reinforced...
, the world's oldest, was found. It is a crescent-shaped 70 cm long object with a fine finish, made of mammoth
Mammoth
A mammoth is any species of the extinct genus Mammuthus. These proboscideans are members of Elephantidae, the family of elephants and mammoths, and close relatives of modern elephants. They were often equipped with long curved tusks and, in northern species, a covering of long hair...
tusk
Tusk
Tusks are elongated, continuously growing front teeth, usually but not always in pairs, that protrude well beyond the mouth of certain mammal species. They are most commonly canines, as with warthogs, wild boar, and walruses, or, in the case of elephants and narwhals, elongated incisors...
. Mammoths were hunted in the Kraków
Kraków
Kraków also Krakow, or Cracow , is the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in the Lesser Poland region, the city dates back to the 7th century. Kraków has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, cultural, and artistic life...
area during 25,000-20,000 BCE. Also 30,000 years old are the so-called Mladeč
Mladec
Mladeč is a village and municipality in Olomouc District in the Olomouc Region of the Czech Republic. The municipality covers an area of , and has a population of 761...
blades of the Aurignacian
Aurignacian
The Aurignacian culture is an archaeological culture of the Upper Palaeolithic, located in Europe and southwest Asia. It lasted broadly within the period from ca. 45,000 to 35,000 years ago in terms of conventional radiocarbon dating, or between ca. 47,000 and 41,000 years ago in terms of the most...
culture, made of bone, found in Wierzchowie, Kraków County.
A 27,500 years old burial of a 1.5 year old child, complete with burial gift decorative artifacts, pendant or necklace elements made of teeth of large ungulates, was discovered in Borsuk Cave near Kraków (southern Kraków-Częstochowa Upland). It is believed to be the oldest intentional burial located in Poland.
Rydno is a complex of archeological sites along the Kamiennna River valley between Skarżysko-Kamienna
Skarzysko-Kamienna
Skarżysko-Kamienna is a town in northern Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship in Poland by Kamienna river, to the north of Świętokrzyskie Mountains; one of the voivodship's major towns...
and Wąchock
Wachock
Wąchock is a town in Starachowice County, Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship, Poland, near Starachowice. In 2006, it had 2,777 inhabitants.- History :...
. Several hundred Paleolithic campsites have been located there, which makes it the world's largest accumulation of such finds. They extend over a number of periods, beginning with the Mousterian
Mousterian
Mousterian is a name given by archaeologists to a style of predominantly flint tools associated primarily with Homo neanderthalensis and dating to the Middle Paleolithic, the middle part of the Old Stone Age.-Naming:...
(Neanderthal) culture, followed by the Hamburg culture
Hamburg culture
The Hamburg culture was a Late Upper Paleolithic culture of reindeer hunters in northwestern Europe during the last part of the Weichsel Glaciation and beginning of the Meiendorf Interstadial...
of reindeer
Reindeer
The reindeer , also known as the caribou in North America, is a deer from the Arctic and Subarctic, including both resident and migratory populations. While overall widespread and numerous, some of its subspecies are rare and one has already gone extinct.Reindeer vary considerably in color and size...
hunters. The Final Paleolithic is represented there by the Komornica culture, named after a village in Legionowo
Legionowo
Legionowo is a town in Masovia . According to the 2004 Census estimate the town has a total population of 50,759.Legionowo is located ca. 23 km to the north-east of the center of Warsaw and only 7 km to the south of Zegrze Reservoir , near the Warsaw-Gdańsk railroad and Warsaw-Suwałki...
County. The best known Late Paleolithic campsites in the area, which include some dugout huts, belonged to the people preoccupied with hematite
Hematite
Hematite, also spelled as haematite, is the mineral form of iron oxide , one of several iron oxides. Hematite crystallizes in the rhombohedral system, and it has the same crystal structure as ilmenite and corundum...
ore mining, from which ochre
Ochre
Ochre is the term for both a golden-yellow or light yellow brown color and for a form of earth pigment which produces the color. The pigment can also be used to create a reddish tint known as "red ochre". The more rarely used terms "purple ochre" and "brown ochre" also exist for variant hues...
pigment used for body painting was being made. The red dye was widely traded, which is why rocks and minerals originating from distant regions of today's Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, Slovakia
Slovakia
The Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south...
and Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
are found at Rydno. Pieces of "chocolate" flint brought into this area for processing were stored in quantities that were always multiples of three. Because of this and other evidence, it is believed that the Paleolithic people developed a counting system based on this number. A 12,600 BCE Hamburg culture site with tents, camp-fire and stone meat baking devices was discovered in Olbrachcice, Wschowa
Wschowa
Wschowa is a town in the Lubusz Voivodeship in Poland with 14,607 inhabitants . It is the capital of Wschowa County.-History:Wschowa was originally a border fortress in a region disputed by the Polish dukes of Silesia and Greater Poland. After German colonists had established a settlement nearby,...
County.
A rich source of Late Paleolithic sites and artifacts (the Magdalenian culture of 14,500 BCE) is the Prądnik River Valley. The Maszycka Cave there contained the remains of a typical (at that time) social unit of several families, 20-30 people, as well as numerous tools and other artifacts of their culture, including ornamented bone utensils. Remnants of a 15,000 to 17,000 years old Magdalenian culture dwelling (a dugout cabin site with traces of supporting posts, a hearth and imported materials) were discovered recently in Ćmielów, Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski
Ostrowiec Swietokrzyski
Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski is a town in south-central Poland with 74,211 inhabitants .Main industry is metallurgy. Ostrowiec is the capital city of Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski County, part of Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship , previously it belonged to Kielce Voivodeship .- History:The oldest testimonies of...
County.
Traces of younger (Final Paleolithic) campsites identified with the Swiderian
Swiderian culture
Swiderian culture, also published in English literature as Sviderian and Swederian, is the name of Final Palaeolithic cultural complexes in Poland and the surrounding areas. The type-site is Świdry Wielkie, in Otwock. The Swiderian is recognized as a distinctive culture that developed on the sand...
, Federmesser
Federmesser culture
The Federmesser culture is a toolmaking tradition of the late Upper Palaeolithic era, of the Northern European Plain dating to between c. 9800 and 8800 BC...
and Ahrenburgian
Ahrensburg culture
The Ahrensburg culture was a late Upper Paleolithic culture during the Younger Dryas, the last spell of cold at the end of the Weichsel glaciation. The culture is named after village of Ahrensburg, northeast of Hamburg in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein where wooden arrow shafts and clubs...
cultures were located at Stare Marzy near Świecie
Swiecie
Świecie is a town in northern Poland with 25,968 inhabitants , situated in Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship ; it was previously in Bydgoszcz Voivodeship . It is the capital of Świecie County.-History:...
, among other places.
Mesolithic
The MesolithicMesolithic
The Mesolithic is an archaeological concept used to refer to certain groups of archaeological cultures defined as falling between the Paleolithic and the Neolithic....
lasted from 9000 BCE (rapid climate warming) to 5500 BCE (arrival of first farmers from the Danube River area). It was the last period when the food production economy was entirely opportunistic, based on assimilation of plant and animal material found in nature, that is gathering and hunting. Because of warmer temperatures, complex forest ecosystems and wetlands developed and this natural diversity necessitated new hunting and fishing strategies. As new populations entered Poland from the west, hunters and fishermen working individually or in small groups had to pursue single large and small animals using traps, javelins, bows and arrows, boats and fishing equipment, and utilizing dogs. Women engaged in gathering of such products as roots, herbs, nuts, bird eggs, mollusks, fruit or honey, which possibly was even more important than hunting. Mesolithic human settlements became quite numerous and by the end of this period the economy of harvesting nature became very highly developed. Tools and devices were made of materials such as stone (flint strip mines have been found at the northern edge of Świętokrzyskie Mountains
Swietokrzyskie Mountains
Świętokrzyskie Mountains , are a mountain range in central Poland, in the vicinity of the city of Kielce. The mountain range consists of a number of separate ranges, the highest of which is Łysogóry . The two highest peaks are Łysica at 612 meters and Łysa Góra at 593 meters...
), bone, wood, horn, or plant material for rope and baskets, and included such fine utensils as fishing hooks and sewing needles. Animal figurines were made of amber
Amber
Amber is fossilized tree resin , which has been appreciated for its color and natural beauty since Neolithic times. Amber is used as an ingredient in perfumes, as a healing agent in folk medicine, and as jewelry. There are five classes of amber, defined on the basis of their chemical constituents...
. At least during the later Mesolithic, the dead were placed in graves and outfitted with familiar objects of their surroundings. One such well preserved grave of an apparent tool-maker, together with his tools and other items, was found in Janisławice near Skierniewice
Skierniewice
Skierniewice is a town in central Poland with 49,132 inhabitants , situated in the Łódź Voivodship , previously capital of Skierniewice Voivodship . It is the capital of Skierniewice County. The town is situated almost exactly half-way between Łódź and Warsaw.Skierniewice gained municipal rights...
and dated 5500 BCE.
Introduction of agriculture - Danubian cultures of farming communities
Early NeolithicNeolithic
The Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BC in some parts of the Middle East, and later in other parts of the world. It is traditionally considered as the last part of the Stone Age...
era began around 5500 BCE with the arrival from the middle Danube
Danube
The Danube is a river in the Central Europe and the Europe's second longest river after the Volga. It is classified as an international waterway....
area of people
Danubian culture
The term Danubian culture was coined by the Australian archaeologist Vere Gordon Childe to describe the first agrarian society in central and eastern Europe. It covers the Linear Pottery culture , stroked pottery and Rössen cultures....
, who kept livestock, cultivated crops, made pottery and smooth-surface tools. Their land tilling predecessors had been coming into the Balkans
Balkans
The Balkans is a geopolitical and cultural region of southeastern Europe...
and then the Danube region from Anatolia
Anatolia
Anatolia is a geographic and historical term denoting the westernmost protrusion of Asia, comprising the majority of the Republic of Turkey...
beginning a thousand years earlier. They formed the first settled rural communities, thus forging the most fundamental civilizational advance.
The original newcomers represented the Linear Pottery culture
Linear Pottery culture
The Linear Pottery culture is a major archaeological horizon of the European Neolithic, flourishing ca. 5500–4500 BC.It is abbreviated as LBK , is also known as the Linear Band Ware, Linear Ware, Linear Ceramics or Incised Ware culture, and falls within the Danubian I culture of V...
. Their uniform culture survived in Poland in its original form until about 4600 BCE. Despite the big impact they made, the first waves came in small numbers - hundreds, or at most a few thousand people, judging by the sizes of the known settlements. They populated mainly fertile soils of southern highlands and river valleys further north, all the way to the Baltic Sea
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is a brackish mediterranean sea located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 20°E to 26°E longitude. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and the Danish islands. It drains into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund, the Great Belt and...
. They lived alongside the more numerous native people who were still pursuing the Mesolithic lifestyle, but during the Linear Pottery culture times there wasn't much interaction, as the two groups inhabited different environments. Their villages consisted of several, but sometimes up to a dozen or so rectangular communal long-houses, some over 30 meters long, supported by wooden posts, the oldest of which come from the Lower Silesia
Lower Silesia
Lower Silesia ; is the northwestern part of the historical and geographical region of Silesia; Upper Silesia is to the southeast.Throughout its history Lower Silesia has been under the control of the medieval Kingdom of Poland, the Kingdom of Bohemia and the Austrian Habsburg Monarchy from 1526...
region. One such location from about 5000 BCE was also unearthed at Olszanica, which is now at the west end of Kraków
Kraków
Kraków also Krakow, or Cracow , is the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in the Lesser Poland region, the city dates back to the 7th century. Kraków has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, cultural, and artistic life...
just within the city limits.
Large Danubian complexes were in recent years excavated in the Targowisko and Szarów (Wieliczka
Wieliczka
-External links:***...
County) area of fertile loess
Loess
Loess is an aeolian sediment formed by the accumulation of wind-blown silt, typically in the 20–50 micrometre size range, twenty percent or less clay and the balance equal parts sand and silt that are loosely cemented by calcium carbonate...
ial hills. The settlements, which included massive post construction houses even over 50 meters long as well as industrial facilities, extended continuously over a stretch of land more than three kilometers long. Some of the identified structures functioned together, as was the case when the buildings were connected by a courtyard and protected by a common fence.
Plants were cultivated mostly in small nearby gardens, but wheat and barley were also grown on small fields obtained by burning the forest. In the absence of animal-drawn plowing devices, soil was being hoed manually.The forest burning activity brought about significant ecological and environmental changes in Lesser Poland
Lesser Poland
Lesser Poland is one of the historical regions of Poland, with its capital in the city of Kraków. It forms the southeastern corner of the country, and should not be confused with the modern Lesser Poland Voivodeship, which covers only a small, southern part of Lesser Poland...
, Silesia
Silesia
Silesia is a historical region of Central Europe located mostly in Poland, with smaller parts also in the Czech Republic, and Germany.Silesia is rich in mineral and natural resources, and includes several important industrial areas. Silesia's largest city and historical capital is Wrocław...
and Kujawy. Further out were the pastures, the entire area utilized by a single settlement having a radius of about 5 km. Cattle, sheep and goats were even more numerous in the northern flatlands, where the land was less fertile. The Danubian people communities kept in touch and exchanged goods over large areas, all the way to their regions of origin beyond the Carpathian Mountains
Carpathian Mountains
The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians are a range of mountains forming an arc roughly long across Central and Eastern Europe, making them the second-longest mountain range in Europe...
.
After 5000 BCE new waves of immigrants arrived from the south again, which accelerated the process of differentiation of the agrarian society into several distinct cultures during the first half of 5th millennium BC and afterwards. In the Oder River basin mostly there was the culture named after the punctured variety of Linear Band pottery
Linear Pottery culture
The Linear Pottery culture is a major archaeological horizon of the European Neolithic, flourishing ca. 5500–4500 BC.It is abbreviated as LBK , is also known as the Linear Band Ware, Linear Ware, Linear Ceramics or Incised Ware culture, and falls within the Danubian I culture of V...
- Stroked Pottery culture
Stroke-ornamented ware
The Stroke-ornamented ware or Stichbandkeramik , Stroked Pottery culture, Danubian Ib culture of V...
, while in the Vistula River basin the Lengyel
Lengyel culture
The Lengyel culture, is an archaeological culture of the European Neolithic, centered on the Middle Danube in Central Europe. It flourished during ca...
and Polgár
Polgár, Hungary
- External links :**...
cultures appeared. The two regions developed in some separation, but within them the different cultural traditions of the younger Danubian circle often overlapped. The houses were now of an elongated trapezoidal shape, up to 40 meters long, grouped in larger complexes, often protected by beam and earth walls, moats and other fortifications, as such defensive measures apparently became necessary against people from the still Mesolithic native population or other Danubian settlements. These defensive structures, built from the mid 5th millennium BCE on, were complicated and consumed significant time and resources. Their design followed that of the similar construction that was taking place in the Danube River areas, starting in the early part of this millennium. Large cemeteries and graves supplied with fancier objects such as jewelry, including the first so-called "princely" graves (the princesses had imported copper
Copper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29. It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Pure copper is soft and malleable; an exposed surface has a reddish-orange tarnish...
necklaces, earrings and diadems in addition to locally made decorations), testify to the emergence of a relatively more affluent society. Cattle raising and trading (large varieties resulted from cross-breeding with the aurochs
Aurochs
The aurochs , the ancestor of domestic cattle, were a type of large wild cattle which inhabited Europe, Asia and North Africa, but is now extinct; it survived in Europe until 1627....
) and land tillage provided basic sustenance. Salt was obtained and traded and became a much sought after commodity, at first probably to help preserve stored food. The salt springs around Wieliczka
Wieliczka
-External links:***...
were utilized already by the Lengyel culture people, who left ceramic vessels used in salt production there. The Danubian people produced many richly decorated objects, including clay containers with animal head ornaments and figurines of women.
A settlement and cemetery of the Lengyel-Polgár cultural zone, dated around or after 4600 BCE, was discovered in Ślęza, Wrocław County. It consisted of a central long trapezoidal house accompanied by several post-built supporting structures. Among the large explored settlements of the Lengyel culture from the 4400-4000 BCE period, there is one in Brześć Kujawski, and another one in Osłonki, solidly fortified about 4200 BCE after an assault incident involving arson and murder, both located in the Kujawy region. At the Osłonki settlement nearly 30 trapezoidal houses and over 80 graves were located, some of them with many copper ornaments. The agricultural and construction activities of the communities centered on the two large settlements (hunting and fishing were also practiced) caused very likely an accumulation of environmental damage, which eventually forced them to abandon the area. 4th millennium BC constructions reinforced with ditches and palisades and ceramics molded into figural representations of the Lengyel-Polgár culture were located in Podłęże, Wieliczka County.
The Malice farming culture of southern Poland (all of 5th millennium and until 3800 BCE, named after a site in Malice near Sandomierz
Sandomierz
Sandomierz is a city in south-eastern Poland with 25,714 inhabitants . Situated in the Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship , previously in Tarnobrzeg Voivodeship . It is the capital of Sandomierz County . Sandomierz is known for its Old Town, a major tourist attraction...
) was the first Neolithic culture to originate north of the Carpathian Mountains and spread south. A rare discovery of 5th millennium Malice culture buildings and decorated pottery was made in Targowisko, Wieliczka County.
Neolithic cultures developed by native populations
After 4500 BCE the Ertebølle culture of northwestern origin entered a ceramic phase with its own forms of pottery (characteristic pointed bottoms). They lived by the Baltic SeaBaltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is a brackish mediterranean sea located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 20°E to 26°E longitude. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and the Danish islands. It drains into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund, the Great Belt and...
shores and were specialized in utilizing the resources of the sea, thus still representing the Mesolithic ways of life. At their settlement in Dąbki near Koszalin
Koszalin
Koszalin ; is the largest city of Middle Pomerania in north-western Poland. It is located 12 km south of the Baltic Sea coast. Koszalin is also a county-status city and capital of Koszalin County of West Pomeranian Voivodeship since 1999...
Stroke-ornamented pottery
Stroke-ornamented ware
The Stroke-ornamented ware or Stichbandkeramik , Stroked Pottery culture, Danubian Ib culture of V...
was found, obtained probably through trade with the Danubian people.
The native Mesolithic populations were slow in gradually assimilating the agricultural way of life, beginning with just the use of ceramics. It took a thousand years into the Neolithic period before they adopted animal husbandry
Animal husbandry
Animal husbandry is the agricultural practice of breeding and raising livestock.- History :Animal husbandry has been practiced for thousands of years, since the first domestication of animals....
(which became especially important to them) and plant cultivation to any appreciable degree. When they eventually developed interest in the more fertile areas utilized by the late Danubian cultures, they became the threat that compelled the Danubian farmers to fortify their settlements. The native post-Mesolithic groups expanded beyond the traditional Danubian areas of agricultural development, moving also into ecologically less favorable environments, which included utilization of sandy soils.
The first truly native Neolithic culture was the Funnelbeaker culture
Funnelbeaker culture
The Funnelbeaker culture, short TRB from Trichterbecherkultur is the principal north central European megalithic culture of late Neolithic Europe.- Predecessor and successor cultures :...
, named after the shape of their typical clay vessels. It developed starting around 4400 BCE and lasted some two thousand years. Like other post-Mesolithic cultures, the Funnelbeaker culture was Megalith
Megalith
A megalith is a large stone that has been used to construct a structure or monument, either alone or together with other stones. Megalithic describes structures made of such large stones, utilizing an interlocking system without the use of mortar or cement.The word 'megalith' comes from the Ancient...
ic. They built tombs of large stones, some of them huge (for example trapezoidal structures up to 150 meters long) and resembling pyramids. Few survived until now because of the demand for stone as building material, but a well-preserved one from the first half of 4th millennium BC was found in Wietrzychowice near Włocławek. From this place and period came the skull, on which the trepanation
Trepanation
Trepanning, also known as trephination, trephining or making a burr hole, is a surgical intervention in which a hole is drilled or scraped into the human skull, exposing the dura mater in order to treat health problems related to intracranial diseases. It may also refer to any "burr" hole created...
procedure was performed for medical or magic reasons. Timewise the beginnings of the post-Mesolithic cultures in Poland coincide with the beginnings of the Eneolithic
Copper Age
The Chalcolithic |stone]]") period or Copper Age, also known as the Eneolithic/Æneolithic , is a phase of the Bronze Age in which the addition of tin to copper to form bronze during smelting remained yet unknown by the metallurgists of the times...
period in the Balkans. Copper
Copper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29. It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Pure copper is soft and malleable; an exposed surface has a reddish-orange tarnish...
objects, mostly ornamental or luxurious items, were traded and then developed locally, first by the Danubian and then by the indigenous people. Copper metallurgy facilities were identified in Złota near Sandomierz
Sandomierz
Sandomierz is a city in south-eastern Poland with 25,714 inhabitants . Situated in the Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship , previously in Tarnobrzeg Voivodeship . It is the capital of Sandomierz County . Sandomierz is known for its Old Town, a major tourist attraction...
. Clay decorative objects include realistic representations of animals and containers with images engraved on them. A pot from Bronocice, Pińczów
Pinczów
Pińczów is a town in Poland, in Świętokrzyskie Voivodship, about 40 km south of Kielce. It is the capital of Pińczów County. Population is 12,304 .-History:...
County (3400 BCE) has a unique narrative scene and the world's oldest semblance of a four-wheeled cart drawn on its surface. Stone tools became most highly developed and acquired their then characteristic smooth surfaces. Well preserved settlements with rectangular buildings were unearthed in Gródek Nadbużny near Hrubieszów
Hrubieszów
Hrubieszów is a town in southeastern Poland, with a population of 18,661 . It is the capital of Hrubieszów County. Since 1999 Hrubieszów has been part of Lublin Voivodeship . Earlier, 1975–98, it had been part of Zamość Province...
(where remnants of a vertical loom for weaving were found), in Niedźwiedź near Kraków, and in northern Poland in Barłożno, Starogard Gdański
Starogard Gdanski
Starogard Gdański is a town in Eastern Pomerania in northwestern Poland with 48,328 inhabitants...
County, where the structures are similar to the ones in Niedźwiedź. In Barłożno three post supported houses were discovered, the largest of which had the main part 16 meters long and 6.5 meters wide. As dated from the ceramics found, they represent the developed, "Wiórecka" phase of the Funnelbeaker culture.U źródeł Polski, p. 40-44 and 46-47, Ryszard Grygiel
Originating from central European lowlands, the Funnelbeaker people were able to utilize large expanses of less fertile soils, obtained by extensive reduction of forested areas, with the increased role of livestock.They moved south into the regions previously developed by the Danubian cultures, all the way to Bohemia
Bohemia
Bohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands. It is located in the contemporary Czech Republic with its capital in Prague...
and Moravia
Moravia
Moravia is a historical region in Central Europe in the east of the Czech Republic, and one of the former Czech lands, together with Bohemia and Silesia. It takes its name from the Morava River which rises in the northwest of the region...
. Being more numerous, better fit for the environment, organized and economically more productive, the Funnelbeaker culture people replaced the Danubian cultures in their late phase.
The Globular Amphora culture
Globular Amphora culture
The Globular Amphora Culture , German Kugelamphoren-Kultur , ca. 3400-2800 BC, is an archaeological culture preceding the central area occupied by the Corded Ware culture. Somewhat to the south and west, it was bordered by the Baden culture. To the northeast was the Narva culture. It occupied much...
was the next major Neolithic culture. It originated in the Polish lowlands during the first half of 4th millennium BC, lasted to about 2400 BCE in parallel with the Funnelbeaker culture, and is named after the bulging shape of its representative pottery. They specialized in breeding domestic animals and lived in a semi-settled state, seeking optimal pastures and moving as needed. This semi-nomadic lifestyle was probably necessitated by the poor condition of the soils, by that time depleted and rendered infertile because of the preceding centuries of forest burning and extensive exploitation. Globular Amphora were the first culture in Poland known for utilizing the domesticated horse, and swine became important as the source of food. Ritual animal, especially cattle burial sites, often with two or more individuals buried together and supplied with objects as strange as drums have been discovered, but their role is not well understood. Globular Amphora people were involved in the north-south amber
Amber
Amber is fossilized tree resin , which has been appreciated for its color and natural beauty since Neolithic times. Amber is used as an ingredient in perfumes, as a healing agent in folk medicine, and as jewelry. There are five classes of amber, defined on the basis of their chemical constituents...
trade. Their megalithic burials included ceramics, stone tools and ornamental gifts.
The Baden culture
Baden culture
Baden culture, ca 3600 BC-ca 2800 BC, an eneolithic culture found in central Europe. It is known from Moravia, Hungary, Slovakia and Eastern Austria...
in southern Poland was the latest of the Danubian ancestry cultures and continued between 3200 and 2600 BCE. They made vessels with characteristic protruding radial ornaments. A large fortified Baden culture settlement of around 3000 BCE was found in Bronocice near Pińczów
Pinczów
Pińczów is a town in Poland, in Świętokrzyskie Voivodship, about 40 km south of Kielce. It is the capital of Pińczów County. Population is 12,304 .-History:...
.
Finally there were still in existence the forest zone cultures, representing the ceramic phase of hunting and gathering communities. Some of them lasted into the early Bronze Age
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a period characterized by the use of copper and its alloy bronze as the chief hard materials in the manufacture of some implements and weapons. Chronologically, it stands between the Stone Age and Iron Age...
.
The major industry of this period was flintstone mining. One of the largest Neolithic (middle to late periods) flint mines in Europe with over 700 vertical shafts and preserved underground passages was located in Krzemionki Opatowskie
Krzemionki
Krzemionki, also Krzemionki Opatowskie - Neolithic and early Bronze Age complex of mines of the Upper Jurassic banded flints, located in the eastern Poland near Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski. It is the biggest complex of the prehistoric flint mines in Europe . .- History of mining :The mining area is...
near Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski
Ostrowiec Swietokrzyski
Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski is a town in south-central Poland with 74,211 inhabitants .Main industry is metallurgy. Ostrowiec is the capital city of Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski County, part of Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship , previously it belonged to Kielce Voivodeship .- History:The oldest testimonies of...
. The axes produced from the material obtained there were exported to distant parts of the continent.
Late Neolithic arrivals from eastern and western regions of Europe
The Corded Ware cultureCorded Ware culture
The Corded Ware culture , alternatively characterized as the Battle Axe culture or Single Grave culture, is an enormous European archaeological horizon that begins in the late Neolithic , flourishes through the Copper Age and culminates in the early Bronze Age.Corded Ware culture is associated with...
, in existence in central Europe between 3000 and 2000 BCE, originated most likely from Proto-Indo-European
Proto-Indo-Europeans
The Proto-Indo-Europeans were the speakers of the Proto-Indo-European language , a reconstructed prehistoric language of Eurasia.Knowledge of them comes chiefly from the linguistic reconstruction, along with material evidence from archaeology and archaeogenetics...
nomadic people of the Black Sea
Black Sea
The Black Sea is bounded by Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean and the Aegean seas and various straits. The Bosphorus strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara, and the strait of the Dardanelles connects that sea to the Aegean...
steppes. It was a pastoral culture at least in its early stages, for the most part lacking permanent settlements and known primarily from the burial grounds (a large one with many richly furnished graves was discovered in Złota near Sandomierz
Sandomierz
Sandomierz is a city in south-eastern Poland with 25,714 inhabitants . Situated in the Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship , previously in Tarnobrzeg Voivodeship . It is the capital of Sandomierz County . Sandomierz is known for its Old Town, a major tourist attraction...
). They moved together with their herds of cattle, sheep, goats and horses along the river valleys of southern Poland, but also engaged in flint mining and manufacturing of tools and weapons for their own use and trade.
A Corded Ware culture princely burial was found in Szczytna, Subcarpathian Voivodeship
Szczytna, Subcarpathian Voivodeship
Szczytna is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Pawłosiów, within Jarosław County, Subcarpathian Voivodeship, in south-eastern Poland. It lies approximately north-west of Pawłosiów, west of Jarosław, and east of the regional capital Rzeszów....
. The grave, well-secured three meters below the surface, contained a man's skeleton and a funerary gift collection of highly valuable copper decorations, containers, stone tools and arrowheads. The uniquely equipped burial of a warrior-chief has close analogies with finds from Transylvania
Transylvania
Transylvania is a historical region in the central part of Romania. Bounded on the east and south by the Carpathian mountain range, historical Transylvania extended in the west to the Apuseni Mountains; however, the term sometimes encompasses not only Transylvania proper, but also the historical...
, a testimony to geographically extensive contacts of Corded Ware culture nomadic people.
The Rzucewo culture
Rzucewo culture
The Rzucewo was a local archaeological culture of late Neolithic. It centered at the coast of the Bay of Gdansk and Vistula Lagoon and extended north to the Curonian Lagoon and up to Šventoji settlement in Lithuania...
(named after the village near Puck
Puck, Poland
Puck is a town in northwestern Poland with 11,350 inhabitants. It is in Gdańsk Pomerania on the south coast of the Baltic Sea . Previously in the Gdańsk Voivodeship , Puck has been the capital of Puck County in the Pomeranian Voivodeship since 1999.-History:The settlement became a marketplace...
where the discoveries took place) developed from northern populations of the Corded Ware culture as an offshoot specialized in exploitation of the sea resources and lasted in parallel with their mother culture for a comparable period of time. Their settlements consisting of characteristic sea erosion reinforced houses were located along the Bay of Gdańsk
Gdansk Bay
Gdańsk Bay or the Bay of Gdańsk or Danzig Bay is a southeastern bay of the Baltic Sea. It is named after the adjacent port city of Gdańsk in Poland and is sometimes referred to as a gulf.-Geography:...
and east of there. They engaged in fishery and hunting, especially of seals, then numerous along the Baltic coast. The Rzucewo culture people produced in special shops the widely used and traded amber
Amber
Amber is fossilized tree resin , which has been appreciated for its color and natural beauty since Neolithic times. Amber is used as an ingredient in perfumes, as a healing agent in folk medicine, and as jewelry. There are five classes of amber, defined on the basis of their chemical constituents...
decorative items.
From the opposite end of Europe (the Iberian Peninsula
Iberian Peninsula
The Iberian Peninsula , sometimes called Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe and includes the modern-day sovereign states of Spain, Portugal and Andorra, as well as the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar...
) came the few people who formed during the 2500-1900 BCE period the Bell-Beaker culture
Beaker culture
The Bell-Beaker culture , ca. 2400 – 1800 BC, is the term for a widely scattered cultural phenomenon of prehistoric western Europe starting in the late Neolithic or Chalcolithic running into the early Bronze Age...
. It was named after the shape of their typical, carefully finished and precisely ornamented pottery. Southwestern Poland was at the eastern edge of their range. Because of their mobility, the Bell-Beaker people helped spread new inventions, including developing metallurgy, over large areas of Europe.
See also
- Prehistory of Poland (until 966)Prehistory of Poland (until 966)The prehistory and protohistory of Poland is the period from the first appearance of Homo species on the territory of modern-day Poland, to the establishment of the Polish state in the 10th century AD—a span of roughly 800,000 years....
- Bronze and Iron Age PolandBronze and Iron Age PolandThe Bronze and Iron Age cultures in Poland are known mainly from archeological research. Early Bronze Age cultures in Poland begun around 2300–2400 BCE, while the Iron Age commenced in approximately 700–750 BCE. The Iron Age archeological cultures no longer existed by the start of the Common Era...
- Poland in AntiquityPoland in AntiquityPeoples belonging to numerous archeological cultures identified with Celtic, Germanic and Baltic tribes, lived and migrated through various parts the territory that now constitutes Poland in Antiquity, an era that dates from about 400 BC to 450–500 AD...
- Poland in the Early Middle AgesPoland in the Early Middle AgesThe ancient Roman scholars new nothing about the impenetrable forest north of Dacia and the Carpathian Mountains, between the migrating Celts and Germanic tribes to the west, and the Sarmatians to the east. Augustian historian Strabo only assumed the presence of a different tribe reaching north to...
Further reading
- Various authors, ed. Marek Derwich and Adam Żurek, U źródeł Polski (do roku 1038) (Foundations of Poland (until year 1038)), Wydawnictwo DolnośląskieWydawnictwo DolnoslaskieWydawnictwo Dolnośląskie is a publishing company founded in 1986 with cooperation with Bertelsmann Media.-External links:http://www.wd.wroc.pl/index.php?id=1http://www.google.com/search?num=100&hl=en&q=Wydawnictwa+dolnosl%C4%85skie+Bertelsmann 280k gh...
, Wrocław 2002, ISBN 83-7023-954-4 - Piotr Kaczanowski, Janusz Krzysztof Kozłowski - Najdawniejsze dzieje ziem polskich (do VII w.) (Oldest history of Polish lands, until 7th century), Fogra, Kraków 1998, ISBN 83-85719-34-2