Communality and Discord in an Early Neolithic Settlement Agglomeration: The LBK Site of Vráble, Southwest Slovakia

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Communality and Discord in an Early Neolithic Settlement Agglomeration: The LBK Site of Vráble, Southwest Slovakia
Communality and Discord in an Early Neolithic Settlement
                    Agglomeration: The LBK Site of Vráble, Southwest
                                        Slovakia

                            Martin Furholt , Nils Müller-Scheeßel , Maria Wunderlich,
                                       Ivan Cheben & Johannes Müller

                            Our research at the large LBK settlement site of Vráble, southwest Slovakia, revealed
                            dynamics of social integration and antagonisms unfolding in an agglomerated, early
                            farming community. During its lifespan from 5250 to 4950 BC, it constantly grew
                            until around 5050 BC it was inhabited by about 70 contemporaneous longhouses. We
                            found that Vráble consisted of markedly autonomous farmstead units that were held
                            together by village-wide social institutions including sharing and communality.
                            Nevertheless, from the beginning, a contradiction between particular farmstead and
                            collective village and neighbourhood interests existed and rose. Towards the end of the
                            village’s existence, around 5075 BC an elaborate enclosure was constructed around one
                            of the three neigbourhoods, actively blocking contact with the others. Along this
                            enclosure, human bodies were deposited, showing a social categorization that we
                            interpret as relating to social inequality. This rising level of conflict and emerging
                            social inequality was, we argue, not sustainable under the conditions of early farming
                            societies and led to the village’s abandonment at 4950 BC.

                  Introduction                                                                           as village or neighbourhood communities, or
                                                                                                         lineages and clans (as proposed by Bogaard et al.
                  The Early Neolithic settlement cluster of Vráble is                                    2011) might also have played an important role in
                  one of the largest known settlement sites with mate-                                   structuring the social relations of this site. We thus
                  rials of the ‘Linear Pottery Culture’ (LBK) in central                                 want to explore the question of in what ways and
                  Europe. It is thus a suitable case study to investigate                                to what extent particularist interests (e.g. those of
                  the social and political implications of early Neolithic                               individual households) and units of collective action
                  community agglomeration processes, a phenomenon                                        (e.g. neighbourhood- or settlement-wide institutions)
                  that is not very well understood (R. Hofmann et al.                                    interrelate or compete. We see this in the wider con-
                  2019; Petrasch 2012). LBK settlements are often seen                                   text of contemporary Neolithic settlements in the
                  as consisting of independent farmsteads, or house-                                     Balkans, where different social configurations have
                  hold economic units, that were integrated into local                                   been studied. For example, settlements connected
                  and regional networks, rather than forming socially                                    to Vinča or comparable materials are in many cases
                  and politically integrated village communities. The                                    (e.g. Crnobrnja et al. 2009; Furholt 2012; R. Hofmann
                  site of Vráble, with a minimum number of 313                                           2013; Müller et al. 2013b; Schier & Draşovean 2004)
                  houses, separated into three spatially segregated                                      considered villages in the sense that although there
                  settlement parts (Fig. 1), indicates that collective                                   might be varying degrees of household autonomy,
                  forms of organization beyond the household, such                                       the village community constitutes the most important

                  Cambridge Archaeological Journal Page 1 of 21 © 2020 McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research. This is an Open Access article, distributed
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                  doi:10.1017/S0959774320000049 Received 14 Sep 2019; Accepted 2 Feb 2020; Revised 1 Jan 2020
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https://doi.org/10.1017/S0959774320000049
Communality and Discord in an Early Neolithic Settlement Agglomeration: The LBK Site of Vráble, Southwest Slovakia
Martin Furholt et al.

                                                                                                                           Figure 1. Reconstruction of the early
                                                                                                                           Neolithic settlement site of Vráble,
                                                                                                                           showing houses and the enclosure
                                                                                                                           system, based on the magnetic plan,
                                                                                                                           projected onto the modern landscape.
                                                                                                                           The figure also shows the position of
                                                                                                                           excavations in the years 2012–17 (in
                                                                                                                           white).

            social institution of a residence group. This is a con-                               The social context
            cept that probably has its roots in the Near Eastern
            Neolithic (Düring 2006; Furholt 2016; 2017). Vráble,                                  Our main research interest in the relation between
            located in the southern part of the LBK area, not too                                 household autonomy and village communality is
            far from the Carpathian basin, might be reflecting a                                   reflected in the heated debate about the so-called
            more Balkanic tradition of a stronger role of the over-                               ‘yard model’ that has dominated LBK research for
            all village community at the expense of household                                     recent decades. Although this debate has often
            autonomy, which might be generally stronger in                                        centred around how best to date individual houses
            most of the LBK contexts in the northern parts of cen-                                in LBK settlements, it is very much related to the
            tral Europe.                                                                          question of socio-spatial organization of settlements,
                  Thus, we began our research with the hypoth-                                    with different models that are connected to different
            esis that Vráble might represent a community united                                   ideas about the overall social structure this spatial
            by stronger village-wide institutions, and that this                                  organization represents. The ‘yard model’ states
            might be a function of its proximity to southeastern                                  that even sites with dense house-plans such as
            Europe, where such institutions are in general stron-                                 Vráble were in reality made up of a much smaller
            ger than in central Europe. In this paper, we will dis-                               number of autonomous, spatially isolated farm-
            cuss to what extent the extraordinary concentration                                   steads. Neighbouring houses would represent differ-
            of settlement in Vráble is connected to processes of                                  ent periods, as new houses were built on the same
            social integration into neighbourhood and village                                     farmstead area, while the older ones were succes-
            communities, and how those social institutions relate                                 sively abandoned (Boelicke et al. 1988; Stehli 1989;
            to the social role of individual households or farm-                                  1994; Zimmermann 2012). In this model, the farm
            steads. Are there overarching collective or hierarch-                                 as an independent economic unit is emphasized, as
            ical institutions of decision-making? What is the                                     is its claim to a specific spot of land, which is, accord-
            relation between household autonomy and village                                       ing to the model, passed down through the genera-
            communality? We aim to characterize the dynamic                                       tions. This model is built upon a chronological
            relationship between these different levels of social                                 system which was established in the Rhineland
            organization over the 300 years of settlement history                                 area and uses pottery decoration as the main chrono-
            in Vráble, in order to understand better the social                                   logical marker.
            agglomeration process and subsequent abandon-                                                While the original proposition of the ‘yard
            ment of this site. This will have implications for                                    model’ has been claimed as a method to determine
            understanding the wider phenomenon of conflict                                         settlement structure without prejudging its outcome
            and social transformation associated with the end                                     (Zimmermann 2012), it has largely led to the
            of the LBK phenomenon around 5000 cal. BC.                                            assumption that networks of individual yards/

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https://doi.org/10.1017/S0959774320000049
Communality and Discord in an Early Neolithic Settlement Agglomeration: The LBK Site of Vráble, Southwest Slovakia
Communality and Discord in an Early Neolithic Settlement Agglomeration

                  farmsteads would have been the default configur-                                        of this structure for social demarcation or
                  ation of LBK settlement communities. This was chal-                                    integration.
                  lenged by Oliver Rück (2007; 2012), who argued for                                           The magnetic plan (Fig. 1) shows that the settle-
                  the existence of a house-row concept, that would                                       ment is comprised of three units of approximately the
                  thus display a higher degree of social integration                                     same size, shape and orientation: all three parts, each
                  above household level (motivating households to                                        located on a slight elevation separated from one other
                  build their dwellings in pre-defined rows). Other                                       by a creek and a depression, measure approximately
                  scholars often try to mediate between these some-                                      15 ha in size (except the northern part, which is how-
                  what contradicting views (Link 2012), adding more                                      ever partly destroyed by modern buildings; the ori-
                  variants (Lefranc & Denaire 2018; Lenneis 2012).                                       ginal shape and dimension probably corresponded
                  Alternative models stress the existence of house-                                      to the other two parts of the site). All three parts
                  groups, or neighbourhoods (Bogaard et al. 2011;                                        show a trapezoidal shape (again, for the northern
                  Czerniak 2016; Hofmann 2016). It seems to be more                                      part we have to reckon with partial destruction in
                  than a coincidence that Rück’s objections against                                      the northwest), and similar orientation with a wider
                  the yard model were especially welcomed by collea-                                     section located in the northeast and a less wide one
                  gues working in the southern area of LBK settle-                                       in the southwest. We interpret this as a reflection of
                  ments, like Hungary and Austria (Bánffy et al. 2013;                                   a common mental image which seems to apply for
                  Lenneis 2012; Marton & Oross 2012), because here                                       all the settlement parts. Interestingly, the trapezoidal
                  excavation plans more often seem to indicate overall,                                  shape is also the most common for LBK enclosure
                  settlement-wide patterns.                                                              ditches (Saile & Posselt 2004). In parts of the settle-
                        In our opinion, it is important to acknowledge                                   ment, house clusters or house rows are visible,
                  the possibility of many diverse and dynamic forms                                      which could indicate social sub-units above house-
                  of settlement organization in the vast region with                                     hold level, or reflect successive house generations,
                  LBK material culture. This is also the case with                                       with younger houses being built beside and close to
                  regard to the chronological and social development                                     the old, abandoned ones.
                  of a single settlement.
                                                                                                         Chronological differentiation
                  The archaeological evidence from Vráble
                                                                                                         The basis for an understanding of the social organ-
                  To study the dynamic relationship between differ-                                      ization during the lifetime of the settlement in
                  ent social units within the Neolithic site of Vráble                                   Vráble is a chronological differentiation of the houses
                  (located on plots called Vel'ké Lehemby and                                            and the enclosure. We created a chronological model
                  Farské), we can draw on a near-complete settle-                                        based on the results of 138 radiocarbon dates from
                  ment plan, generated on the basis of geophysical                                       our excavation trenches and a coring programme in
                  investigations (Winkelmann et al. in press),1 which                                    the southwestern settlement area aimed at extracting
                  provides house numbers, positions, sizes and orien-                                    datable materials from as many houses as possible
                  tation.2 This allowed us to develop a different                                        (Meadows et al. 2019). We dated 14 houses in our
                  research strategy than the time- and cost-intensive                                    excavation units, complemented by 9 additional
                  large-scale excavations that hitherto have domi-                                       houses from the coring project. While this is only a
                  nated LBK research. Instead, we were able to                                           sample of the 313 houses present, it was sufficient
                  apply a more focused approach, targeting specific                                       to apply Bayesian modelling that strongly suggests
                  features of interest, according to our research ques-                                  that the three settlement parts do not represent a
                  tions. As we are interested in the question of                                         sequence of successive villages, but existed contem-
                  whether or in what form social integration is asso-                                    poraneously during most of the period from 5250
                  ciated with social agglomeration, we targeted 14                                       to 5000/4950 cal. BC. We may have missed early out-
                  individual houses and house groups from different                                      lier houses, but we have established a robust overall
                  parts of the settlement in order to assess differences                                 chronological model, which is consistent with the
                  in subsistence strategies, traditions of material cul-                                 expectations from pottery typochronology (Fig. 2),
                  ture production and use, and access to raw materi-                                     which lacks Older LBK material. While there is
                  als within and between house clusters and between                                      a lot of overlap between the two stylistic groups,
                  the three parts of the settlement (north, southeast                                    Younger LBK and Želiezovce, a comparison of pot-
                  or southwest). In addition, we excavated parts of                                      tery material in the houses dated by Bayesian model-
                  the enclosure surrounding the southwest section                                        ling of 14C dates show that Younger LBK pottery
                  of the settlement, to understand better the role                                       stops being deposited around 5100 BC, and that

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https://doi.org/10.1017/S0959774320000049
Communality and Discord in an Early Neolithic Settlement Agglomeration: The LBK Site of Vráble, Southwest Slovakia
Martin Furholt et al.

            Figure 2. Chronological sketch of Younger LBK and Želiezovce-style pottery from Vráble illustrated on the estimated
            maximal house occupation periods. (Based on modelled 14C dates derived from Meadows et al. 2019, plus additions.)

            Želiezovce, while it might start to be used some time                                 and a total time-span of 250 years for the whole settle-
            after 5200, dominates the period from 5100 BC to the                                  ment, an average of 50 contemporaneous houses
            end of the settlement. Prelengyel pottery is used as                                  would have been present in Vráble at any given
            burial pottery around 5000 BC (Cheben et al. in press).                               time. This calculation could be modified by inserting
                   The chronology is additionally informed by                                     shorter or longer average house durations. If we
            our excavation results. In the 2016 campaign, we                                      assume these 50 houses to be evenly spread out in
            excavated a house group, consisting of five houses                                     the settled area of Vráble, each house gets an area of
            (Fig. 3) which were clearly clustering together,                                      about 0.7 ha, which is surprisingly close to the space
            while at the same time being spatially separated                                      assumed in the classic yard model of the Rhineland
            from other houses (Müller-Scheeßel et al. 2020a). In                                  area (Zimmermann 2012). From the opposite starting
            the 2014 campaign we excavated a row of five paral-                                    point, if we assume a yard size of 0.5 ha, the built area
            lel houses, three of them standing close together.                                    in Vráble would have had space for a maximum of 68
            Both these house groups were chosen as they poten-                                    yards. This seems consistent with an average number
            tially represented contemporaneous social sub-units                                   of 50, assuming some dynamics in the settlement
            within the settlement communities, be it a household                                  development. Indeed, as shown in Figure 4, assuming
            cluster (e.g. Czerniak 2016) or a row of contemporary                                 that the Kernel Density Estimation (KDE) of the
            houses. However, after the excavation and in the                                      house-related 14C dates represents settlement activ-
            light of stratigraphy and 14C dates, it became clear                                  ities, it seems that there is a an increase in activities
            that these houses in both groups were in fact not con-                                in the later period 5100–5000 BC, after which the
            temporary, but rather represented several hundreds                                    curve shows a rapid decline, leading to abandonment
            of years of successive occupation (Müller-Scheeßel                                    around 4950 BC. We can even go one step further, as
            et al. 2020a; Staniuk et al. in press).                                               we found a significant correlation between house
                   The duration of individual houses is a much-                                   orientations, which vary between a northeastern and
            debated topic in LBK research. The modelled dura-                                     northern direction, and the 14C-dated age of a
            tions calculated for the dated Vráble houses are vari-                                house. Müller-Scheeßel et al. (2020b) explain this find-
            able (Meadows et al. 2019). And these time-spans                                      ing with the neurological phenomenon of ‘pseudone-
            represent the period in which the lateral long pits                                   glect’, which causes a systematic deviation towards
            were filled up, rather than the real house durations.                                  the left, whenever humans try to reproduce a specific
            If we assume an average house duration of 40 years,                                   direction, for example through comparison with an

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https://doi.org/10.1017/S0959774320000049
Communality and Discord in an Early Neolithic Settlement Agglomeration: The LBK Site of Vráble, Southwest Slovakia
Communality and Discord in an Early Neolithic Settlement Agglomeration

                  Figure 3. Plan of the excavation area of 2016. The house group excavated turned out to represent a sequence of
                  non-contemporary houses, in accordance with the ‘yard model’.

                  already existing house. If we use house orientation as                                 difference (between 0.7 and 0.5 ha) is explained by
                  a basis for chronological differentiation, and compare                                 the fact that the first calculations assumed a constant
                  the distances of nearest neighbours of any given time                                  number of houses at any given time, which is unreal-
                  (that is of houses with similar orientation), we find                                   istic. From the orientation of houses, as well as from
                  two clear mean values, of about 70 and 150 metres                                      the 14C dates, it seems far more likely that Vráble
                  (Müller-Scheeßel et al. 2020b), which indicates that                                   started with a smaller number of houses, slowly
                  there is a standard space allocated to each house,                                     grew until it peaked around 5100 BC, and that the
                  which is about 0.5 ha, and thus close to the space cal-                                building density decreased towards the end of the
                  culated above, using a different approach. The                                         settlement.

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https://doi.org/10.1017/S0959774320000049
Martin Furholt et al.

                                                                                                                           Figure 4. A chronological model of
                                                                                                                           Vráble, derived from Meadows et al.
                                                                                                                           (2019), plus additions. The KDE of all
                                                                                                                           available 14C dates indicates a slow
                                                                                                                           increase of activities until 5050, the time
                                                                                                                           when the enclosure was erected.

                   These calculations come with large uncertainties,                              differences in their access to raw materials, interre-
            where average house durations, average numbers of                                     gional contacts, subsistence strategies and material
            coexisting houses and yard sizes are mutually related.                                culture styles. As is not uncommon in southwest
            Moreover, as the dating of houses relies on the mater-                                Slovakian LBK sites, stone tools are generally infre-
            ial from the lateral long pits, the taphonomy of their                                quent, most excavation trenches yielding 5–15
            filling process is crucial (Květina 2010; Stäuble 1997)                               chipped stone tools. Yet in the 2016 excavation
            and could skew our dating results for each individual                                 trenches we found 267 chipped stone artefacts, 105
            house by up to a generation.                                                          of which were obsidian, including one blade core,
                   However, when it comes to our main question                                    and two core rejuvenation pieces (Müller-Scheeßel
            about the internal social organization of the site, we                                et al. 2020a). In all the other trenches combined we
            can at least conclude that the chronological models                                   had found eight pieces of obsidian. The closest
            of Vráble, as well as the excavation results in single                                source for obsidian is the eastern Slovakian
            houses and house clusters/house rows, unanimously                                     Carpathians, about 200 km distant (Prǐ chystal &
            point towards a settlement structure which is made                                    Škrdla 2014). XRF analyses (conducted with
            up of individual, spatially isolated farmsteads, with                                 pXRF-device Niton XL3t900 Goldd+) confirmed
            one or two contemporary houses, instead of house                                      this source (Müller-Scheeßel et al. 2020a). In addition
            groups, or contemporary rows of houses. This is a pat-                                to the abundance of obsidian, we also found sherds
            tern that corresponds well with the yard model, as                                    of Bükk pottery, which is most commonly found in
            discussed above. While other sites have shown conclu-                                 the region of obsidian sources. A co-occurrence of
            sive evidence for contemporary house clusters                                         obsidian and Bükk pottery in southwest Slovakian
            (Czerniak 2016), and compelling cases have been                                       Neolithic sites has been reported before (Šiška
            made for house rows (Bánffy & Oross 2010; Jakucs                                      1995). It seems that the access to obsidian was con-
            et al. 2016), in the case of Vráble, individual farmsteads                            nected to closer social relations with the eastern
            seem to dominate the picture. House clusters or rows                                  Slovakian regions, which probably also involved an
            of houses visible in the settlement plan represent                                    exchange of at least individual people.
            sequences, intergenerational continuity of farmsteads,                                      Within the house-group excavated in 2016,
            within spatially relatively autonomous yards. This                                    obsidian (and Bükk-style pottery) was very unevenly
            implies a marked autonomy of households.                                              distributed (Fig. 3). While the oldest house 132 con-
                                                                                                  tained a large number of stone tools and a high pro-
            Characterizing farmsteads                                                             portion of obsidian, this was also true for one of the
                                                                                                  two successor houses (131), while the other successor
            The six farmsteads we have excavated—we count                                         house (133) also contained a large number of
            here both the house-groups and the individual                                         stone tools, only 30 per cent of which were, how-
            houses at different places on the site—show distinct                                  ever, obsidian. Also, when comparing the two

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https://doi.org/10.1017/S0959774320000049
Communality and Discord in an Early Neolithic Settlement Agglomeration

                  assemblages from the contemporary houses 131 and                                             While all these datasets just discussed could,
                  133, there was a clear concentration of specialized                                    each on its own, be disputed, they all show at the
                  tools—mainly sickles, borers and scrapers—in 131,                                      current state a consistent pattern, indicating a strong
                  while 133 contained mainly knapping debitage, and                                      social and economic autonomy of the farmsteads in
                  only few tools. We interpret this as an indication                                     Vráble, expressed through farmstead-specific
                  for a division of labour concerning certain activities                                 access-patterns to raw materials, crop-breeding strat-
                  involving those specialized tools within one eco-                                      egies and traditions of pottery decoration. Only
                  nomic household unit. In the later phase (houses                                       when it comes to animal-exploitation strategies
                  126 and 127) stone tool quantity is very low and                                       does there seem to be some form of integration
                  thus more like in the rest of Vráble. Nevertheless, dif-                               between farmsteads in the same settlement part.
                  ferences in access to resources and social networks                                    This overall autonomy in economic practices and
                  between farmsteads—and the continuity of these dif-                                    material production is consistent with the spatially
                  ferences over generations—are obvious when com-                                        isolated position of each farmstead in relation to
                  paring the lithic artefact data from the area                                          the others, suggested by the dating results (see
                  excavated in 2016 with that of the others.                                             above).
                         Concerning pottery, beyond the overall Younger
                  LBK–Želiezovce-style sequence, which represents a                                      Communality in Vráble: neighbourhood and
                  regional trend, a correspondence analysis of the                                       village communities
                  fine ware decoration patterns reveals house-group,
                  in the 2016 trench even house-specific, patterns                                        After highlighting the strength of household or farm-
                  (Müller-Scheeßel et al. 2020a). This is consistent with                                stead autonomy in Vráble, we will examine indica-
                  earlier observations about household-based self-                                       tions for more collective social institutions at the
                  supplying pottery production and house-styles                                          level of the village or settlement part (that is, the
                  being established in the LBK (Frirdich 1994; Pechtl                                    southwestern, the northern and the southeastern)
                  2015; Strien 2005).                                                                    communities. We will first discuss indications for
                         Concerning subsistence practices, both plant                                    institutions of communal sharing, and then examine
                  and animal bone remains show a corresponding                                           collective action, as it is visible in the construction of
                  variability between yards, and at the same time                                        the enclosure surrounding the southwest settlement
                  homogeneity within houses belonging to one house                                       part.
                  group. The faunal remains show clear differences                                             First, we would like to argue that the three spa-
                  between the house-groups excavated (Eckelmann                                          tially separate but equally shaped and sized contem-
                  et al. in press), while the three settlement parts (that                               porary settlement parts of Vráble refer to an
                  is the north, southwest and southeast parts) show                                      intermediate level of social organization between
                  different main domestic animal species (Fig. 5).                                       the households, below the whole settlement. The
                  With their faunal spectra, the yards belonging to                                      three settlement parts can probably best be character-
                  the same settlement part are more similar to each                                      ized as ‘neighbourhoods’ within an overall settle-
                  other than to those from the other settlement parts.                                   ment community, as they are tied together by their
                  For example, in both house-groups uncovered by                                         spatial proximity, and a common concept of space,
                  the 2014 excavation of the northern settlement, pig                                    but still spatially separated, most visibly by the
                  is the most frequent species, while in all houses in                                   enclosure in the later phase. The concept of ‘clustered
                  the southwestern settlement part, cattle predomi-                                      neighbourhoods’ has been used to characterize cen-
                  nates. In the southeast, sheep and goat are dominant,                                  tral Anatolian Neolithic settlements, where it refers
                  with the exception of houses 126/127/131–133,                                          to spatially bounded areas of more intense social
                  which however share the elevated proportion of                                         interaction, within larger settlements (e.g. Düring
                  pigs with the other houses in the southeast settlement                                 2011, 116–18). While neighbourhoods are defined as
                  part (Eckelmann et al. in press). While the count of                                   co-habitation groups, they are probably knitted
                  discernable bones is relatively low, there is consist-                                 together, or separated by other kinds of social ties.
                  ency in the pattern when broken down on the level                                      Lineages have traditionally been highlighted as a
                  of individual houses within a house group. A similar                                   main principle of social organization in the
                  pattern is to be seen when it comes to plant remains                                   European and southwest Asian Neolithic. While
                  (Filipović et al. in press). Emmer and Einkorn are the                                this principle is easily associated with the southwest
                  most frequent cereals found, but their proportion dif-                                 Asian and the Balkanic Tell settlements, they also
                  fers greatly between house-groups, while being stable                                  seem to be visible in the farmstead structure found
                  within them (Mueller-Scheeßel et al. 2020a).                                           in Vráble, if materialized in different ways. Here,

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https://doi.org/10.1017/S0959774320000049
Martin Furholt et al.

            Figure 5. NISP numbers for animal bones in the different house groups of Vráble.

            analogous to the tell settlements, a specific area, the                                forming during the anaerobic decomposition of the
            yard, is kept by one social group—with similar pre-                                   outermost layers of grain, such pits create a well-
            ferences towards pottery style, subsistence pattern                                   sealed environment in which cereals can be stored
            and raw-material supply—over several generations,                                     for many years (Bowen et al. 1968). Yet, once opened,
            which indicates a lineage-based inheritance system                                    these conservational properties are gone, and the
            at the level of the farmstead.                                                        whole volume of grains needs to be emptied and
                 The existence of neighbourhoods in LBK con-                                      used (or it will otherwise perish). In the 2016 excava-
            texts has been suggested by Czerniak (2016) for the                                   tion area, we found one of these beehive-shaped pits
            site of Targowisko in Poland, and by Hofmann                                          per house, and the magnetic plan indicates a similar
            (2016) and, though not explicitly, by Bogaard et al.                                  distribution of such pits evenly across the settle-
            (2011) for Vaihingen/Enz, Germany. Vráble does                                        ment.3 So, while they seem to be associated with
            provide another, very visible example of a division                                   individual households, every opening must have
            of the settlement into neighbourhoods, which are                                      been shared with other farmsteads, reinforcing a
            clustered spatially, show signs of an alignment of                                    communal idea. In contrast, in the nearby Bronze
            practices within, indicated by the faunal spectra                                     Age settlement of Vráble-Fidvár there are areas
            (see above) and collective action in the form of                                      with enormous concentrations of such pits (Bátora
            enclosure construction.                                                               et al. 2012, 114, fig. 5), indicating more centralized
                 In addition, we can expect communal sharing to                                   food storage, while in the Neolithic period in
            be practised mainly within these neighbourhoods. In                                   Vráble, storage is decentrally located, creating a
            the 2016 excavation area, we found four beehive-                                      link between farmstead autonomy and communal
            shaped pits (Fig. 6). This specific type of storage con-                               sharing. Similar arguments for the sharing of
            tainer is known from ethnography for its specific                                      resources across farmstead boundaries have to be
            function (Kriegler 1929). Because of carbon dioxide                                   made for cattle, that, when slaughtered, provide

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Communality and Discord in an Early Neolithic Settlement Agglomeration

                  Figure 6. Profile through a beehive-shaped storage pit, from the excavation area of 2016.

                  too much meat for one farmstead to consume, unless                                     constituted the original demarcation of the settle-
                  cost-intensive preservation measures are applied                                       ment, which was replaced at a later stage by the
                  (Russell 1998).                                                                        two ditches.
                                                                                                               The significance of the ditch system was marked
                  The special significance of the enclosure                                               by burials and depositions of human bodies and
                                                                                                         body parts within and beside it. In the 2017 cam-
                  Within the history of Vráble, the construction of a                                    paign, we excavated two of the five entrance areas
                  ditched and palisaded enclosure around the south-                                      and found at least 16 individuals in the filling of
                  west settlement took place towards its end. The                                        the two parallel ditches as well as beside them (see
                  enclosure is associated with depositions of human                                      Müller-Scheeßel & Hukel'ová in press; Fig. 7). The
                  bodies, some of which were placed on the bottom                                        patterns of body deposition reveal at least two clearly
                  of one of the ditches, and thus it was possible to                                     distinct categories of ritual treatment of human
                  determine a terminus ante quem for its filling. The                                     remains. The first (Fig. 7a–c) corresponds to the
                  human remains from the ditch date around 5075 BC,                                      known LBK burial custom, that is, a crouched indi-
                  others, from burials placed beside yet clearly                                         vidual on its left side in a shallow burial pit with a
                  oriented along the ditch, date slightly later, around                                  few grave goods. Six of these typical LBK burials
                  5050–5000 BC (Müller-Scheeßel & Hukel'ová in press).                                   are distributed on both sides of the ditch. Instances
                        The enclosure consists of a double ditch system                                  of disarticulated parts of some of the bodies suggest
                  with a palisade (see Fig. 1). It is 1.4 km long and thus                               that they were laid down on some kind of platform
                  probably constituted a community-wide group                                            within the pit. Animal gnawing marks corroborate
                  effort, at least encompassing those people living                                      the fact that the bodies were not immediately cov-
                  within the enclosed neighbourhood. It represents a                                     ered. The second category consists of four headless
                  complex structure with more layers of meaning                                          individuals (Figs 7d–e & 8), who were laid in a
                  than just being a physical barrier or fortification of                                  stretched-out position on the very bottom of the
                  a settlement. The outer ditch was about 2.5–3.5 m                                      ditch, without any grave goods. Their deposition
                  wide and its bottom is on average 1.5 m below the                                      coincides with the recutting of the ditch, or occurred
                  modern surface. In profile sections, a distinct                                         not much later. While one of the four headless indi-
                  re-cutting is visible which changed the profile of                                      viduals was partly disarticulated, due to post-
                  the ditch from a trough shape to a more V-shaped                                       depositional disturbances, there is a pattern. In
                  one. The inner ditch is much smaller and only 1.5                                      both entrance areas into the enclosure excavated in
                  m wide and its bottom 0.7 m below today’s surface.                                     2017, we found in the terminal part of the ditch to
                  14
                    C dates from human bones in the filling of both                                       the west of the entrance two individuals stretched
                  ditches (see below) point towards their contemporan-                                   out, headless, with their feet directed to each other.
                  eity. In contrast, a burial disturbing the course of the                                     Furthermore, depositions of single human
                  palisade suggests—assuming the burial activities                                       bones, and sometimes larger body parts, were
                  were all roughly contemporaneous, as indicated by                                      found in the filling of the ditches. These finds are
                  the 14C dates—that the latter had already decayed                                      more complicated to classify, as they may represent
                  or been removed when the deposition took place.                                        potentially diverse depositional processes. For
                  Therefore, it seems likely that the palisade                                           instance, they may represent older burials, disturbed

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Martin Furholt et al.

            Figure 7. Burials and depositions found near the enclosure ditch: (a–c) regular LBK burials; (d–e) headless burials in the
            ditch; (f) burial in a long pit within the settlement.

            Figure 8. Two headless burials in the western ditch, close to the second excavated entrance, seen in front of the ditch
            profile.

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Communality and Discord in an Early Neolithic Settlement Agglomeration

                  and re-deposited during the digging of the ditch, or                                   the Bükk pottery referred to earlier. Nevertheless,
                  individuals that remained on the ditch bank for a                                      the differential categorizations of people in Vráble
                  longer period of time, so that only very few bones                                     could also stem from internal social mechanisms,
                  had the chance to be sedimented in the ditch filling                                    without necessarily reflecting the relation between
                  and to survive. Or they may represent an alternative                                   local and non-local individuals. Isotope and DNA
                  approach to deposition, or to disposing of human                                       studies of the individuals from Vráble are currently
                  bodies.                                                                                under way.
                        Away from the area of the ditch, there are single                                      The human bodies and body parts from Vráble
                  human bones within the settlement, close to the                                        have to be seen in the context of contemporary fea-
                  houses, which are mixed into the usual settlement                                      tures in other settlement sites. In Herxheim in south-
                  waste. We also found two human skeletons in long                                       western Germany, more than 500 individuals found
                  pits (Fig. 7f).                                                                        so far are mostly disarticulated and partly articulated
                        The physical anthropological examination of                                      body parts, found in the filling of the enclosure ditch
                  these human remains by Zusanna Hukel'ová                                               (Orschiedt & Haidle 2012; Zeeb-Lanz 2016). A ritual
                  (Müller-Scheeßel & Hukel'ová in press) found the                                       background is likely, as specific body parts were
                  presence of all age groups and both sexes in all                                       more frequently represented than others, especially
                  groups. Four individuals from Vráble showed signs                                      skulls and skull caps. There is currently a heated
                  of probable violence-induced trauma on the skeletal                                    debate on the presence and interpretation of signs
                  material, none of which was perimortal, indicating                                     of physical violence visible on the bones (Orschiedt
                  that conflict and violence were experienced by the                                      & Haidle 2012; Zeeb-Lanz 2019). However, both pot-
                  inhabitants. The four headless individuals did not                                     tery style and stable isotope analyses (Turck et al.
                  show any cut-marks on the remaining vertebra                                           2012) strongly indicate that the Herxheim human
                  bones, but the upper atlas was missing, indicating                                     remains do not reflect one village population; rather
                  that the heads were removed in a state of partial,                                     it served as a trans-regional place of gathering and
                  not total decomposition. The anthropological study                                     ritual. In Asparn-Schletz, Austria, the ditch was filled
                  has shown that three of the four headless individuals                                  with human remains (67 individuals excavated) that
                  showed spine deformations (Müller-Scheeßel &                                           show clear signs of extensive violence, from arrow-
                  Hukel'ová in press). The headless burials might                                        heads or blunt force applied towards the head. As
                  thus represent a group of people set apart from the                                    these individuals have been dated as living towards
                  others by a different corporeal appearance.                                            the end of the settlement period, experts attribute the
                        The regular burials were found beside the ditch,                                 remains to a single massacre that ended village his-
                  both outside and inside, and one especially richly                                     tory (Teschler-Nicola 2012). However, neither the
                  equipped adult male individual (with six pottery                                       ritual sacrificial interpretation like the one in
                  vessels and one flint blade) was found in the middle                                    Herxheim, nor the massacre variant of Schletz, or
                  of the largest entrance. From the 14C dates, it could                                  similar places like Schöneck-Kilianstädten (Meyer
                  very well be that this deposition represents the first                                  et al. 2015), is applicable for the Vráble case, where
                  of the regular burials. People literally had to step                                   we find a combination of conventional burials and
                  over his dead body to enter the settlement. This dif-                                  other forms of (ritual) deposition, with no signs of
                  ferential treatment of human remains suggests the                                      deadly violence.
                  existence of different categories of people within
                  the settlement community. The social composition                                       Discussion: household autonomy, village
                  of LBK communities has been demonstrated to be                                         institutions and social conflict
                  variable (e.g. Bickle & Whittle 2013). A more widely
                  socially fluid setting of LBK communities is to be                                      The results of the chronological analyses, as well as
                  expected (Furholt 2018). Different relations between                                   the examinations of subsistence strategies, access to
                  local and non-local individuals have been found                                        raw materials, material culture production patterns,
                  using strontium isotope analyses (for a summary,                                       and the evidence from the enclosure, all point in
                  Bickle & Whittle 2013), and while patrilocal marriage                                  the direction of Vráble as a village made up of
                  patterns are often been postulated (Bentley et al. 2012;                               strongly independent, autonomous farmsteads, as
                  Brandt et al. 2014; Pavúk 1972), a wider spectrum of                                   proposed in the traditional yard model. Yet there
                  factors influencing mobility patterns is to be expected                                 are also several indications for the strength of
                  (Bickle 2019; Bickle & Whittle 2013; Gomart et al.                                     community-wide institutions. Firstly, even if the dat-
                  2015; Hofmann 2016). This might include long-                                          ing results have adjusted the numbers of contempor-
                  distance relocation of individuals, as indicated by                                    ary houses downwards towards lower numbers,

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            Vráble is still an extraordinary concentration of                                     kinship structures such as clans and lineages (e.g.
            population, especially when compared to the other                                     Gunawan 2000; Sahlins 2013).
            LBK sites in the Žitava valley (Breitenfeld 2019), in                                       The presence of collective storage pits among,
            southwest Slovakia (Pavúk 2004) and the whole                                         presumably, each household could represent the
            LBK area (Petrasch 2012). There is no obvious reason                                  joint and interconnected efforts of the otherwise
            (ecological, strategic concerning traffic routes) that                                 independent farmsteads to provide economic secur-
            would explain why the largest settlement in the                                       ity. The erection of long houses (possibly communal
            whole southern LBK area should be at this exact                                       building activities) and the construction of a ditch
            place. Also, as discussed above, the settlement                                       system all point towards an enduring performative
            space in Vráble is structured in what looks like                                      creation and maintenance of larger social units, per-
            three carbon copies of the same mental concept,                                       haps constituted by unilineal descent groups (com-
            with the same size, shape and orientation. Only                                       pare Souvatzi 2017). The spatial separation of the
            during an advanced stage can a differentiation                                        different neigbourhoods also points towards a social
            between the villages be seen in the form of the                                       differentiation within or between these units, which
            enclosure constructed around only one of the three                                    might hint towards the presence of either sub-
            neighbourhoods.                                                                       divisions of one descent group, or several descent
                  Within the system of social organization of                                     groups being present in Vráble.
            Vráble, there are different, potentially contentious                                        Despite these hints on the importance of com-
            observations relating to social organization: the                                     munal frameworks, the fact that only one of the
            strong autonomy of the household, the importance                                      three neighbourhoods is enclosed, although they
            of communal sharing, neighbourhood grouping                                           were all still occupied at the time of its construction
            and overall concentrated cohabitation. In line with                                   (5075 BC), makes the enclosure a complicated issue
            expectations for agricultural societies (Carsten &                                    when it comes to its relation to group identities.
            Hugh-Jones 1995, 4; Ensor 2011, 213–16), the case                                     While the whole enclosure has five entrances, they
            study of Vráble shows both the social and economic                                    are all facing away from the two other contemporary
            importance of farmsteads as single households. In                                     neighbourhoods (Fig. 1), and there is no entrance at
            economic terms, we see a high degree of independ-                                     all along the eastern and northern parts of the enclo-
            ence and also exclusionary strategies (cf. Blanton                                    sures, where it is close to these settlements. Clearly
            et al. 1996) among the individual household units                                     the enclosure is constructed to block off one neigh-
            (access to and use of resources, animals, crops).                                     bourhood from the two others. So, if it is to be seen
            While we can see a clear emphasis on the individual-                                  as a sign of multi-farmstead cooperation and higher-
            ity and singularity of the farmsteads in Vráble, the                                  level (i.e. neighbourhood- or settlement-wide) iden-
            overarching social organization is contrarily marked                                  tity formation, this is probably only relating to the
            by an emphasis of communal strategies and the                                         inhabitants of the southwest neighbourhood. Thus,
            importance of overarching social groups (compare                                      the enclosure can be interpreted as a sign of marked
            Blanton et al. 1996; Saitta 1997). The storage pits                                   tension between the three neighbourhoods.
            and presumably collective consumption of slaugh-
            tered animals indicate the importance of resources                                    Social organization in a wider context
            and land connected to the social institutions above
            household-level, which were bound together by                                         Overall, there seems to be a tension between the
            sharing activities. Both a shared claim to land and                                   household, or farmstead, as an economically inde-
            resources as well as sharing economies were repeat-                                   pendent unit, and higher-level institutions, probably
            edly described as being of high importance within                                     on two scales, namely the neighbourhood, and the
            the maintenance of socially bound groups (for                                         overall village community. This does not seem excep-
            example, clans; e.g. Godelier 2012; Leach 2004;                                       tional; in fact such tensions are widely believed to
            Strathern et al. 2018). In Vráble this sharing most                                   have driven much of the early Neolithic social
            probably was practised within each neighbourhood.                                     dynamics in southeastern Europe. For example,
            One of the main responsibilities of broader larger                                    Halstead (2006) discusses a constant tension between
            social units, e.g. kin-groups such as lineages or                                     household autonomy and community solidarity,
            clans, is the provision of social security and cohesion                               between sharing and hoarding in the Aegean.
            among its members. Cooperative action and the                                         Leppard (2014), dealing with the same region,
            establishment of commemorative places (the enclos-                                    makes use of the old idea of the effects of Neolithic
            ure) are all well-known examples of the manifold                                      delayed return economies in a contextual back-
            strategies to create communal institutions and/or                                     ground governed by ideologies of sharing and

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Communality and Discord in an Early Neolithic Settlement Agglomeration

                  communality (Peterson 1993; Widlok 2016;                                               (Furholt 2017; Marciniak et al. 2015). There seems to
                  Woodburn 1982), and argues that the Neolithic sub-                                     be a spatial southeast–northwest as well as a tem-
                  sistence economy must have led to the emergence of                                     poral trajectory with an increasing household auton-
                  and conflicts over systems of ownership of resources,                                   omy the further northwest we go, and stronger
                  in which small-group or household interest might                                       community-wide institutions in the southeast and
                  not have been easily brought in accordance with                                        in earlier settlements (Furholt 2016). Still, apart
                  the interests of the whole community, and that ‘the                                    from this overall tendency, the constant tension
                  contradiction between imperatives to share and a                                       Halstead and Leppard refer to might have played
                  desire to reap benefits from delayed-return food pro-                                   out in different ways in different periods. In the
                  duction could potentially have rendered Early                                          early Neolithic of the Balkans, Starčevo settlement
                  Neolithic societies . . . fragile with intra- . . . commu-                             plans show little signs of any overall order, while
                  nity tension a possible outcome’ (Leppard 2014, 492).                                  in the Balkan Late Neolithic, larger and more orderly
                        In Vráble, we could make this explicit. Early on,                                arranged villages appear, connected, among others,
                  some farmsteads start monopolizing supra-regional                                      to Vinča materials (Draşovean & Schier 2010;
                  resources like the acquisition of obsidian and trans-                                  Hansen et al. 2009; Lichardus 1996; Mischka 2009).
                  regional contacts with communities with Bükk pot-                                      While the actual settlement layouts are variable,
                  tery. At the height of the agglomeration process,                                      there are often settlement-wide patterns determining
                  around 5075 BC, the southwest part of the settlement                                   the position of each house, indicating strong village-
                  started to identify itself as in opposition to the other                               wide institutions, at the cost of household autonomy.
                  neighbourhoods, the enclosure marking this. The set-                                   In the Butmir site of Okolište, house groups are pos-
                  ting of formal burials, which is not observed in the                                   tulated that show division of labour (Arponen et al.
                  other parts of the settlement, makes the statement                                     2015; Müller et al. 2013a). In the LBK area, contem-
                  of being different from the others even more pro-                                      porary to Vinča and Butmir further south, patterned
                  nounced. These burials in turn also indicate the                                       structures of house placement are much less fre-
                  development of some form of social inequalities                                        quent, and strongly debated—see the yard-model
                  between inhabitants of that part of the settlement.                                    versus rows-of-houses-model referred to above. In
                  Probably this development was triggered by the                                         any case, regular village shapes, like the linear vari-
                  increasing population and challenged the originally                                    ant in Okolište (Hofmann 2013; Müller et al. 2013b),
                  primarily acephalous way of life, which might be                                       or circular arrangements of houses (Hofmann et al.
                  harder to maintain with a growing population                                           2019), are extremely rare in the LBK area, Vráble
                  number.                                                                                with its three similar trapezoid shapes probably
                        It seems reasonable to assume such a conflict                                     being one of the best examples. Also neighbourhoods
                  brooding in other Neolithic village communities in                                     are not often identified in LBK settlements, except for
                  southeastern and central Europe as well. Looking at                                    a few striking cases. They take very different forms.
                  the archaeological evidence, the relation between dif-                                 In Cuiry-Les Chaudardes, France, two groups of
                  ferent social units within Neolithic village communi-                                  houses, which are spatially separated and have dif-
                  ties shows a high degree of variability, but also                                      ferent house types (small versus larger ones), are
                  certain trends that are of importance for our under-                                   associated with different subsistence patterns (hunt-
                  standing of the Vráble community. During the estab-                                    ing versus domesticated resource exploitation:
                  lishment of Neolithic economies in southwest Asia,                                     Gomart et al. 2015). They are also differentiated via
                  large agglomerations of settlement appeared, some                                      different pottery manufacture techniques. These
                  of which showed strong settlement-wide social insti-                                   two groups are interpreted by Gomart et al. (2015)
                  tutions, visibly standardized house forms, building                                    as representing newcomers versus more established
                  techniques, internal organization, etc. (e.g. Düring                                   households, who engage in reciprocal exchange of
                  2011). In central Anatolia, for example, we find a                                      their respective surplus production. A very different
                  threefold hierarchical structure of social organiza-                                   system of intra-site subgroups is postulated in the
                  tional units, namely the household (identified with                                     LBK settlement of Vaihingen/Enz in southwestern
                  the individual house), the house-group, or neigh-                                      Germany (Bogaard et al. 2011), where specific tradi-
                  bourhood, and the whole village community                                              tions of pottery decoration can be associated with
                  (Düring 2011, 116). In the following pottery                                           differential access to different fields. These ‘clans’
                  Neolithic, during which the expansion of Neolithic                                     are shown to occupy different areas in the settlement,
                  ways of life into Europe was triggered, the role of                                    with some overlap. They are supposed to have come
                  the household is believed to have been strengthened                                    to and left the community in Vaihingen at different
                  at the cost of the two other institutional levels                                      times and are also associated with different regional

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            LBK pottery sub-styles. Such a translocal pattern of                                  part of settlement is clearly directed against the two
            clans or lineage groups could be present in Vráble                                    other neighbourhoods. This might be a strategy to
            too, but they have not yet been detected in the pot-                                  avoid the social fission most other LBK communities
            tery styles, as in southwest Slovakia the late LBK                                    chose, alongside restriction to a smaller village popu-
            and Želiezovce is regionally rather uniform.                                          lation sizes in the first place. Overall, the increase in
                   However, in the great majority of LBK settle-                                  settlement enclosures as well as their association
            ments spatial subgroups, neighbourhoods, are not                                      with violence, or ritual practices involving dead
            visible in the archaeological material. We would                                      human bodies in the late LBK, could thus also be
            like to argue that this reflects a broader socio-                                      ascribed to rising intra-community tensions rather
            historical setting, and that in the period 5350–5000                                  than the inter-community conflict that is usually
            BC the main difference between the Balkans (Vinča)                                   assumed (e.g. Golitko & Keeley 2007). There were,
            and central Europe (LBK), is that household auton-                                    however, different ways of reconciling the tension
            omy is decidedly stronger in the northwest, while                                     between communality and particularist interests of
            community-wide institutions are more visible in the                                   individual farmsteads. In Vráble, the inhabitants
            southeast. Taking into account a tension between                                      chose to retain the overall concentration of settle-
            household autonomy and village solidarity as inher-                                   ment, but to mark or differentiate communities
            ent in Neolithic economies, Vráble constitutes an                                     more strongly at a lower level. There is not only
            example in which the latter is more marked than in                                    the clear fencing-off of one settlement part (or neigh-
            most other LBK settlements, but less so than in the                                   bourhood); in addition, the symbolic charging of the
            Balkanic tradition. While the unusually large settle-                                 neighbourhood demarcation with dead human bod-
            ment concentration, as well as the separation into                                    ies is connected to social differentiation. The different
            neighbourhoods, reflects the strength of southern tra-                                 categories of burials/deposition of human bodies
            ditions, the spatial isolation and differentiation of                                 and body parts reflect the definition of different
            subsistence practices and material production                                         kinds of people, with regular burials with burial
            between the farmsteads within these neighbour-                                        goods as opposed to headless people at the bottom
            hoods accentuates the strength of small-scale auton-                                  of the trench, and perhaps a third category being
            omy, which is more similar to the central European                                    people treated like settlement debris (or alternatively,
            patterns. The negotiation of particularist farmstead                                  deliberately fragmented and distributed in the ditch).
            interests and communal institutions and village soli-                                        This represents a situation that is historically
            darity is probably more antagonistic, less resolvable                                 specific for the communities in Vráble. However, it
            than in other places, where one or the other eventu-                                  cannot be overlooked that there are parallels to
            ally gets an upper hand, or settlements break up.                                     developments in other places. It is puzzling that
            A way to mitigate the tension could be the promotion                                  there is such a recurrent association of enclosure
            of neighbourhood identity, as a smaller social unit,                                  ditches and human bodies in the later LBK period.
            substituting for the larger overall village community.                                Yet, while there is evidence for physical violence
            It is at the neighbourhood level, where communality                                   being associated with these enclosures, as in Schletz
            and sharing—exemplified by beehive storage pits, by                                    (Teschler-Nicola 2012) and Kilianstädten (Meyer
            the construction of a complex enclosure system—are                                    et al. 2015), there is definitely more to their interpret-
            acted out. But in Vráble the development of these                                     ation than a suddenly emerging need for fortification
            neighborhood-ties obviously is also linked to a                                       against an outside enemy because of a rising degree
            contradictory social differentiation within the neigh-                                of conflict and violence. As Herxheim (Zeeb-Lanz
            bourhoods. As described, the people buried or                                         2016) and Vráble show, the phenomenon of bodies
            deposited in and along the enclosure are categorized                                  in enclosure ditches is too complex to be explained
            differently, maybe according to their physical                                        by the theory of emerging warfare (Golitko &
            appearance, or capacities. In addition, the monopol-                                  Keeley 2007).
            ization of trans-regional contacts and sought-after                                          Instead, we would argue that there were overall
            exotic resources by single farmsteads will have                                       structural settings in Early Neolithic LBK settlements
            undermined neighbourhood solidarity. Thus the                                         which created parallel sets of social conflict, like the
            new neighbourhood ideology failed as the social con-                                  one discussed here, between household, village
            tradictions increased: around 4950 BC, Vráble was                                     communities and intermediate social groups, most
            abandoned.                                                                            virulent probably in the larger settlement agglomera-
                   The antagonism between the three neighbour-                                    tions. And there might have been a set of ideas,
            hoods in Vráble becomes most visible in the late                                      which facilitated recurring associations between
            phase, when the enclosure around the southwest                                        physical entities—for example settlement space,

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