This study investigates palaeoenvironmental changes during the late 4th and early 3rd millennium BC in N Moldova, focusing on the Gordines,ti II-Stinca goala archaeological site. The research employs broad spectrum of bioindicators of non-siliceous and siliceous origin as well as geochemical and sedimentary analyses of dry, humic and mineral deposits. The comprehensive results of studied geoarchives underscores the intricate interplay between environmental conditions and anthropogenic influences on Late Tripolye Culture communities. The findings contribute to a better understanding of the Eneolithic communities, highlighting the importance of alternative analytical approaches and detailed investigations into environmental changes and subsistence strategies in N Moldova during the specified period. The analysed profiles of dry terrestrial habitats represent bioarchives of restricted palaeoecological bioindicators. The record of subfossil plant and animal remains showed scarce representation in both analysed sequences, which was associated with dry conditions. The results demonstrate a predominance of open vegetation at the Gordines,ti II-Stinca goala site during pre-occupation, Late Tripolye Culture settlement in 2nd half of 4th mil. BC, and in the post-settlement phases. Local environmental conditions at the hillfort area may not have been suitable for plant cultivation due to the lithological situation. This area might have been used rather for extensive grazing. The forest cover was in the surrounding areas, including slopes of the site promontory. Our results demonstrate that dry mineral and humic deposits including archaeological layers in semi-arid areas could store useful archives for palaeoenvironmental and palaeoecological reconstructions.

A clay rattle, made using the technology of the Funnel Beaker culture, was discovered during research conductedin 2024 on the settlement of this culture in Vynnyky-Lysivka. It was found in Feature 3/2024, which contained pottery with the style of its eastern and southeastern groups, as well as fragments of tableware with characteristics of the Brînzeni group of the Trypillia culture. Clay rattles are very rarely recorded in the Funnel Beaker culture, but are more commonly found in the Trypillia culture. A distant analogy for this rattle from Vynnyky-Lysivka is found in the graves of children from the Vykhvatintsy cemetery. The settlement of the Funnel Beaker culture from Vynnyky-Lysivka dates, which are similar to those of Brînzeni and Vykhvatintsy. The presence ofpottery imports from the Brînzeni group’s environment suggests that the clay rattle is associated with the Funnel Beaker culture. It is probably the result of contacts with the Trypillia Culture groups.

This study presents multidisciplinary analyses of soil cover and archaeological faunal remains from the late Eneolithic fortified settlement of Gordines,ti II - St & icirc;nca goala in Moldova. Associated with the Tripolye culture, the site dates back to the late 4th millennium BC. Significant cultural and economic shifts characterize this period, marked by a transition from agrarian to pastoral practices, which ultimately led to a gradual decline in sedentary settlements. Employing diverse geochemical techniques and isotopic analyses (87Sr/86Sr, delta 15N, delta 13C, 14C-dating), the research elucidates the palaeoecological context of the settlement, human-environment relationships and reasons for its decline and abandonment. We examined 25 faunal specimens, both domesticated and wild, providing local isotopic reference values (87Sr/86Sr baselines) from surficial deposits and water in the region. The initial carbon and nitrogen isotope values indicate a local isotopic ecology undergoing progressive aridification, particularly in the isotopic signatures of larger herbivores. Additionally, our analysis of 87Sr/86Sr isotopic values from faunal dental materials reveals distinct mobility patterns among certain animal groups, offering new insights into Eneolithic husbandry practices. This research holds considerable significance as it reveals the adaptive strategies of prehistoric communities navigating the critical shift from agriculture to pastoralism, thereby deepening our understanding of the socio-economic transformations that occurred in prehistoric Eastern and Central Europe.

Archaeological research in 2023 at the Vynnyky-Lysivka site provided the basis for interpreting the results of geomagnetic work carried out in 2017. The excavations in 2016 resulted in the discovery of clusters of fired clay daub fragments, constituting the remains of the Funnel Beaker Culture household. It was assumed that noninvasive research would show the locations of other such features. However, the results of geomagnetic surveys were difficult to interpret- just like in Gordineşti II-Stînca goală. In the course of the investigation, numerous anomalies were identified, mainly of a dipole nature and less numerous point-positive anomalies. A very weak source of anomalies turned out to be a clearly visible Eneolithic ditch cutting of the Funnel Beaker Culture settlement. The discovery in 2023 in the central part of the Vynnyky-Lysivka settlement of a cluster of pits in the place where anomalies were distinguished in non-invasive studies provided the basis for a reinterpretation of geomagnetic surveys.

The paper scrutinizes the red deer hard tissues from the contexts attributed to the Trypillia Culture’s final phases. Having once been reported elsewhere, the objects under study are this time conceptualized in terms of shape-and trace formation processes, with an eye to incorporating them into research advances under the topic of the late Trypillia transformation, including typological affiliation, radiocarbon dating, archaeoecology, subsistence studies, etc. Particular attention is paid to artefacts that lack the overwhelming power of the tiniest wear marks, but do display extensive topographic features of manufacture and use. The formalized shape-and-trace aspects for the antler artefacts are proposed, which are considered to be suitable rather for a morphological than for a morphographicsystematization of a prehistoric antler assemblage. An interpretative application of the shape-and-trace approach for the sake of clarification of both past currents in morphogenesis of artefacts and praxis of their use is only possible in a systemic context of knowledge about habitats and lifestyles of the past.

Abstract The Gordineşti II-Stînca goală is an archaeological site located in the northern part of the Moldavian Plateau in Edineț Region. Chronologically this settlement is linked to the later phase of the Tripolye Culture. Currently, in archaeological literature, the problems of human occupation, land management, and spatial arrangement of settlements in Moldova during the Eneolithic are highly understudied. In this paper, we present the results of recent archaeological works focusing on the spatial patterning of housing structures, Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) survey, and desk-based Kernel Density Estimation (KDE) analysis, that has been undertaken to further the understanding of the spatial organisation of the Gordineşti II-Stînca goală settlement. The results indicate the high archaeological potential of this site, with the likely presence of multiple housing structures arranged in a planned and functional manner.

Artykuł poświęcony jest problematyce chronologii radiowęglowej stanowisk grupy Gordineşti kultury trypolskiej z obszarów północnej Mołdawii i zachodniej Ukrainy. Bazując na najnowszych datowaniach radiowęglowych i zbudowanych za ich pomocą modelach statystycznych, można sugerować, że osiedle Gordineşti II-Stînca goală mogło funkcjonować wcześniej niż zachodnioukraińskie osady o cechach grupy Gordineşti (np. wołyński Hołysziw). Natomiast rezultaty otrzymane dla stanowiska Winniki-Żupan odpowiadają datowaniu osiedla Gordineşti II-Stînca goală. Uściślenie chronologii mołdawskiej grupy Gordineşti jest również ważne z perspektywy młodszych faz nadbużańskich osiedli kultury pucharów lejkowatych.

This study aims to provide information on cultural and environmental factors influencing the development and decline of the Late Trypillia settlement at Gordineşti II–Stînca goală. The discussion is based on the results of archaeological excavations, non-invasive surveys (magnetometric and GPR), as well as radiocarbon, macroremains, palynological, archaeozoological, and isotopic analyses. All data suggests that Gordineşti II–Stînca goală consisted of at least 15 lightweight constructed dwellings. It was a small settlement existing c. 3300-2950 BC. Its inhabitants were oriented to cereal cultivation and livestock husbandry, using available areas with fertile soils. The livestock were well-fed. However, the location of the settlement on a highly exposed outcrop probably did not facilitate the use of the flowing water of the nearby Racovăţ River. The rock underlying the site would have made digging the wells a very tough task. Hence, the water access problem may be one of the factors that made life inconvenient at the Gordineşti II-Stînca goală settlement.

When considering Trypillia Culture imports in the pottery assemblage of the Funnel Beaker Culture settlement in Zymne, many scholars have emphasized the significance of this evidence when conceptualizing connections between communities of both Cultures, and also highlight the chronological aspects of the matter. The available data make it possible to associate pottery assemblage from Zymne with Gordineşti group of the Trypillia CII stage which dates back to the time range from 3300 until 3000/2950 BC and corresponds to occupation phase II of the Funnel Beaker Culture in Gródek.

The paper presents the issue of house constructions from the second half of the 4 th millennium BC in western Ukraine and northern Moldova. While numerous reports concerning the dwellings of the Funnel Beaker Culture from the area east of the Bug River has been published, these accounts did not provide enough information to precisely assess their construction details. The first such structure whose features can be described in detail is the house from the site Lysivka in Vynnyky. The construction of the dwelling was lightweight, analogous to residential structures from the eastern group of the Funnel Beaker Culture. Another debatable topic was the characteristics of houses of the Gordinești group of the Tripolye Culture. Archaeological research at the site of Gordinești II-Stînca goală proved that communities of the late stage of this culture lived in lightweight houses that were built using clay. Neither the residential structures from the Vynnyky-Lysivka site, nor those from the site of Gordineşti II-Stînca goală, should be regarded as analogy to the classical “ploshchadkas” of the Tripolye Culture.

Palynological information preserved in pollen diagrams is of key importance for investigating prehistoric human activity. According to M. Ralska-Jasiewiczowa, of particular importance for assessing anthropopressure are results of the multidisciplinary research of annually laminated lake sediments carried out in Lake Gościąż and its surroundings in the Gostynin Lake District. In light of the results of human-environment analyses, the environmental disturbances recorded in laminated bottom sediments from Lake Gościąż can be described as reflecting pollen being “an account from afar”. In the analysed case, the pollen fallout may have originated from longer distances, and the recorded transformations of plant assemblages, both with respect to phase 5 and phase 6 from Gościąż, can be attributed to humans inhabiting up to 10 km from Lake Gościąż (e.g. around Lake Białe). On the other hand, the observations made in palynological sites of Białe, Lucieńskie, and Gąsak are well-correlated with the archaeological evidence of human activity. These diagrams reflect nearby activity, as the changes recorded in them correlate distinctly with the intensity of FBC settlement.

Pelisiak A. and Rybicka M. 2021. Settlements and economy of the Funnel Beaker Culture communities. Archaeological and palynological evidence from the annually laminated lake bottom sediments (Gostynin Lake District, central Poland). Sprawozdania Archeologiczne 73/2, 67-92. Palynological information preserved in pollen diagrams is of key importance for investigating prehistoric human activity. According to M. Ralska-Jasiewiczowa (2012, 9), the results of the multidisciplinary research of annually laminated lake sediments carried out in Lake Gościąż and its surroundings in the Gostynin Lake District are of particular importance for assessing anthropopressure in the past. In light of the results of human-environment analyses, the environmental disturbances recorded in laminated bottom sediments from Lake Gościąż can be described as reflecting pollen being to some extent “a report from afar”. In the analysed case, the pollen fallout may have originated from longer distances, and the recorded transformations of plant assemblages, both with respect to phase 5 and phase 6 from Gościąż, can be attributed to humans inhabiting up to 10 km from Lake Gościąż. On the other hand, the observations made in the palynological sites of Białe, Lucieńskie, and Gąsak are well-correlated with the archaeological evidence of human activity.

In the 1950s, a settlement of the Funnel Beaker culture (FBC) was discovered on the Lysivka Hill in Vynnyky (Fig. 1), located in the centre of the West Ukrainian territory of this culture (Hawinskyj, Rybicka 2021). Currently, it belongs to a small group of FBC sites in Western Ukraine that have been excavated. The information presented by M. Peleshschyshyn, who conducted excavations in Vynnyky-Lysivka, regarding the relationship between the FBC community and the Tripolye culture (TC) was particularly interesting (see Rybicka 2017). He believed that Vynnyky recorded the coexistence of their population (Peleshschyshyn 1998a, 191). The burnt daub clusters discovered at that time could probably have been the remains of dwellings. The aim of the research carried out since 2016 was to verify the hypotheses of M. Peleshschyshyn (1998a) in the context of the FBC-TC relationship (Hawinskyj, Rybicka 2021) and to establish the date of the settlement usage in Vynnyky-Lysivka. Radiocarbon dating obtained for the samples from the features from the northern zone of the settlement, allow the researchers to be placed Vynnyky-Lysivka in the period 3500–3360 BC and synchronized with the third phase of the southeastern FBC group.

Lake Gościąż is located in a Gostinińskie Lake District (Central Poland). It contains long and good preserved continuous sequence of the annually laminated lake sediments spanning from the end of the last glaciation to contemporary times. They offer unique opportunities for investigating changes in the environment and human activity in the vicinity of the lakes. This paper is focused on correlation of palynological indicators of activity of the Mesolithic people with the picture of settlement in the region. Another problem discussed there question of reliability of palynological data, and therefore their usefulness for studies on settlement and economy.

Abstract Non-invasive geophysical methods are often very useful and efficient in the investigation of various archaeological sites. Using one of the most popular of them, i.e. magnetometry, we carried out a survey of the area of the multi-phase Eneolithic site of Brînzeni IV (north-western Moldova) in 2019. As a result, the spatial arrangement of the site and its current state of preservation were preliminarily identified.

Abstract In scientific literature the discussion over the evident ties between the Baden complex and Tripolye culture dates back to the mid 1990s and is related to Sofievka type complexes. In earlier papers by scholars on TC Stage CII only passing mention was given to Baden influences, the exception being works by Mykhailo Videiko, who paid particular attention to contacts with the Carpathian Basin. He noted their impact upon Troyaniv-Gorodsk type complexes and pointed out the presence of the Baden pottery style in the settlements of the Kasperivtsy-Gordineşti complex. The adoption of Baden traits by communities belonging to the Funnel Beaker and Tripolye cultures in western Volhynia ran along very different lines. The quantity of data on Baden influence upon Funnel Beaker culture communities in the area between the Western Bug, Upper Dniester and Styr rivers remains small.

As part of the project NCN Opus 8 UMO 204/15/B/HS3/02486 “Between The East and the West. Dynamics of Social Changes from the Eastern Carpathians to the Dnieper in the 4th – beginning of the of 3th Millennium BC”, research was conducted on the relationship between Funnel Beaker Culture and Tripolye Culture, as well as the chronology and extent of the Funnel Beaker Culture in Western Ukraine and northern Moldova. The literature on the subject emphasizes the migration of the CII Tripolye culture from south to north. A particularly interesting issue is the presence of imports of Funnel Beaker Culture in the environment of the Moldovan group Brinzeni, and especially from which regions its oecumens they come from. Because along with the ceramics of the Funnel Beaker Culture in the Brinzeni group, objects from the Volhyn raw material were also discovered in the literature, Volhynia was highlighted as the area from which these materials foreign to the Tripolye culture may come from. The concept of migration from south to north may explain this issue. The discovery of about 150 km north of the Brinzeni group of a stable Funnel Beaker Culture settlement in Kotoryny near Zhydachiv has raised a number of questions about this problem. Also, the identification in the Western Volhyn region of the Tripolye Culture settlement in Novomalin-Podobanka near Ostrog, from which vessels with the characteristics of the Brinzeni group and Funnel Beaker Culture come from, shows that clarifying the relationships between South and North Tripolye Culture communities requires further research. The discovery of about 150 km north of the Brinzeni group of a stable Funnel Beaker Culture settlement in Kotoryny near Zhydachiv has raised a number of questions about this problem. Also, the identification in the Western Volhyn region of the Tripolye Culture settlement in Novomalin-Podobanka near Ostrog, from which vessels with the characteristics of the Brinzeni group and Funnel Beaker Culture come from, shows that clarifying the relationships between South and North Tripolye Culture communities requires further research.

It has been a long discussed issue of how the Tripolye Culture might have been contributing to formation of the eastern and southeastern groups of the Funnel Beaker Culture. Now, it became clear that the formation of a stable Beaker oecumene throughout the Bug River basin was accompanied there by the Tripolye inclusions of the Brinzeni tradition. Western Volhynia, in its turn, is attested to be an expanse where the synthesis of both cultural phenomena was evidenced. The process is reckoned to be in closest association with extraction and use of the Volhynian flintstone. This has been distributed, along with the Beaker pottery style, not only across Western Volhynia yet further to the Middle Dniester and up to the northern Moldova. The Beaker communities by the Bug River once were thought to be those who performed a key role in transferring the Tripolye pottery style to the West. It is obvious, however, that the Tripolye Culture elements occurred there, in the most significant part, from the Tripolye and Beaker mutual habitat in Western Volhynia, with its centre located in Ostroh area. The same region seems to be responsible for the fact that the Beaker and the Beaker/Baden modes have been sufficiently mixed elsewhere with the Tripolye tradition.

Abstract According to Tamara Movscha, vessels from the Funnel Beaker culture settlement in Zhvanets can be synchronized with the period of existence of the settlements in Zimno, Leżnica and Gródek. Based on the currently available radiocarbon dates, we can say that the long-term settlements in Gródek and Zimno existed from around 3650 BC. The older phase of the settlement in Gródek is dated to 3650-3400 BC, while the younger ones to 3400-3100 BC. The first is characterized by the presence of imports of tableware with the characteristics of the Brînzeni group dated to 3400-3100 BC. In order to verify the current attempts to position the above at a more precise time, several radiocarbon analyses of the samples from the sites of Brînzeni and Gordinești group in northern Moldova were conducted.