Pages: 257-274

The article presents the results of technological and mineralogical analysis of pottery samples from three LPC culture sites, investigated recently in the Republic of Moldova. Thin sections from six fine and coarse pottery fragments have been investigated with a polarized light microscope. Quantitative petrographic analysis has been used to determine the percentage of individual components. The research also involved schematic petrographic description of individual thin sections while the approximate temperature of firing was estimated by observing the thermally induced changes in the clay matrix. The results show that there is a strong affinity of LPC pottery from Moldova with the one from Lesser Poland, while there is considerable difference from the ceramics of Neolithic groups from North-Western Romania. Our analysis therefore proves the widely accepted thesis that eastern Romania, Moldova and the adjacent parts of Ukraine (the Dniester basin) were settled by the LPC population from Lesser Poland at the beginning of phase II (music note) of LPC development.

Keywords: Prut-Dniester interfluve, Neolithic, Linear Pottery culture, technology, mineralogical analysis, cultural connections, distribution

Information about authors:

Sławomir Kadrow (Kraków, Poland). Doctor habilitat, professor. Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology, Polish Academy of Sciences. Slawkowska St., 17, Kraków, 31-016, Poland
E-mail: [email protected]
Anna Rauba-Bukowska (Kraków, Poland). Doctor. Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology, Polish Academy of Sciences. Slawkowska St., 17, Kraków, 31-016, Poland
E-mail: [email protected]
Stanislav Ţerna (Kishinev, Moldova). Master of Anthropology. High Anthropological School University. N. Iorga St., 5, Kishinev, MD-2009, Moldova
E-mail: [email protected]