S5006685

A Late La Tóne inhumation grave from Pełczyska:

Comments on the cultural situation in the upland area of Little Poland (with an analysis of the anatomical remains by Karol Piasecki)

Marcin Rudnicki

The subject of this study is an inhumation burial. which due to its chronołogy and cultural eon nota tions. is an unusual discovery for the western part of the loess upland of Little Poland. Interpretation of the find and of its context is cłosely bound up with discussion of the cultural unit referred to as the Tyniec Group, which has been researched for many years by Zenon Wożniak. The term Tyniec Group' was originalty coined to describe a mbced Cełtio-Przeworsk settłement group dating from the end of the LT D1 phase to the beginning of the Roman period, the remains of which were found. amongst other locations (all settłements with painted pottery). at the eponymous site at Tyniec near Kraków. With the passing of thme. however, it has transpired that the beginning of Cettic settłement in the western part of Little Poland considerably antedates the arrival in the area of peopte of the Przeworsk culture: as a resułt. the chronołogy of the Tyniec Group requires considerable modt-fication. At present. the whole Celtic episode in the prehistory of the western region of Little Poland is still referred to as the Tyniec Group, within which three phases of devetopment can be disbngutshed (Wożniak 1992. 1996).

To observe that cłarification of the settłement situation in the western region of Little Poland area towards the end of the frrst cen tury BC will take many morę years of research is a statement of the obvious. It is, however, a fact that attempts to define the cultural changes taking płace in this area keep raising a number of questions. Progress in research into the subject is hindered both by the State of the publication of research results from preyious years and by the very slow Information flow oonceming new finds. The most recent discoveries madę at the cemetery site at Pełczyska proyide high quality evidence for dtscusstons on the subject. This is due to

the diversity of grave materiał dating from the late La Tóne period which can be compared with the contem-porary evidence form the nearby settłement. To simplify the matter, the issue under discussion can be reduced to a question of terminołogy which from the methodo-logical point of view may appear insignificant. The ques-tion is what term should be used in reference to the materiał from Pełczyska and a number of other sites from the basins of the Nida and Nidzica rivers, mostły dated to the frrst cen tury BC — whether the period should be referred to as the Late La Tóneor the Pre-Roman¹. Should the materiał be dassified as bełonging to the Tyniec Group and thus to the La Tóne cultural millieu or should it rather be related to the Przeworsk culture? How many and which of the cultural ełements substantiate the ap-plication of either of these terms? The finds from this period discovered at Pełczyska seem to reftect compłex settłement transformations characteristic for all of the western area of Little Poland.

Pełczyska. part of the rura! community of Złota in the Świętokrzyskie proyince. is łocated on the edge of the Little Poland upland. about 55 km north-east from Kraków. It is situated in the right bank of the Nida river basin (a tributary of the Vistula river system) and is cov-ered with very fertile loess soil. So far seven archaeo-logical sites have been located within the area (Fig. 1). The sites numbered 1.2 and 4. cover the area ofamutth period dweding where excavations were carried out from 1959 to 1973 by Ł. Okuliczowa. D. Szlifirska and L. Gajewski and from 2000 to 2002 by the present writer. It is from this area that numerous and diyerse materia! of the

’ The use by the present writer of the term tatę La Tśna* in the titie and the body of this articie of course in no respect soNes the problem but simpiy fotows conventional terminołogy.