Early Bronze Age barrow in Jawczyce, site 1, Wieliczka Foothills, Lesser Poland

Abstract

Barrow 11 at site 1 in Jawczyce is the first burial mound in the Wieliczka Foothills, and also in the whole of Lesser Poland, dated to the 19th and 18th centuries BC and associated with the late phase of the Mierzanowice culture. The grave under the mound had a wooden construction, and within it were found faience beads as well as four flint arrowheads. The interment was not preserved. The radiocarbon date acquired from charcoal is 3580±35 BP (Poz-101091), which is 1974-1888 BC after calibration. This dating can be correlated with the beginnings of the late phase of the Mierzanowice culture. The mound in Jawczyce combines older Final Neolithic traditions (the barrow) with Early Bronze ones (the grave goods, arrangement of the deceased). Therefore, it significantly supplements current knowledge of the funeral rite of the Mierzanowice culture.