%0 Journal Article
%T Neolithic LBK Intrasite Settlement Patterns: A Case Study from Bylany (Czech Republic)
%A Petr Kv¨§tina
%A Mark¨¦ta Kon£¿elov¨¢
%J Journal of Archaeology
%D 2013
%I Hindawi Publishing Corporation
%R 10.1155/2013/581607
%X This paper could also be a contribution to a new concept for understanding space and time in Neolithic settlements. We abandoned the methodological concept of construction complexes of houses and used individual archaeological features as the basic analytical unit. The analysis of quantitative correlations of decorative style conducted on this basis produced five style groups; four of these belonged to a LBK style, and it was these that were spatially distinct at the Bylany settlement. The discovered spatial patterns of style correspond in general to the existing chronology of the site. This means that chronological horizons understood both as intervals on the time axis and as geographic units are not dependent on ¡°construction complexes¡± or even on individual houses. The value of this study does not lie in a more detailed chronological division of the Neolithic settlement at Bylany, but in a confirmation of the robustness of its existing form; the study also draws attention to a possible problem in the concept of construction complexes. 1. Introduction The oldest agricultural population of Central, and partly also Western, Europe is archaeologically tied to the Linear Pottery culture (LBK¡ªLinearbandkeramik) and covers the period 5500¨C5000£¿BC. The term is derived from the typical method used to decorate pottery, namely, the form of incised lines or bands. The basic archaeological manifestation of this period comes in the form of remains of settlements. This originally included various numbers of longhouses made of wooden pole structure with walls ofwattle and daub. However, all that remained of these were postholes and foundation trenches. The length of these houses ranged usually from four to fifty metres, but their floor level was not discovered. The question remains as to whether the floors were situated at the level of the original terrain or whether an elevated platform was involved [1, 2]. The archaeological finds therefore do not come from the interior of the houses, but from pits surrounding them. The pits were both large (covering dozens of square meters) and smaller¡ªmainly as longer pits lining the west and east walls of the original houses. Extremely large pits without a direct spatial relationship to the houses contained a conglomerate of artefacts originating in an apparently long chronological interval (up to 500 years). On the other hand, the long pits located near the houses contain objects whose dating falls into substantially shorter intervals. It is significant that finds from these pits are normally regarded as representing the
%U http://www.hindawi.com/journals/jarchae/2013/581607/