Neolithic LBK Intrasite Settlement Patterns : A Case Study from Bylany (Czech Republic)‎

Abstract EN

This paper could also be a contribution to a new concept for understanding space and time in Neolithic settlements.

We abandoned the methodological concept of construction complexes of houses and used individual archaeological features as the basic analytical unit.

The analysis of quantitative correlations of decorative style conducted on this basis produced five style groups; four of these belonged to a LBK style, and it was these that were spatially distinct at the Bylany settlement.

The discovered spatial patterns of style correspond in general to the existing chronology of the site.

This means that chronological horizons understood both as intervals on the time axis and as geographic units are not dependent on “construction complexes” or even on individual houses.

The value of this study does not lie in a more detailed chronological division of the Neolithic settlement at Bylany, but in a confirmation of the robustness of its existing form; the study also draws attention to a possible problem in the concept of construction complexes.