Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age developments in the south-west Baltic area (2500-1500 BC): Why did the Bruszczewo-Leki Male type of power structures appear?

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The social development of the Northern Unetice culture (UC) of the south-west Baltic area (SWB - from Holstein to Greater Poland) was highly significant regarding the agglomeration of power structures. Reasons for this process still remain unclear; especially concerning the roots of the development of Early Bronze Age (EBA) society against the backdrop of the Late Neolithic (LN) (e.g. Corded Ware and Bell Beakers). Our Polish-German research on the EBA fortified settlement in Bruszczewo (Koscian area in Greater Poland) confirmed that specific, very stable and innovative UC power agglomerations existed for centuries, denoted as the Bruszczewo-Leki Male type. However, just as for the entire SWB area, it is still not possible to explain their origins and relations to previously dominating socio-cultural phenomena. Our project aims to achieve two main interrelated goals. The first is to identify the socio-cultural character of LN societies and their role in the construction of UC identities in the SWB (macroscale). The second is to recognize how these roles are visible in the Koscian group of the UC (microscale). While intensive research was already conducted on Bruszczewo, intensified investigations on the Leki Male cemetery (analysis of archive finds) and its closest vicinity (test excavations and palaeoenvironmental analysis) are still necessary to explain the power structures of the Bruszczewo- Leki Male type, which are unique in the SWB. Planned methods to achieve the goals of the project include: material culture studies, studies on economies and social spaces as well as environmental research. The research framework will be divided into 5 modules. Four of them (PhD or equivalent) concern the wide perspective (SWB) and involve: (1) Comparisons of archaeobotanical information and geoarchaological archives, (2) Settlement Archaeology and Social Space: Comparisons of the organization of social space and the economy, (3) Late Neolithic: Typochronological and spatial analyses of Corded Ware, Bell Beaker and Dagger period assemblages, (4) Early Bronze Age: Typochronological and spatial analyses for a structural comparison of selected regions from East Holstein to Kujawia, including the Koscian area. The fifth module will concern a unique case study of the Koscian group of the UC. The project and its modules will be realized by the German-Polish team, which has a 16-year long history of effective cooperation within the framework of three different long-lasting scientific projects.