Pottery Vessels as Evidence of Cultural Diffusion in the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age in Masovia and North-Eastern Poland

In the Late Neolithic, the area of today’s northeast Poland was a frontier of two different socioeconomic and belief systems, one represented by societies based on a food-producer economy, the other by hunter-gatherer groups. They were involved in processes which led to the emergence of many local syncretic societies, the majority of which complied with the conventions of the para-Neolithic communities. This foundation, already complex in the Late Neolithic, was further differentiated as a consequence of the influence of the Bell Beaker and Iwno cultures. As a result, the multivector processes that transpired between various societies at the time led to the formation of a new phenomenon in north-eastern Poland. It was characteristic for the Early Bronze Age and was called the Trzciniec culture, which was part of a much broader cultural convention known as the Trzciniec cultural circle. Due to the nature of the discoveries from this area, the phenomenon is best reflected in pottery, examples of which can be perceived not only in terms of utilitarian products but mainly as markers of contacts and evidence for diffusion.