Burnt daub talking: The formation of the LBK longhouse (a work hypothesis)

Abstract

This paper has two starting points that will eventually converge in our argumentation. One focuses on the early 6th millennium cal BC Starčevo settlement at Alsónyék in the Sárköz region of south-western Hungary. While no houses with a post structure could be identified, the amount of the burnt daub found in pits totals more than two tons. Based on the weighing, the detailed description of the total amount of the recovered Early Neolithic burnt daub fragments and the 3D reconstruction of diagnostic pieces, details about early Neolithic architecture of the region can be explored. The second point concerns the earliest northward-oriented longhouses occurring in the western Carpathian Basin. While the north Balkan origin of the LBK has not been seriously challenged, the roots of the LBK longhouse have never been fully and precisely clarified. The already described formative LBK phase and its house types will be compared with newly found LBK settlement nuclei containing very early Vinča find material, and both will be compared to features of the late Starčevo house building tradition. Meanwhile, we also try to cast some light on the decisive, but nevertheless little known “Dark Age” of the 55th and 54th centuries cal BC.