Early farming settlement of the marginal zone of loess uplands and its palaeoenvironmental context – a case study of the Iłża Piedmont (S Poland)

Abstract The results of previous researches conducted across the upland territories of Central Europe reflect a considerably close correlation between the settlement by prehistoric agricultural societies and the ranges of the local loess covers. This correspondence – caused mainly by the high utility value of the territories in question, especially the presence of fertile soils and convenient geomorphological and hydrological conditions – is apparent even for the earliest phase of the Neolithic, and is clearly confirmed for later periods of prehistory. Until recently, this state of research concurred the interpretation that the neighbouring non-loess uplands had not been permanently settled, but only temporarily penetrated in order to exploit local resources (e.g., flint outcrops). This observation also applies to the territory being the essential subject of this paper, that is the sandy loam areas of the Iłża Piedmont, which is the direct northern forefield of the loess Sandomierz Upland. The results of interdisciplinary research conducted in this territory during the last several years allow us to considerably complete and verify the previous findings. They clearly confirm the intense and long-lasting character of the local settlement between the Early Neolithic and the Early Iron Age, as well as the typically agricultural activities of societies linked with different cultures that successively settled the discussed area during that time period. The obtained data show us the previously little known phenomenon of forming and functioning of the settlement microregions occupying uplands located outside the range of the compact loess cover, that is within ecological and landscape zones that were not preferred by prehistoric, early agricultural societies inhabiting the old upland territories of Central Europe. They also indirectly indicate the considerable flexibility and adaptability of early farmers, which made it possible for them to effectively colonise the definitely less rich territories located outside the compact area of the loess uplands since as early as the earliest phase of the Neolithic. This fact creates important possibilities for future research, allowing us to suspect that analogous settlement clusters also existed across the peripheral zones of other Central European loess uplands.