The study of past environments, their ecology, and detailed changes through time has become an important task of environmental science. Records of paleoenvironment usually vary between regions owing to different influences of local climate, vegetation, relief, and depositional processes. Therefore, studying local sequences thoroughly allows paleoenvironmental and paleoecological reconstructions for particular regions, but it also provides important data that complement the global record. The Żarska Cave is an exceptional site, which owing to its thick and undisturbed Holocene sediments with very rich paleobotanical and paleozoological materials has become the most complete example of the uppermost Upper Pleistocene and Holocene cave deposits in the Polish uplands. The aim of our study was to understand paleoenvironmental changes in southern Poland, from the late Glacial to the late Holocene, which has been targeted by use of a detailed geological analysis accompanied by analysis of a wide range of paleobotanical, paleozoological, and archeological assemblages. All the results obtained have permitted characterization of the paleoenvironmental changes occurring in the area of the Polish Jura during the last >15 ka years. A particularly well-represented sequence covers the Allerød interstadial, which revealed the presence of forests with associated shade-loving mollusks and rodents. The beginning of the Holocene was clearly identified with an increase of shaded forest habitats, which developed in a still relatively cold climate with continental features, and with the first appearance of mesophilous deciduous trees. During the middle Holocene, unusual evidence for maple forests is documented, which developed before the formation of beech forests, typical for the late Holocene. The obtained sequence has great significance not only for the Polish Jura region, but also has wider implications for southern Poland and the vast area of the northern Carpathian foreland.
At site 5 in Modlnica near Kraków, the first settlement in southeastern Poland (Małopolska) with materials of the Furchenstichkeramik type was discovered. the following article presents the results of microscopic analyses of several characteristic forms of vessels. the main objective of the research was to determine the mineralogical and petrographic composition of the ceramic fabrics, identify deliberate admixtures (raw materials), determine their origin as well as to analyse the white material encrusting the pottery decorated with the incised ornament (Furchenstichkeramik). The research indicates significant differences between the technology of production of the analysed materials and the manufacture of pottery attributed to local neolithic cultures. the most essential one seems to be the discovery of volcanic glass in the pottery fabric suggesting that the material may derive from outside the region. These results verify the archaeological typological-stylistic assessment of findings from Modlnica as an assemblage of danubian origin (slovakia, moravia). the results of the research presented below are the first microscopic analyses of assemblages with materials of the Furchenstichkeramik type.
In 1964, Barbara Burchard and Anna Eker published a study of the Funnel Beaker culture materials from Książnice Wielkie, Proszowice district. These materials were obtained by Józef Żurowski, who conducted large rescue excavations in 1921-1924. He has never published the results of research, and the study by B. Burchard and A. Eker is so far the only comprehensive one of the Funnel Beaker culture settlement there. Since then, this site has not been the subject of detailed research and analysis. The huge, as yet untapped, research potential of this site has become the reason for a scientific return to Książnice Wielkie. After almost 100 years since J. Żurowski's fieldwork, the Archaeological Museum in Kraków resumed research. In 2017, magnetic prospecting was carried out, and since 2018, rescue excavations have been directed. Stone artefacts are also being studied, and radiocarbon analyses of materials obtained in the 1920s are being conducted.
In the years 2006-2011, at the site Więckowice 4, rescue excavations were carried out in the eastern part of anextensive (over 15 ha) multicultural zone. The most numerous are the remains of the LBK settlement from the “music note” phase. The south-eastern part of the settlement was explored, discovering lines of building pits and post holes belonging to 3-4 longhouses. A particularly unique discovery was a fragment of a LBK vessel with powdered graphite preserved on the outer surface. In addition to the LBK ornament of engraved lines, it is decorated in a manner referring to the ornamentation of the Eastern Linear circle (Tiszadob-Kapušany group). The presence of graphite on the vessel wall has been confirmed by the results of SEM-EDS analyses. This is the first such find in Lesser Poland. To comprehensively address the cultural significance of this find we provide an upto-date overview of graphite usage in a wide range of LBK contexts.
Site 1 in Zofipole east of Kraków is known for long-standing research conducted in 1930s and 1940s. In 1986 test excavations were conducted in the eastern, up to then unrecognized part of the area. This research led to the discovery of a part of a small settlement of the Baden culture yielding interesting and diversified (while not numerous) sources for studies into this culture in Lesser Poland. This research is worth discussing due to new radiocarbon data, animal bones analyses, the discoveries of a dwelling feature and presumed symbolic burial and fragments of pottery for salt production.
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