Let the Sunshine In: The Issue of Neolithic Longhouse Orientation

Abstract

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.

Long-term demographic trends and spatio-temporal distribution of past human activity in Central Europe: Comparison of archaeological and palaeoecological proxies

“…The start of the Neolithic meant a significant transformation of lifestyle. The first farmers within the territory built longhouses (Květina and Hrnčíř, 2013;Vondrovský, 2018), intensively extracted greenschist for adze production (Prostředník et al, 2005;Ramminger, 2009;Šída, 2007), buried their dead more regularly at cemeteries (Masclans Latorre et al, 2020;Podborský, 2002;Šmíd, 2012), produced ceramic vessels for cooking and storage, and dug wells (Vostrovská et al, 2021(Vostrovská et al, , 2020. The combination of economic, technological, and social transformations, intertwined with immigration (Hofmanová et al, 2016), led to a significant increase in population numbers and density.…”

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

“…The supra-regional differences and tendencies in orientation across the LBK world have been the topic of intensive discussions in the past and have been explained with a wide variety of theories (climate/dominating wind directions: [43]; home of the ancestors: [44]; exposure to the sun: [10]). Astonishingly, the variability of house orientation within individual settlements was never investigated in more detail.…”

“…The idea that house orientation holds significance has been around for a long time in LBK research, but the discussion of regional differences in orientation always trumped considerations of variance in house orientation at individual sites (for an overview of approaches to orientation of LBK houses see [10], 529ff.). It is, however, at the local, site-specific level that house orientation can be used for relative chronological dating.…”