Temporal dynamics of Linearbandkeramik houses and settlements, and their implications for detecting the environmental impact of early farming

Abstract

Long-held ideas concerning early Neolithic Linearbandkeramik (LBK) settlements in central Europe have been thoroughly challenged in recent years, for example, regarding their internal organisation or the use-life of individual houses. These topics have now also been addressed with the help of large radiocarbon (14C) datasets. In the light of this discussion, we present findings of our ongoing research at Vráble in south-western Slovakia. Intensive prospection by fieldwalking, geophysics and sedimentology, complemented by targeted excavations and archaeobotanical investigations, aims to unravel social and temporal relationships between three adjacent LBK settlements. A total of 23 of the c.300 houses revealed by geophysical prospection have been dated. Bayesian chronological modelling of this dataset, comprising 109 14C ages from 104 samples, indicates that the three LBK settlements at Vráble coexisted, and that overall the LBK settlement lasted for c. 200–300 years. Our results imply a ‘short’ use-life for individual houses (median c.20–30 y), suggesting that relatively few houses were inhabited simultaneously. Our data suggest that the overall LBK population at Vráble might have increased over the course of occupation, but probably never exceeded 200–300 individuals, based on the number of houses that could have been occupied contemporaneously. We compare the Vráble evidence with Bayesian chronologies for other LBK sites, and discuss the implications of these findings for models of population agglomeration and recognising the environmental impact of early farming communities.

A new approach to the temporal significance of house orientations in European Early Neolithic settlements

“…The most reliable value can be attributed to the southwestern settlement as here, as already emphasized above, we have the best coverage. The fact that Bayesian 14 C-modeling implies a broad co-existence of the three settlements [21] correlates with the observation of very similar means of the orientation of houses (see above). Therefore, we argue that the differences in the regression analyses of the three settlements are due to uneven sampling and do not reflect fundamental different principles in orientating houses.…”

“…The ceramic material unanimously date these houses to the youngest LBK, which is also supported by the 99 14 C-dates obtained. A large number of additional 14 C-dates from nine other houses was gained by a targeted coring program [21].…”

“…From the 2014 excavations datable material was available for five houses of the northern settlement (for an in-depth-discussion of the 14 C-dates from Vráble see [21]). In the southeastern settlement, seven houses yielded datable material during excavations in 2013 and 2016.…”

“…In the Bayesian model of 14 C dates from Vráble presented by [21], the occupation of the settlement cluster is dated to ca. 5250-4950 BCE and the duration of house use is on average 40 years.…”

“…Assuming a steady change in orientation, the houses depicted in the magnetic imagery can be hypothetically pin-pointed mainly to a duration of 300 years and the time-range 5250-4950 calBC. According to 14 C-dates, the change from the so-called younger LBK (Notenkopfkeramik) to the Ž eliezovce-group, the youngest variant of local LBK, happened around 5200 calBC [21]. Therefore, some of the identified houses should https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0226082.g010…”