Palaeoenvironmental context of the Subneolithic hunter-gatherer communities of the Niemen culture – case study at Lipsk site (NE Poland)

Abstract

The study area is located in the NE part of the Biebrza Basin (ice-marginal valley on the borderland between Central and Eastern Europe in NE part of Poland) in Podlasie voivodeship. The region was an oecumene of hunting and gathering communities during the Neolithic period. Their lifestyle was inextricably linked to the vast valley area and connected to the climate fluctuations. These communities were in constant motion and did not develop an established lifestyle. Results of the studies on Lipsk, and other sites in the Biebrza Basin, indicate some periods of climatic changes and an increase of morphogenetic processes activity. Presence of peats dated at 7 050 ± 60 (MKL-4798) 6 033–5 789 cal. yr BC on sandy sediments in profile L22 could be correlated with the older colluvial deposits at Lipowo site. In profile L20 on the Preboreal peats enters the Boreal or Early Atlantic sandy sediments, which were covered by the Atlantic peats. The Aeolian activity could have led to the appearance of sands at the bottom of the L20 profile between 9 880 ± 100 BP (9 803–9 182 cal. yr BC) and 7 350 ± 110 BP (6 425–6 026 cal. yr BC)