Monumental enclosures are a widespread phenomenon of the European Neolithic. One category of enclosure is the mid-fifth-millennium BC rondel sites of Central Europe. In parts of this region, rondel sites are grouped, drawing attention to notable differences in individual rondel forms. Here, we use Bayesian modelling of radiocarbon dates from the ditches of two rondels at Praha-Krč, Bohemia, to demonstrate their contemporaneity. In turn, this informs interpretations of the role played by multi-rondel sites in symbolic competition between regional communities, who invested in rondels as part of translocal negotiation. The concept of translocality may prove fruitful for the investigation of the monumental architecture of other periods and regions.
The paper is focused on the period of cultural change at the turn of 6th and 5th millennia BC, when
the uniform Linear Pottery Culture (LBK) occupying an extensive area disintegrated in several local groups
or cultures, including the Stroked Pottery Culture (SBK) emerging in the regions of Bohemia and Saxony. The
data comprising pottery, animal bones, lithics, as well as architectural attributes from Hrdlovka site, situated
in northwest Bohemia, are presented. In accordance with the sites of Hrbovice-Chabařovice and Dresden-
Prohlis a rather uninterrupted LBK/SBK transition has been observed, which contrasts with the image of
“LBK crisis” observed in other regions. Lithics production and distribution networks of raw material seem
to be stable. The change in stockkeeping strategies correlating with the transitional period are considered
rather as modification of local environmental conditions. On the level of households, a similar architectural
development has been documented at the Hrdlovka and Dresden-Prohlis sites. The processes of LBK/SBK
transition in terms of cultural change are also discussed.
This article is focused on the deliberate orientation of longhouses observed within the wide area of the Linear Pottery culture (LBK) and succeeding cultures (post-LBK). Spatial analysis is based on the assemblage of 1546 buildings, whose purpose it was to attempt to cover the whole area of longhouse distribution. Despite variability, which considerably increased over time, the alignment of house entrances towards the south or south-east was observed. The widely accepted theory of house alignment towards the ‘ancestral homeland’ is therefore challenged by a new hypothesis, which sees orientation governed by the celestial path of the sun. Using 3D-modelling of light-and-shadow and solar impact, sun alignment is discussed as an integral element of the longhouse concept already present by the time of its genesis. The tendency of aligning longhouse entrances towards the east, which emerged during the LBK expansion westwards, is considered to be a regionally limited pattern, as no analogical shift was observed in the eastern areas of longhouse distribution.
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