Święte 11: Cemetery of the Corded Ware Culture

Abstract

Abstract The rescue excavations at site 11 in Święte, Radymno Commune, Jarosław District, were conducted prior to the construction of the A4 motorway. Thirteen Corded Ware culture (CWC) features, including eleven graves, were discovered. The Final Eneolithic cemetery was placed in the neighbourhood of FBC graves, possibly at megalithic tombs. Most of the CWC graves have a niche construction – typical of the Lesser Poland funerary rite. The furnishings found in these features are characteristic of Subcarpathia as are inventories from nearby sites in the Lower San Valley and Rzeszów Foothills. Their typo-chronological assessments point to the younger phase of the CWC. Ceramic artefacts include vessels finding analogies in the assemblages of the Middle Dnieper culture and the cultures of the steppe/forest-steppe of the North-Western Black Sea Area. Among the latter is the spectacular find of a round-base pot from Feature 1149B. A series of five dates estimate the origins of the Święte cemetery graves at the interval of 2530-2375 BC.