Biologia wczesnorolniczych populacji ludzkich grupy brzesko-kujawskiej kultury lendzielskiej (4600-4000 BC)

Abstract

The paper discusses the results of an anthropological study of 183 Neolithic skeletons representing the Brześć Kujawski Group (GB-K) of the Lengyel Culture, dated to 4600–4000 BC. The paleodemographic analysis additionally includes data for three skeletons from the Linear Pottery Culture dated to 5400–4800 BC. The studied skeletal remains come from ten archeological sites explored in the years 1933–2008 (by the State Archaeological Museum in Warsaw during the interwar period and by the Archaeological and Ethnographic Museum in Łódź in 1976–2008). The sites are located in Brześć Kujawski (Sites 3 and 4), Osłonki (Site 1), Konary (Sites 1 and 1a), Miechowice (Sites 4 and 4a), Pikutkowo (Site 6a), Smólsk (Site 2) and Ludwinowo (Site 3). All of these sites are situated in a relatively small area of Kujawy with a diameter of about 20 km. Taking into consideration the substantial cultural, spatial, and (in Neolithic terms) chronological homogeneity of the sites, this material may be treated for the purposes of bioarchaeological research as representing one biological population. The discussed skeletal series constitute the oldest collection of this magnitude coming from Poland. Due to the size of the collection and thanks to the very good preservation of some of the skeletons (especially from the Brześć Kujawski sites) and the wealth of background archaeological data, the skeletal series analyzed in this work are of exceptional value not only in Poland but also in Europe.