Jerzy Siemaszko

Bio: Jerzy Siemaszko is an academic researcher. The author has contributed to research in topics: Archaeological record & Stone Age. The author has an hindex of 1, co-authored 1 publications receiving 8 citations.

Stone Age settlement in the Lega Valley microregion of north-east Poland

Abstract: Over a period of 14 years, and as part of the Polish Archaeological Record research project, the author directed a field survey of the whole of the Lega river basin (NE Poland) – an area of over 850 km2. As a result of the survey of this hitherto poorly investigated area, almost 1100 archaeological sites were discovered, 748 of which contained lithic materials. The most interesting sites were initially studied by detailed mapping of surface-find distribution and later by excavation. A complete study of the whole drainage basin was very important for settlement research. The large number of the surface lithic assemblages enables reliable statistical analyses and accurate cartographic studies supported by palaeo-environmental reconstructions. Lithic assemblages were analysed from the point of production techniques and typology, dispelling some doubts about chronological-cultural affiliations of flint inventories from north-east Poland and neighbouring countries, but also raising new questions. It wa...

From foraging to farming in the Great Mazurian Lake District: palynological studies on Lake Miłkowskie sediments, northeast Poland

Abstract: Early and mid Holocene local vegetational history, with special reference to woodland communities, was revealed by pollen analysis of a radiocarbon dated lake sediment profile from Lake Milkowskie (Jezioro Milkowskie) in northeastern Poland. The main factor controlling the dynamics of woodland composition changes until ca. 1950 b.c. was climate. After that, the role of human activity became increasingly important. The results of high-resolution pollen analyses provide evidence for early woodland disturbances caused by Mesolithic people at ca. 6950 b.c. Several episodes of human impact, differing in scale, and separated by subsequent episodes of woodland regeneration/stabilization were noted. The first traces of local crop farming, shown by the presence of Cerealia pollen, were recorded at ca. 3800 b.c. in the Paraneolithic/Neolithic period. Animal husbandry as well as cereal cultivation played only a marginal role in the economy, which was traditionally based on hunting, fishing and gathering through the Neolithic and the early Bronze Age. The change in economic strategies from foraging towards farming, starting around 3750 b.c., was a long-lasting process. An increase of productive economy took place in the middle Bronze Age at ca. 1400 b.c.

All these Fantastic Cultures? Research History and Regionalization in the Late Palaeolithic Tanged Point Cultures of Eastern Europe

Abstract: The Late Glacial, that is the period from the first pronounced warming after the Last Glacial Maximum to the beginning of the Holocene (c. 16,000–11,700 cal bp), is traditionally viewed as a time when northern Europe was being recolonized and Late Palaeolithic cultures diversified. These cultures are characterized by particular artefact types, or the co-occurrence or specific relative frequencies of these. In north-eastern Europe, numerous cultures have been proposed on the basis of supposedly different tanged points. This practice of naming new cultural units based on these perceived differences has been repeatedly critiqued, but robust alternatives have rarely been offered. Here, we review the taxonomic landscape of Late Palaeolithic large tanged point cultures in eastern Europe as currently envisaged, which leads us to be cautious about the epistemological validity of many of the constituent groups. This, in turn, motivates us to investigate the key artefact class, the large tanged point, using geometric morphometric methods. Using these methods, we show that distinct groups are difficult to recognize, with major implications for our understanding of patterns and processes of culture change in this period in north-eastern Europe and perhaps elsewhere.

A Critical Reassessment of Cultural Taxonomies in the Central European Late Palaeolithic

Abstract: In the analysis of archaeological relationships and processes, a uniform classification of the dataset is a fundamental requirement. To achieve this, a standardised taxonomic system, as well as consistent and valid criteria for the grouping of sites and assemblages, must be used. The Central European Late Palaeolithic (ca. 12,000–9700 cal BC) has a long research history and many regionally and temporally specific units—groups and cultures—are recognised. In this paper, we examine the complex taxonomic landscape of this period and critically analyse the use of typological, functional and economic criteria in the definition of selected groups. We subject three different archaeological taxonomic units, the Bromme culture from Denmark, the Furstein group from Switzerland and the Atzenhof group from Germany, to particularly detailed scrutiny and highlight that the classificatory criteria used in their definition are inconsistent across units and most likely unsuitable for circumscribing past sociocultural units. We suggest a comprehensive re-examination of the overarching taxonomic system for the Late Palaeolithic, as well as a re-evaluation of the methodologies used to delineate sociocultural units in the Palaeolithic.

Der Ausbruch des Laacher See-Vulkans vor 12.920 Jahren und urgeschichtlicher Kulturwandel am Ende des Alleröd. Eine neue Hypothese zum Ursprung der Bromme-Kultur und des Perstunien

Abstract: Zusammenfassung: Vor etwa 12.920 Jahren, gegen Ende der Allerod Warmephase, brach der Laacher See-Vulkan in der Nahe von Koblenz explosionsartig und mit katastrophalen Auswirkungen aus. Dies war einer der bedeutendsten und gewaltigsten Vulkanausbruche des Spatpleistozans in der Nordlichen Hemisphare und begrub eine Flache von mehr als 1300 km 2 unter Lava (Schmelztuff)- und Ascheschichten, die stellenweise uber zehn Meter dick waren. Die Eruptionssaule stieg bis zu 40 km in die Atmosphare auf und Aschelagen setzten sich uber weiten Teilen Europas ab. Laacher See Tephra (LST) in archaologischen Schichtenfolgen dient schon seit uber funfzig Jahren als nutzlicher chronostratigraphischer Leithorizont fur das Spatglazial. Bisher wurde jedoch nicht ensthaft in Betracht gezogen, dass die Laacher See Eruption (LSE) auch nachhaltigen Einfluss auf die damaligen Jager- und Sammlerkulturen und deren technologische Entwicklung genommen haben konnte. Basierend auf kalibrierten 14 C-Daten, einer Kartierung der Tephralagen im Bezug zu dem Vorkommen spatglazialer Kulturgruppen in Nordeuropa und einer technologisch-quantitativen Analyse spatglazialer Projektilspitzen, wird in diesem Beitrag die Hypothese vorgestellt, dass die LSE direkt und kausal mit dem Ursprung der wohlbekannten BrommeKultur Sudskandinaviens und des Perstunien in Osteuropa zusammenhangt. Obwohl die messbaren Klimaveranderungen im Zuge der LSE wohl eher gering waren, hat dieses Ereignis weitgreifende demographische Nachwirkungen in Gang gesetzt, die sich dann als archaologisch sichtbare Veranderungen in der materiellen Kultur niederschlugen. Insbesondere wird gezeigt, dass der Ursprung der BrommeKultur und des Perstunien mit dem Verlust der Pfeil-und-Bogen-Technologie zusammenhangt. Eher spekulativ wird angeregt, dass auch andere, zum Teil weit vom Laacher See Vulkan und seinem Fall-out entfernte Regionen (z.B. die Britischen Inseln) demographisch beeinflusst wurden. Abschliesend wird eine Forschungsstrategie fur die Zukunft vorgelegt, mit deren Hilfe die hier vorgeschlagene Hypothese getestet, weiter erhartet oder widerlegt werden kann. Schlagworter: Nordeuropa, Osteuropa, Spatglazial, Bromme-Kultur, Perstunien, Laacher See-Eruption, Projektilspitzen, Kulturwandel The eruption of the Laacher See-volcano and prehistoric material culture change at the end of the Allerod in Northern Europe. A new hypothesis for the origin of the Bromme and Perstunian cultures