Skołoszów 16 – A Spatial Arrangement of the Eneolithic Settlement of the Funnel Beaker Culture in the Rzeszów Foothills (South-Eastern Poland) in the Light of Previous Excavations and Geophysical Survey

Abstract

In recent years, numerous sites of the Eneolithic Funnel Beaker culture (FBC) have been identified in the Rzeszów Foothills (south-eastern Poland). Among them, a large settlement in Skołoszów 16 seems to be particularly significant due to its internal characteristics. In order to determine its extent, spatial arrangement and chronology, an interdisciplinary investigation (including excavations and a noninvasive geophysical survey) was carried out in 2017–2018. As a consequence of two seasons of field work campaigns, we have recognized numerous morphologically diverse features (mainly pits) and the settlement (cultural) layer. Excavations documented the intense usage of the settlement’s space which encouraged carrying out a geophysical survey over the wider area of the site. The magnetic anomaly distribution reflects many presumable anthropogenic features. Several particular concentrations of features visible on the magnetometry image seem to be related with the FBC, thus delimiting the spatial extent of the site. Based on the geophysical picture, it was possible to estimate that the site measured at least 65×40 m, while the excavations conducted revealed that the settlement was comprised of numerous pits and one settlement layer. IANSA 2019 ● X/2 ● 121–128 Dariusz Król, Jakub Niebieszczański: Skołoszów 16 – A Spatial Arrangement of the Eneolithic Settlement of the Funnel Beaker Culture in the Rzeszów Foothills (South-Eastern Poland) in the Light of Previous Excavations and Geophysical Survey 122 2. Location of settlement The settlement in Skołoszów 16 is located in the northeastern region of the Rzeszów Foothills (Figure 1) on a loess zone in the south-eastern part of the Sandomierz Basin (Kondracki, 1988). It is situated on a slightly flattened small hill, on the right bank of the valley of the Łęg Rokietnicki River, about 380 m away from its present-day riverbed and Figure 1. Distribution of the FBC in the Rzeszów Foothills. a – Skołoszów 16 settlement; b – others sites in the studied area; c – others sites in the neighbouring areas. 0 5 km Figure 2. Skołoszów 16, Subcarpathian voivodeship. A 3D model of the settlement location. Red spot – settlement; blue spots – non-outflowing ponds. IANSA 2019 ● X/2 ● 121–128 Dariusz Król, Jakub Niebieszczański: Skołoszów 16 – A Spatial Arrangement of the Eneolithic Settlement of the Funnel Beaker Culture in the Rzeszów Foothills (South-Eastern Poland) in the Light of Previous Excavations and Geophysical Survey 123 approx. 13 m above its bottom. In its nearest surroundings, there are also two non-outflowing ponds (Figure 2). This topographic-hydrological configuration of the environment is typical of this part of the Rzeszów Foothills. These conditions favoured the development of the FBC settlement network in south-eastern Poland (cf. Kruk, 1973; 1980; Kruk et al., 1996). Within a radius of 5 km from the site, up to 30 functionally diverse FBC sites, including one cemetery with two non-megalithic long barrows, have been registered (Król et al., 2014; Król, 2017; 2018, Cwaliński et al., 2018). 3. Previous excavations An archaeological excavation at the new FBC site in Skołoszów 16 was carried out during two fieldwork seasons in 2017 and 2018. The first season aimed to check whether the settlement identified during the surface survey mission could be prospective for excavation and to examine its state of preservation. To this end, preliminary excavations were realized and provided a number of valuable items of information, which are presented below. As a consequence of the excavation of two small trenches with a total surface of 32 m2, we have recognized 8 diverse features and a settlement layer of 0.4 m thickness (Figure 3). In the context of these features, as well as the cultural layer we have identified numerous FBC sherd and flint assemblages (cf. Król, 2018). The presence of relatively well-preserved anthropogenic relics and particularly distinct clustered features (Figure 3) has confirmed the scientific importance of this site and justified the second season of the excavation. This excavation carried out in an area of ca. 100 m2 resulted in the identification of another 17 diverse features, especially in the western sector (Figure 3). As in the case of the preliminary excavations in 2017, numerous artefacts relating to FBC were identified. Sherds that imitate Figure 3. Skołoszów 16, Subcarpathian voivodeship. The distribution of excavated FBC features: a – trapezoidal pits; b – tubular pits, c – rectangular pits, d – plausible hearth; e – unknown pits; f – postholes; g – area excavated in 2017; h – area excavated in 2018. 0 10 cm IANSA 2019 ● X/2 ● 121–128 Dariusz Król, Jakub Niebieszczański: Skołoszów 16 – A Spatial Arrangement of the Eneolithic Settlement of the Funnel Beaker Culture in the Rzeszów Foothills (South-Eastern Poland) in the Light of Previous Excavations and Geophysical Survey 124 the Tripolye culture (hereinafter TC) technology have also been found. These and the typical FBC finds are subject of a separate study. The excavation revealed a total of 25 morphologically and functionally diverse anthropogenic features, among which the most numerous group might be categorized as storage and/or rubbish pits – features 1–14 and 19–23 (Table 1). In fact, all these pits were conspicuous as being oval in plan and they differed more in size from 0.94 m to 2.87 m in diameter (Table 1). More crucial differences were visible in the case of their cross-section and type of backfill. During excavations in Skołoszów 16, we distinguished mainly trapezoidal and tubularshaped pits (Figure 3; Table 1). The first of these were slightly deeper and stratified, while the second had usually a uniform backfill (Table 1). Most of these pits were clustered very densely below the cultural layer and some of them overlapped each other (e.g. features 5 → 12). However, the deepest and multistratified trapezoidal pit 19, as well as pit 20 containing peculiar burnt layers, were situated quite independently of this cluster (Figure 3). Another category within the scope of the examined space were the poorly preserved postholes and the one feature which can be carefully interpreted as a hearth located to the south of pits 11 and 14 (Figure 3). Presumably, all these lattermentioned features might be seen as the remains of a dwelling and its interior. The spatial arrangement of the features recognized seems interesting and may suggest some preferences as to the functioning and development of the settlement. The occurrence of the cluster of trapezoidal and tubular-shaped pits probably do not indicate the short-term inhabitation of this site, and its more complex structure may be confirmed by the intersections of older pits by younger ones (Figure 3). These stratigraphic relationships demonstrate that some pits were not contemporaneous. However, it is intractable to determine their detailed temporal relationships due to the mainly unspecific sherds and lack of a large set of AMS radiocarbon dating. Thus far, only two absolute indicators have been obtained from the context of pits 5 (which disturbed the pit 13) and 6 (Figure 4). Both of these dates Poz-100857 4765±35 and Poz-100856 4680±35 suggest that the settlement was inhabited within a period of ca. 3650–3350 BC (cf. Król, 2018). Only a small section of the settlement was examined and it would be difficult to expect much in the way of general Table 1. Skołoszów 16. Basic specification of features. Feature no. Feature type Cross-section Top size (m) Depth (m) Backfill 1 pit tubular 1.22×1.14 0.32 uniform 2 pit tubular 1.42×1.12 0.30 uniform 3 pit rectangular 1.88×1.30 0.35 uniform 4 pit trapezoidal unknown* 0.42 uniform 5 pit trapezoidal 2.08×1.05 0.68 stratified 6 pit tubular 1.47×1.45 0.42 uniform 7 pit tubular 1.58×1.21 0.40 uniform 8 pit trapezoidal unknown* 0.50 uniform 9 pit tubular 2.06×1.95 0.48 uniform 9A pit tubular unknown* 0.42 uniform 10 pit trapezoidal 1.45×1.26 0.41 uniform 11 pit tubular 1.75×1.59 0.64 uniform 12 pit trapezoidal 2.87×2.26 0.76 stratified 13 pit trapezoidal 1.19×1.35 0.35 uniform 14 pit tubular 2.36×2.07 0.65 uniform 15 posthole irregural 0.48×0.46 0.25 uniform 16 posthole irregular 0.46×0.42 0.22 uniform 17 unknown unknown 0.88×0.64 0.15 uniform 18 hearth basin 1.20×0.81 0.12 uniform 19 pit trapezoidal 1.03×0.95 1.05 stratified 20 pit tubular 3.23×?* 0.75 stratified 21 pit tubular 2.43×?* 0.72 uniform 22 pit trapezoidal 0.94×?* 0.80 stratified 23 pit rectangular 1.52×?* 0.40 uniform 24 posthole irregular 0.36×0.34 0.12 uniform * – not fully explored features IANSA 2019 ● X/2 ● 121–128 Dariusz Król, Jakub Niebieszczański: Skołoszów 16 – A Spatial Arrangement of the Eneolithic Settlement of the Funnel Beaker Culture in the Rzeszów Foothills (South-Eastern Poland) in the Light of Previous Excavations and Geophysical Survey 125 conclusions regarding the spatial arrangement, range and detailed dynamics of its inhabitation based on these limited data. Despite the results of the excavations, it is open to question whether the examined cluster of pits were part of a much larger concentration of features and if there were other clusters within the settlement. This seems justified given the current research experience from the loess area of the eastern part of the Rzeszów Foothills. Such different pit groups have been identified, for instance, in Pawłosiów 52 (Rybicka et al., 2014) and Mirocin 27 (Sznajdrowska, 2016). Undoubtedly, in order to realistically estimate the space of the settlement in Skołoszów 16, large-scale excavations should be carried out. However, preceding these future investigations, we have decided to conduct a geophysical survey in order to locate the most suitable areas for excavations as well as to provide a spatial view of the distribution of archaeological features. 4. Geophysical survey The main aim of the non-invasive research was to investigate the Skołoszów 16 area in order to estimate the po