The earliest traces of metallurgy in Greater Poland

Abstract

During rescue excavations at Site 1 in Kotowo in 1958, a ceramic tube was discovered in a feature of the Funnel Beaker culture. Currently, XRF analysis suggests that it is a ceramic tuyère associated with copper processing. The feature, radiocarbon dated to 3911–3714 BC (68.3% probability), most likely housed a metalworking workshop. The artefact from Kotowo has several analogues in the Polish lands, mainly from sites of the Lengyel-Polgár culture. With a clear and well-documented cultural context, it testifies to the existence of the oldest metallurgical workshop so far known in the Funnel Beaker culture.

Lead isotopic compositions link copper axes from Kietrz (Poland, 3500–3350 BC) to Slovak and Balkan copper mines

“…A number of heavy metal tools, such as the hammer-axes that have been found in Szczecin-Śmierdnica or Kałdus in northern Poland, also demonstrate the large scale of this process (Adamczak et al, 2015;Szpunar, 1987). As far as the local copper production in the Late Neolithic in Poland rests on very slim evidence ( _ Zurkiewicz et al, 2023), it seems more reasonable to expect that the local TRB power elites made the most of the Baden era's socio-economic opportunities by becoming passive clients of the widespread metal trading network, which secured a fairly stable supply of metalwork to TRB customers north of the Carpathians in a repertoire that included metal tools, weapons and body ornaments.…”