Added December 20, 1999. Updated July 27, 2001, 21:58 hours.
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Austrian/Moravian Painted Ware II
By
Maximilian O. Baldia
(Copy Right © 1999-2001. All rights
reserved)
Introduction
The purpose of this text is to provide a general overview of the culture and is intended as a resource for students and teachers of European Archaeology.
Austrian-Moravian Painted Ware II
While the first he second phase of the Austrian/Moravian Painted Ware ( A/MPW I) lasted from about 4700-4500 cal BC, A/MPW II started sometime after 4500 cal BC. Its precise end is, however, not entirely clear. There are also different classifications of the MPW II subphases. Usually there are only two such subdivisions, a and b (Chronological Table). However, some researchers add a third (MPW IIc). The late phase of the A/MPW exhibits unpainted designs and pottery forms similar to the Jordanów.
Chronology
A/MPW II (a,b) started probably around 4500 cal BC or shortly thereafter, lasting perhaps 200 years, but dating is a problem. The Late or Epi-Lenyel (A/MPW IIc) in Austria is dated 4250-3950 cal BC,[1] which is probably similar to its end in Poland. It is followed by the Funnel Beaker cultures’s Baalberge group (TRB). The demise of Lengyel is apearantly problematical. Ulrich Fischer (personal communication) questions the late end proposed by Midgley, who lists four dates, suggesting contact between Brześć Kujawski group and the TRB, between 4300-3750 B.C. (Midgley 1992:501).[2] However, Moravian excavators, such as M. Šmíd, supports a coexistence of Late Lengyel and Early Funnel Beaker culture/Baalberge pottery, in Central Moravia.
Pottery
During Phase II the pottery technology became very complex, employing not only incised designs (presumably adopted from the Stoke-Ornamented Pottery (STK) to the north), but also a polished, reddish "false terra sigilata", and a black, burnished "false terra negra." The development of the two-chamber kiln permitted this high technology.
Fig.
1. MPW I and II pottery (Podborský et al. 1993).
Fig.
2. MPW IIa pottery (Podborský et al. 1993).
Fig. 3. MPW IIb and IIc pottery (Podborský et al. 1993).
The final phase (Phase II c), the so-called Epi-Lengyel pottery, is characterized by the Bisamber-Oberpullendorf group in Austria. Here the pottery shows two kinds of manufacturing processes.
- Hard, strongly fired; coarse sand and occasional mica temper; yellow-brown, brown and gray-brown, matt surface , sometimes “graphite slip;” linear incised or stamped patterns.
- Mostly hard, strongly fired, fine sedimentary clay without sand, red-yellow, brown or dark gray, burnished surface, commonly grooved (channeled), with occasional “graphite slip.”
In terms of style, there is an observable relationship with Jordanów.
Houses
During this Phase II the use of hill top settlements came into vogue in Moravia, as exemplified at Boskovstein, Strelice, Jaromerice, etc.
The houses evolved from the Bandkeramik houses throughout Lengyel. Houses of Bisamber-Oberpullendorf group indicate the use of small posts in pits or trenches. The longhouses are more or less rectangular, measuring 13-17 m in length and ca. 7 m in width. The house remains indicate the existence of two rooms and an antechamber or porch (Rutkay and Mayer 1995:125 Fig. 7, 1-2).
Copper
Copper production is indicated by Epi-Lenyel crucibles.
Burials
In addition to flexed
burials in pits there are a few cremation burials. In Moravia they are found at
Jaroměřice nad Rokytnou, Vedrovice perhaps Hluboké Mašůvky. In Austria
they they are known from Eggenburg and possibly Rabensburg.
References and Credits
Baldia, M. O.
1995 A Spatial Analysis of Megalithic Tombs. Vol. 1-2. Ph. D. Dissertation. Southern Methodist University.
Lenneis, E., C. Neugebauer-Maresch, E. Ruttkay
1995 Jungsteinzeit im Osten Österreichs.
Forschungsberichte zur Ur- u. Frühgeschichte 17. Niederösterreichisches
Pressehaus u. Verlagsgesellschaft, St. Pölten – Wien.
Midgley, Magdalena S.
1992 TRB Culture: The First Farmers of the North European Plain.
Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh.
Neugebauer-Maresch, C.
1995 Mittelneolithikum: Die Bemaltkeramik. In
Lenneis, E., C. Neugebauer-Maresch, E. Ruttkay, Jungsteinzeit im Osten
Österreichs. Forschungsberichte zur Ur- u. Frühgeschichte 17. Niederösterreichisches
Pressehaus u. Verlagsgesellschaft, St. Pölten – Wien. 1995:57-107.
Podborský, Vladimír, et al.
1993 Pravěké Dějiny Moravy. Vlastivěda Moravská Země a Lid, Nová Řada 3. Muzejní a vlastivědna společnost, Brno.
Ruttkay, Elizabeth and Christian Mayer
1995 Spätneolitikum.
In Lenneis, E., C. Neugebauer-Maresch, E. Ruttkay, Jungsteinzeit im Osten Österreichs. Forschungsberichte zur
Ur- u. Frühgeschichte 17. Niederösterreichisches Pressehaus u.
Verlagsgesellschaft, St. Pölten – Wien. 1995:108-209.
Stadler, Peter
1995 Ein
Beitrag zur Absolutchronologie des Neolithikums in Österreich auf Grund der 14C-Daten.
In Lenneis, E., C. Neugebauer-Maresch, E. Ruttkay, Jungsteinzeit im Osten
Österreichs. Forschungsberichte zur Ur- u. Frühgeschichte 17. Niederösterreichisches
Pressehaus u. Verlagsgesellschaft, St. Pölten – Wien. 1995:210-224.
Please send comments or questions to Max Baldia.