Migration and kinship in East-Central Europe in the 1st half of the 2nd millennium BC
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Date
2021-12
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Faculty of Archaeology, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań
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Abstract
This article presents the results of research conducted within the framework of a multi-
disciplinary project investigating the issues of migration, mobility, and kinship of the Middle
Bronze Age communities inhabiting East-Central Europe, more specifically the Upland belt of
modern Poland and western Ukraine. The main objective of the project is to verify or falsify two
hypotheses provided by the literature. The first one concerns the issue of the migration of the
Trzciniec Cultural Circle (TCC) population from the Lowland belt of East-Central Europe south-
wards into the Upland belt. The other considers kinship as a fundamental factor generating the
emergence, rules of aggregation, and shape of the ‘Trzciniec’ social structures. In addition,
the project addresses a number of issues related to the social structure, rituals, and diet of the
study communities.
An application of the methods that are specific to humanities (archaeology and cultural
anthropology) and sciences (physical anthropology, molecular biology – genetics, isotope
geochemistry, physics, chemistry, and statistics), and possible genetic affiliations of the
‘Trzciniec’ communities and the population of the preceding Early Bronze Age groups (mainly
the Mierzanowice and Strzyżów cultures) are presented; the potential kinship pattern of the
deceased buried in the graves representing these cultural groups are also indicated. The
results of Bayesian modelling of the 14 C date series for the TCC collective burials – a key factor
in the study of the kinship and the mortuary rituals of this group – are highlighted. Finally, the
paper discusses the current results of research on the mobility and diet of the communities
from the late 3 rd and 2 nd millennia BC undertaken within the frame of this project as well as in
cooperation with other research programmes.
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Keywords
ancient DNA, stable isotopes, Middle Bronze Age, migration, kinship, Trzciniec Cultural Circle, collective burial
Citation
Treasures of Time: Research of the Faculty of Archaeology of Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań (2021) D. Żurkiewicz (Ed.). pp. 300-311.
ISBN
978-83-946591-9-6