Orientation of Neolithic dwellings in Central and Southeast Europe: Common denominator between the Vinča and Linearbandkeramik worlds

Abstract

This paper explores to what extent orientations of houses can contribute to chronological questions and to the cultural and social contextualisation in the Neolithic of Europe in general and societies with pottery styles labeled as Vinča and LBK in particular. First of all, the question is investigated to what extent systematic errors in the orientation of houses can contribute to the clarification of intra-site chronologies in tells and flat settlements of Southeastern Europe, as just recently proved for Linear Pottery Culture settlements. These systematic, counterclockwise deviations represent a cognitive phenomenon known as ‘Pseudoneglect’, which can be used to reconstruct e.g. relative-chronological sequences of houses in archaeo-magnetic plans. Beyond such fine-scaled variability, at a regional level, basic orientations of houses prove to be surprisingly durable and stable indicating their normative character and high ideological significance. Within Southeast Europe, regional standardisations can be distinguished for example with the ‘basic Balkan orientation’ and the ‘Upper Tisza orientation’. With regard to the relations between the Vinča and ‘the LBK′ we would like to highlight two points: Remarkable is, on the one hand, the high diversity of house orientations in the presumed area of formation of ‘the LBK’. Accordingly, human groups of different origins might have been involved in this formation process. On the other hand, it seems that not only human groups from the Balkan but also those from the upper Tisza region played a significant role in the formation and spread of the LBK.