On the Bandkeramik on the Lower Vistula River

Abstract

The Vistula River is the most important river in Polish history and culture. This paper discusses whether this could influence the hypothesis regarding the crucial role of this river for the Early Neolithic colonization of the Polish lowlands. It presents an overview of the Linear Pottery culture settlement on the lower Vistula River. The main sources of information are broad-scale survey programmes, which provide an impressive number of sites, while the extent of large-scale excavations is very limited. This is an important caveat with respect to statements on similarities and differences in occupation between the lowlands and other regions. Nevertheless, according to the present state of research, the lower Vistula region can be regarded as a remote, but important settlement area of the LBK.