The issue of the ‘resurgence’ of hunter-gatherer lifestyles in the region between the middle courses of the Southern Buh and Dniester rivers during the post-LBK period
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.35686/AR.2026.321Keywords:
de-Neolithization, para-Neolithic, ceramic hunter-gatherers, radiocarbon chronology, Bayesian modellingAbstract
A re-dating of the end of the Linear Pottery culture (LBK) and the expansion of the Early Trypillians revealed an approximately 300-year gap between these events in the region east of the Carpathians and west of the Dnieper. Radiocarbon dates within this interval come from ceramic hunter-gatherer camps. This paper reviews sites likely inhabited during this post-LBK phase, many of which have been linked to the Savran phase of the Buh-Dniester culture. Although the very existence of the Savran phase and that of the Buh-Dniester culture is questionable, it is clear that these later sites yielded Savran-style pottery. And while Savran pottery is not exclusive to this interval (it existed prior to it), the evidence suggests that much of its development occurred during post-LBK times. Moreover, the ceramic assemblages of the sites in question brought several shapes and decorations resembling those characteristic of ceramic hunter-gatherers living to the north and east of the region of study. As such, the authors put forward a hypothesis of a hunter-gatherer revival in this region after the demise of the LBK and prior to the expansion of the Pre-Cucuteni/Early Trypillia. The cultural landscapes developed by the LBK were evidently abandoned. This revival brought to light sites with Savran style pottery influenced by northern and eastern styles of pottery-making and decoration.
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