New evidence for deer valorisation by the TRB farmers from Poland using ZooMS and micro-CT scanning. (December 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Adamczak, Kamil; Kowalski, Łukasz; Urbanová, Petra; Douka, Katerina; Brown, Samantha; Kowalski, Andrzej Piotr; Kukawka, Stanisław; Wilczyński, Jarosław; Szczepańska, Grażyna; Zawilski, Paweł
• Is Part Of: Journal of archaeological science. Volume 40:Part B(2021)
• Publication Date: 2021-12
• Subjects: Late Neolithic -- TRB -- Deer -- Osteoarchaeology -- Micro-CT scanning -- ZooMS; Archaeology -- Periodicals; Archaeology -- Research -- Periodicals; 930.1
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jasrep.2021.103230
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2352-409X

Abstract

Highlights: The dagger from Sławęcinek was made from the bone of a red deer or elk and may have served as a clan accessory. A likely candidate for the bone used to temper the Kałdus vessel is red deer. The use of bone-tempered pottery may reflect the magical domestication of deer. Cervids were an important ideological resource for the TRB people. Abstract: Throughout the long history of the Funnel Beaker (TRB) culture in the region of modern Poland (4100–3100 BCE) we can observe how local farming communities interacted with the wild world and how deer species became an important ideological resource for the TRB people. Biomolecular and histomorphometric evidence from two archaeological sites in central Poland add new information for a better understanding of these multi-layered interactions. Our findings fuel a discussion of deer valorisation during the TRB era in Poland, showing that the dagger from Sławęcinek was made from the bone of a red deer or elk and may have served as a clan accessory. Furthermore, the results indicate that a likely candidate for the bone used to temper the ceramic vessel from Kałdus is red deer, which allowed us to speculate that the utilisation of bone-tempered pottery by the local TRB farmers may possibly reflect the magical domestication of cervids.