Lost and Found: The Vallum in Lacu at Ostrowite (Northern Poland). A Multidisciplinary Research Case Study

Novel method of ancient pottery analysis based on radioactive isotope ratios: a pilot study

“…(1) Early Neolithic settlement-clay pits attributed to the Linear Pottery Culture (LPC), dated to 5200-5000 BCE [25]; (2) Early Iron Age-settlement features and a small cremation cemetery of the Wielka Wieś Phase of the Pomeranian Culture, dated to about 800-600 BCE [24]; (3) Roman Period-settlement features with relics of long houses, granaries, pits, hearths, lime production kilns and a single (so far) inhumation grave, dated to period between the first and fourth centuries CE and attributed to the Wielbark Culture [24]; (4) Middle Ages-settlement features, relics of a defensive structure (moat or ditch), two phases of a timber bridge (approx. 1160 CE and 1300 CE) and an inhumation cemetery dated to the mid-11th to the beginning of the fourteenth centuries CE [22][23][24][25].…”

“…In the last few years, several new finds of LPC materials and settlements have been documented outside traditional areas like Kuyavia or the Chełmno Lakelands [25,28] where archaeologists had identified the sites of this culture previously [29][30][31]. The unexpected discovery of LPC pits with large amounts of materials like pottery fragments, flints, bones and other artefacts and ecofacts in Ostrowite [22] outside the traditional LPC centres like Kuyavia, Lasser Poland (Małopolska), Sandomierz Upland and Great Poland (Wielkopolska) extends the known area of occupation of this Early Neolithic communities. It also raises questions about long-distance contacts between Ostrowite and those "traditional" centres evoked by the finds of flints in southern Poland.…”

“…The method uses natural radioactive isotopes as markers and features a number of advantages, such as avoiding the need for calibration or the destruction of the samples, which is extremely important in the case of pottery fragments from museums or other collections. This methodological approach was developed based on the field of chemometric and radiometric research, as well as archaeological and ceramic research [21][22][23][24].…”