The easternmost settlements of the Bandkeramik in their regional context

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Thomas Saile
• Subject Area: Prehistory and World Archaeology
• Term: from 2018 to 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 394525779

In the middle of the 6th mill. BC the Neolithic way of life spread towards Eastern Europe. The successful and rapid expansion of the Linienbandkeramik (LBK) brought the first farmers as far to the East as the banks of the Southern Bug. Between the Dniester and Bug the LBK met the people of the late Bug-Dniester Culture (BDC), characterized by a different set of economic, social and religious practices. At a general level the project focuses on the settlement structure of the easternmost branch of the LBK, and will also have to deal with contacts between the LBK and local groups, mainly late BDC, which, although different in lifestyle, occupied more or less the same territory.The planned investigations will take place in two core areas: 1) Central Moldova, where a relatively dense concentration of LBK sites has been proven, and 2) Central Ukraine, where traces of one of the easternmost LBK settlements have been documented on the banks of the Southern Bug in close vicinity to several Bug-Dniester sites.Within the frame of the project four main current issues will be addressed: 1) the characteristics of the easternmost LBK longhouses in comparison to what is known about them in the west, 2) the size of LBK settlements and the layout of the regional settlement structure, 3) the properties of the presumed ecological barrier that is thought to have halted the further spread of the Bandkeramik to the loess areas of Ukraine, 4) particular features of the relationship between Bandkeramik and late Bug-Dniester Culture, and to what extent the LBK villages of the contact zone were influenced by these intercultural contacts.Therefore we would like to direct our focus on the excavation of selected sections of LBK and BDC sites after field-walking and magnetic surveys have been completed; preliminary work has already been successfully conducted. For the first time on the eastern fringes of the Bandkeramik it will become possible to document full-scale ground plans of LBK longhouses, after their location has been ascertained during the surveys of the last years.Analyses of flint artefacts, pottery and animal bones will also be needed to get closer to a better understanding of lifestyles on the eastern fringes of the Bandkeramik oecumene. Reconstruction of the palaeoenvironmental conditions (vegetation history, soil properties) is an integral part of our investigation programme. The final results of our multidisciplinary approach will provide a comprehensive study of several aspects of the easternmost sites of the Bandkeramik and their relationship with neighbouring cultural phenomena.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants