The Hungarian Transdanubian site of Érd, where a Mousterian industry and abundant osteological material were discovered in the early 1960s is well known to prehistorians. The remains of megaherbivores (Mammuthus primigenius, Coelodonta antiquitatis) are re-examined here under the taphonomic and archaeozoological components in order to complete the Hungarian and European s.l. data and reassess the potential exploitation of these two pachyderms in the Neanderthal diet and economy. The cut marks, the intense activity of carnivores/hyenas and the skeletal profiles indicate a mixed origin of the carcasses. Mortality patterns of rhinoceros are characterized by the presence of young, subadult and adults, and suggest multiple acquisition by active scavenging and/or hunting with quick access. Skeletal profiles suggest a selective transport of rich/nutritive elements by humans to the site. The cut marks and fracturing of some elements (in situ butchery treatment) confirm that Neanderthals consumed these species on site and that they had at least partial primary access. The mode of acquisition seems active with rapid access for a young mammoth. Érd confirms the Neanderthal exploitation of rhinos and mammoths in their steppic environment during the Middle Palaeolithic. Érd is currently the only Hungarian Middle Palaeolithic site with a proven exploitation and consumption of these megaherbivores.

The influx of new data challenge existing divisions and schemes of archeological units such as the so-called “transitional industries” between the Middle and Upper Paleolithic or the Early Upper Paleolithic. An example of such an industry is Szeletian. After almost 70 years since this word was coined, it is still uncertain what characterizes this industry. To resolve these issues, we need to re-assess the inventory of known Szeletian sites. Across the geographical range of the Szeletian, sites from Poland have not been adequately studied. The analysis of available data showed significant heterogeneity among Szeletian sites in Poland, especially in terms of the distinguishing feature – the leaf points. The next issue is the problem of the distinction between Szeletian, Jerzmanowician, Bohunician, and Jankovichian. In the case of Poland, it is even more challenging because of small assemblages, uncertain context, and lack of publications concerning Szeletian sites.

By 2019 more than 70 sites had been discovered in the area of the High Bieszczady Mountains, most of them located within the Połonina Wetlińska massif. The sites discovered in 2017-2019 constitute two groups: sites represented by (1) single artefacts (Wetlina 56, 57, 58, 59, 61, 63, 64, 65, Bukowska Pass, site 1) and (2) small series of artefacts (Wetlina 54, 55, 60, 62). Both groups include artefacts datable to the Late Neolithic and the Bronze Age. Moreover, there are no sufficient grounds to claim homogeneity of assemblages found in Wetlina 54, 55, 60 and 62. It is possible that at least some of these sites could have been used many times during the Late Neolithic and Bronze Age periods. These finds confirm seasonal use of the High Bieszczady for grazing animals, probably within a system similar to the transhumant pastoralism practiced in European mountains.

The ways of life of hunters, fishers and gatherers are noticeably different from those of farmers. Surviving evidence of their cultures is very rare. Although we are aware that it is very difficult to interpret and compare them, sometimes external similarities can be observed, such as in the depiction of human figures, particularly female figurines (also in zoomorphic sculptures) in the Upper Palaeolithic (‘the Cult of Hunters’) and in the Neolithic (‘Field Fertility Cult’ and ‘Domestic Animals Fertility Cult’). The depiction of a woman and three men with their arms stretched upwards on a famous vase of Moravian – East-Austrian group, Phase MOG IIa (around 4525–4375 BC) of the Painted Pottery culture from Střelice in the Czech Republic is significant, and has been interpreted by the author as an example of hieros gamos (i.e. a dialogue with space). This vase has considerable similarity with a petroglyph of a circular dance, again obviously depicting a woman and three men holding hands, from Alta in northern Norway, one of the central ‘galleries’ of hunters (5 stages, the oldest being 5300 BC). We can only assume (with just a certain amount of probability) that they depict a story (rite or myth?) in the form of a ‘language of symbols’ (e.g. a restoration of ‘Mother Earth’).

The aim of the paper is to present funeral customs of communities that inhabited the Carpathian foothills of Vistula and San rivers basins at the Final Neolithic and the Early Bronze Age representing Corded Ware and Mierzanowice cultures in the light of new chronometric data. These radiocarbon data were obtained for barrows at site 3 in Średnia, Przemyśl district and Jawczyce, Wieliczka district site 1, mound 2. According to conducted investigations the earliest barrows in this region can be dated to the beginning of the 29th century BC. Then in the younger phase of the Corded Ware culture the exploitation of existing mound continued so subsequent graves were dug into the embankment. This burial rite lasted until the turn of the 24th and 23rd centuries BC so can be synchronised with the presence of niche graves to the north of Carpathian foothills. Afterwards during the Early Bronze Age starting at the 22nd century BC communities of the Mierzanowice culture also chose existing mounds as a place to bury their dead. Therefore one can conclude that in funeral rites of the Corded Ware and Mierzanowice cultures groups in the Carpathian foothills the barrow as the burial place of their ancestors played the main role.

In 2012, series of archaeological rescue excavations were carried out at Zagórze, due to the construction of the Świnna Poręba retention reservoir on the Skawa river in Wadowice district (Lesser Poland voivodeship). During this research, in one of the excavated sites – no. 8 – a flint tool was discovered below the top of the slope in the diluvial cover, in the secondary position. The preliminary analysis showed that it is a so-called flame knife, characteristic tool of the Corded Ware culture. Sometime later, feature no. 894 was discovered, located approximately 35 meters from the aforementioned flame knife, at the top of the slope. Five fragments of pottery were found in this feature. Four of them have been classified as fragments of CWC ceramics, including fragments of a beaker and an amphora. On the basis of these finds, as well as comparisons to other sites, two hypotheses were formulated regarding the nature of the discovered feature: a flat grave or a feature of a settlement character.
The aim of this paper is to present a comprehensive analysis (including use-wear analysis of the flame knife) and interpretation of these discovered finds.

In the context of the long discussion on the (non-)existence of permanent Corded Ware culture (CWC) settlements and the semi-nomadic way of life of their inhabitants, ongoing excavations of common settlements have newly gained immense significance, as in almost all other regions, also in Moravia (Olomouc-Slavonín, Horní lán; Vřesovice; Seloutky; Hulín-Pravčice 1; Prostějov, Za tržištěm). Earlier sporadic indications have been joined by a series of records of settlements with sunken features and typical local ceramics identical with burial grounds, together with which they formed complete settlement areas in a number of sites. Light wattle structures, wells(?), textile production, animal husbandry, etc., have been identified, as were some very unconventional inhumation burials in pits (Olomouc-Slavonín, two cases). The cord element clearly formed a part of the mixed horizon of Strachotín-Držovice with elements of Makó/Kosihy-Čaka culture, Globular Amphora culture and Moravian Group of CWC. Absolute dating indicated the 26th–23rd century cal. BC. Absence of foundations of (residential) structures could be explained by the lower level of recognisability of CWC settlements. In other aspects, it showed no particular difference from other prehistoric farmers and cattle breeders.

The article presents new research on fortified settlements from the Early Iron Age in the Orava and Dunajec river valleys. Based on the characteristics of the construction of the fortifications and similarities in terms of material culture, we propose recognizing the hillforts discovered here as a manifestation of one cultural and settlement horizon related to the so-called Pre-Púchov stage. The radiocarbon determinations obtained for the contexts stratigraphically related to the ramparts from the Nižná-Ostražica, Zabrzeż-Babia Góra, and Maszkowice-Góra Zyndrama sites are already located on the calibration curve after the so-called Hallstatt plateau and allow this horizon to be dated to the 4th century BC, i.e. to the times corresponding to the La Tène B1–B2 phases. Our observations confirm the opinions appearing in more recent literature about the need to date the Pre-Púchov stage in Slovakia earlier, and discuss the thesis about the continuation of settlement at the beginning of the La Tène period. With regard to the Polish Carpathian zone, arguments indicating the possibility of the survival of settlements with Early Iron Age traditions up to the 4th century BC are presented for the first time. This allows us to assume that the process of the formation of the cultural tradition of the La Tène period here progressed in a similar manner to Slovakia, and it was not solely the result of migration from the latter.

In this article, the basic information on the research on the economy of the La Tène culture communities living in the southern part of Poland in the early and middle La Tène period is presented. The analysis of natural data shows that the local economy of the Celtic settlers from Silesia and Lesser Poland did not differ in quality from that of their countrymen from the area south of the Carpathians and the Sudetes. Agriculture was based on the cultivation of cereals, among which different varieties of wheat dominated with a relatively small share of barley and common millet. Contrary to earlier opinions, rye and oat cultivation was not widespread. In typical rural settlements, cattle farming was by far the dominant activity. Breeding swine and small ruminants were in the second position, but the proportion between these species varied from region to region. The very small proportion of wild animal bones known from the surveyed settlements indicates an advanced process of deforestation of the inhabited area and well-developed domestic animal husbandry.

At the end of the 20th century, as the researchers became more convinced about the existence of the La Tène culture settlement zone in south-eastern Poland, there were more and more attempts at identifying the ethnicity of this population. Some of the researchers allowed for connecting the said settlement with the Anartophracti, known from Claudius Ptolemy’ writings (Geography, III, 5, 8).

However, in order to identify the La Tène culture population from south-eastern Poland with Ptolemy’s Anartophracti, it is necessary to prove that Ptolemy’s account concerned the peoples inhabiting the area of the upper San basin in the 3rd and possibly 2nd century B.C. It is thus necessary to prove that the geographical and chronological data are consistent. One more argument in support of the claim would be a proof that the name Anartophracti refers to a Celtic tribe. It would have to be also assumed a priori that the ethnonym of Anartophracti is not a duplicate of the name Anarti.

In author’s opinion, Ptolemy’s writings do not allow to prove that the Anartophracti he mentions lived at the areas on the upper San river: they could have rather lived to the east or north-east of the Carpathians. Ptolemy’s account is not clear enough to locate the Anartophractis’ settlements.

The above list of the written sources seems to indicate that the chronology of all the information concerning the Anarti ranges between the end of the 1st half of the 1st c. B.C. and the late 240s A.D. There are no premises to link with the Anarti any settlement concentrations from the north-eastern La Tène culture from phase LT C or LT D1.

The article presents the latest results of archaeological studies on the 8th-10th century hillforts in the Sudetes. The authors present previously unknown structures, found through the analysis of aerial scans using the ALS method. Excavation and office studies conducted since 2005 in the Sudetes also allowed for correcting the chronology of some previously known hillfort sites. The article also presents a discussion on the structures referred to as ‘quasi-hillforts’ and those considered to be destroyed. The findings are concluded by a summary of changes in the archaeological research of the early medieval Sudetes over the last 15 years, i.e. since the publication of the last monograph devoted to hillforts in this part of Central Europe.

English translation Grzegorz Piątkowski