Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-8bhkd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-17T09:17:27.921Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Neolithic rondels in Central Europe and their builders: an analysis of multi-rondel sites

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 June 2022

Václav Vondrovský Open the ORCID record for Václav Vondrovský [Opens in a new window] ,
Lenka Kovačiková Open the ORCID record for Lenka Kovačiková [Opens in a new window]  and
Lubor Smejtek Open the ORCID record for Lubor Smejtek [Opens in a new window]
Václav Vondrovský*
Affiliation:
Institute of Archaeology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic Institute of Archaeology, Faculty of Arts, University of South Bohemia, Czech Republic
Lenka Kovačiková
Affiliation:
Laboratory of Palaeoecology and Archaeobotany, University of South Bohemia, Czech Republic
Lubor Smejtek
Affiliation:
Central Bohemian Archaeological Heritage Institute, Czech Republic
*
*Author for correspondence ✉ [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

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.

Keywords

Central EuropeNeolithicrondel enclosuresradiocarbon datingBayesian modellingsocial organisation
Type
Research Article
Information
Antiquity , Volume 96 , Issue 389 , October 2022 , pp. 1105 - 1123
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Antiquity Publications Ltd.

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bánffy, E. et al. 2016. The Alsónyék story: towards the history of a persistent place. Bericht der Römisch-Germanischen Kommission 94: 283–318.Google Scholar
Barna, J.P. & Pásztor, E.. 2011. Different ways of using space: traces of domestic and ritual activities at a Late Neolithic settlement at Sormás-Török-földek. Documenta Praehistorica 38: 185–206. https://doi.org/10.4312/dp.38.15CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bell, M., Fowler, P.J. & Hillson, S.W. (ed.). 1996. The Experimental Earthwork Project 1960–1992 (CBA Research Report 100). York: Council for British Archaeology.Google Scholar
Bertemes, F. & Meller, H. (ed.). 2012. Neolithische Kreisgrabenanlagen in Europa. Internationale Arbeitstagung 7.–9. Mai 2004 in Goseck. Halle: Landesamt für Denkmalpflege und Archäologie Sachsen-Anhalt.Google Scholar
Bertemes, F. & Northe, A.. 2012. Goseck: die “erste” Kreisgrabenanlage in Sachsen-Anhalt, in Bertemes, F. & Meller, H. (ed.) Neolithische Kreisgrabenanlagen in Europa. Internationale Arbeitstagung 7.–9. Mai 2004 in Goseck: 11–39. Halle: Landesamt für Denkmalpflege und Archäologie Sachsen-Anhalt.Google Scholar
Bertók, G. & Gáti, C.. 2011. Neue Angaben zur spätneolithischen Siedlungsstruktur in Südosttransdanubien. Acta Archaeologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 62: 1–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bronk Ramsey, C. 2009. Bayesian analysis of radiocarbon dates. Radiocarbon 51: 337–60. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033822200033865CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Flannery, K.V. & Marcus, J.. 2012. The creation of inequality: how our prehistoric ancestors set the stage for monarchy, slavery, and empire. Cambridge (MA): Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Furholt, M. 2017. Translocal communities: exploring mobility and migration in sedentary societies of the European Neolithic and Early Bronze Age. Praehistorische Zeitschrift 92: 304–21. https://doi.org/10.1515/pz-2017-0024CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harris, E.C. 1989. Principles of archaeological stratigraphy. Second edition. London: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Hillier, B. & Hanson, J.. 1984. The social logic of space. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Končelová, M. & Květina, P.. 2015. Neolithic longhouse seen as a witness of cultural change in the post-LBK. Anthropologie 53: 431–46.Google Scholar
Končelová, M. et al. 2019. The vertical structure of Neolithic finds in the fills of archaeological features. Interdisciplinaria Archaeologica 10: 29–51. https://doi.org/10.24916/iansa.2019.1.3CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kowalewski, S.A. 2013. The work of making community, in Birch, J. (ed.) From prehistoric villages to cities: settlement aggregation and community transformation: 201–18. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Lisá, L. et al. 2013. Micromorphological evidence of Neolithic rondel-like ditch infillings: case studies from Těšetice-Kyjovice and Kolín, Czech Republic. Interdisciplinaria Archaeologica 4: 135–46. https://doi.org/10.24916/iansa.2013.2.1CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lisá, L. et al. 2015. How were the ditches filled? Sedimentological and micromorphological classification of formation processes within graben-like archaeological objects. Quaternary International 370: 66–76. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2014.11.049CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lobisser, W.F.A. & Neubauer, W.. 2005. Im Kreisgrabenfieber: Experimentalarchäologische Studien zur Bautechnik der mittleren Jungsteinzeit. Archäologie Österreichs 16: 4–17.Google Scholar
Loishandl-Weisz, H. & Peticzka, R.. 2007. Die Verfüllungsmechanismen des Spitzgrabens der mittelneolithischen Kreisgrabenanlage Steinabrunn, Niederösterreich. Archaeologia Austriaca 91: 141–61.Google Scholar
Lüning, J. 1981. Versuchsgelände Kinzweiler (Stadt Eschweiler, Kr. Aachen-Land). Bonner Jahrbücher 181: 264–84.Google Scholar
Němejcová-Pavúková, V. 1995. Svodín: zwei Kreisgrabenanlagen der Lengyel-Kultur. Bratislava: Filosofická fakulta Univerzity Komenského.Google Scholar
Neubauer, W. 2007. Monumente der Steinzeit zwischen Himmel und Erde: interdisziplinäre Kreisgrabenforschung in Österreich, in Schmotz, K. (ed.) Vorträge des 25. Niederbayerischen Archäologentages: 185–242. Rahden: Marie Leidorf.Google Scholar
Obelić, B., Škrivanko, M. Krznarić, Marijan, B. & Bronić, I. Krajcar. 2004. Radiocarbon dating of Sopot Culture sites (Late Neolithic) in eastern Croatia. Radiocarbon 46: 245–58. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033822200039564CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Oliva, M. 2004. Flint mining, rondels, hillforts…: symbolic works or too much free time? Archeologické rozhledy 56: 499–531.Google Scholar
Pásztor, E., Barna, J.P. & Roslund, C.. 2008. The orientation of rondels of the Neolithic Lengyel Culture in Central Europe. Antiquity 82: 910–24. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003598X00097672CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pavlů, I., Rulf, J. & Zápotocká, M.. 1995. Bylany rondel: model of the Neolithic site. Památky archeologické, Supplementum 3: 7–123.Google Scholar
Petrasch, J. 1990. Mittelneolithische Kreisgrabenanlagen in Mitteleuropa. Bericht der Römisch-Germanischen Kommission 71: 407–564.Google Scholar
Petrasch, J. 2012. Die mittelneolithischen Kreisgrabenanlagen in Zentraleuropa: Forschungsstand und Interpretationstheorien zu Funktion und Bedeutung, in Bertemes, F. & Meller, H. (ed.) Neolithische Kreisgrabenanlagen in Europa. Internationale Arbeitstagung 7.–9. Mai 2004 in Goseck: 41–66. Halle: Landesamt für Denkmalpflege und Archäologie Sachsen-Anhalt.Google Scholar
Petrasch, J. 2015. Central European enclosures, in Fowler, C., Harding, J. & Hofmann, D. (ed.) The Oxford handbook of Neolithic Europe: 763–78. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Reimer, P.J. et al. 2020. The IntCal20 Northern Hemisphere radiocarbon calibration curve (0–55 kcal BP). Radiocarbon 62: 725–57. https://doi.org/10.1017/RDC.2020.41CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Řídký, J. et al. 2014. How were Neolithic ditches filled in? Deposition study of two enclosures from Bohemia. European Journal of Archaeology 17: 579–601. https://doi.org/10.1179/1461957114Y.0000000063CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Řídký, J. et al. 2019. Big men or chiefs? Rondel builders of Neolithic Europe. Oxford: Oxbow. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv13nb7k7Google Scholar
Schiel, H. et al. 2017. Large-scale high-resolution magnetic prospection of the KGA's Rechnitz, Austria, in Jennings, B., Gaffney, C., Sparrow, T. & Gaffney, S. (ed.) 12th International Conference of Archaeological Prospection: 215–17. Oxford: Archaeopress.Google Scholar
Smejtek, L. & Sušická, V.. 2009. Časně eneolitické nálezy z Prahy-Krče. Archeologie ve středních Čechách 13: 111–59.Google Scholar
Stadler, P. et al. 2006. Absolutchronologie der Mährisch-Ostösterreichischen Gruppe (MOG) der bemalten Keramik aufgrund von neuen 14C-Datierungen. Archäologie Österreichs 17: 41–69.Google Scholar
Stäuble, H. 2007. Mittelneolithische Kreisgrabenanalgen im Wandel der Zeit: die sächsischen Beispiele, in Schmotz, K. (ed.) Vorträge des 25. Niederbayerischen Archäologentages: 169–84. Rahden: Marie Leidorf.Google Scholar
Thomas, J. 2020. The lives of monuments and monumentalising life, in Gebauer, A.B., Sørensen, L., Teather, A. & de Valera, A.C. (ed.) Monumentalising life in the Neolithic: narratives of change and continuity: 287–97. Oxford: Oxbow. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv13pk66m.29CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Trigger, B.G. 1990. Monumental architecture: a thermodynamic explanation of symbolic behaviour. World Archaeology 22: 119–32. https://doi.org/10.1080/00438243.1990.9980135CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Trnka, G. 1991. Studien zu mittelneolithischen Kreisgrabenanlagen (Mitteilungen der Prähistorischen Kommission der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften 26). Wien: Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften.Google Scholar
Trnka, G. 2012. Die Erforschung der mittelneolithischen Kreisgrabenanalage von Kamegg im Waldviertel, Niederösterreich, in Bertemes, R. & Meller, H. (ed.) Neolithische Kreisgrabenanlagen in Europa. Internationale Arbeitstagung 7.–9. Mai 2004 in Goseck: 197–221. Halle: Landesamt für Denkmalpflege und Archäologie Sachsen-Anhalt.Google Scholar
Vondrovský, V. 2021. Neolitický sídelní areál Praha-Krč, Společenská zahrada: organizace prostoru sídelního areálu s rondely a problematika formativních procesů. Unpublished PhD dissertation, University of South Bohemia.Google Scholar
Vondrovský, V. & Smejtek, L.. 2020. Neolitické kruhové ohrazení z Prahy-Krče. Archeologie ve středních Čechách 24: 99–110.Google Scholar
Wenger, E. 1998. Communities of practice: learning, meaning, and identity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511803932CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Whittle, A. 2018. The times of their lives: hunting history in the archaeology of Neolithic Europe. Oxford: Oxbow. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvh1dm57Google Scholar
Whittle, A., Healy, F. & Bayliss, A.. 2011. Gathering time: dating the Early Neolithic enclosures of southern Britain and Ireland. Oxford: Oxbow. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvh1dwp2CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zápotocká, M. 1998. Bestattungsritus des böhmischen Neolithikums (5500–4200 BC): Gräber und Bestattungen der Kultur mit Linear-, Stichband- und Lengyelkeramik. Prague: Archäologisches Institut der Akademie der Wissenschaften der Tschechischen Republik.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: PDF

Vondrovský et al. supplementary material

Vondrovský et al. supplementary material

Download Vondrovský et al. supplementary material(PDF)
PDF 1.3 MB