Linear Pottery Houses and Their Inhabitants

Abstract

AbstractNeolithic houses can be classified into different types according to their construction; therefore, we tried to find whether the inhabitants of different types of Neolithic houses engaged in different economic activities. The existing interpretation of the function of individual parts of Neolithic houses was broadened to include a hypothesis based on an exceptional case from the Harta settlement in Hungary. We used the revised analysis of animal bones from the Bylany settlement as a starting point to assess the means of subsistence of the inhabitants of Neolithic houses. The way that food was handled and consumed was observed in the distribution of formal functional types of pottery according to the number and the lipid compounds. Based on current results, we can prove that inhabitants of different types of Neolithic houses used different means of subsistence. Food was shared similarly in all types of houses; however, the processing and preparation of food differed. Therefore, we can support the hypothesis that the inhabitants of a single settlement were of different genetic and historical origins.