The Stroke-ornamented ware (culture) or (German) Stichbandkeramik (abbr. STK or STbK), Stroked Pottery culture, Danubian Ib culture of V. Gordon Childe, or Middle Danubian culture is the successor of the Linear Pottery culture, a major archaeological horizon of the European Neolithic in

Central Europe Central Europe is an area of Europe between Western Europe and Eastern Europe, based on a common historical, social and cultural identity. The Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) between Catholicism and Protestantism significantly shaped the a ...

. The STK flourishes during approximately 4900-4400 BC. Centered on

Silesia Silesia (, also , ) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at around 8,000,000. Silesia is split ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

, eastern

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, and the northern

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

, it overlaps with the Lengyel horizon to the south and the

Rössen culture The Rössen culture or Roessen culture (german: Rössener Kultur) is a Central European culture of the middle Neolithic (4,600–4,300 BC). It is named after the necropolis of Rössen (part of Leuna, in the Saalekreis district, Saxony-Anhalt). T ...

to the west.

Description

The STbK and the Notenkopfkeramik are a development of the LBK. Much of the Musical Note pottery features incised zig-zag bands going around the pot, with punctures at the line segment junctions. The STK abandons incision in favor bands of small punctures, also in zig-zag patterns, with a vertical band dividing each angle. The effect is a band pattern of contiguous A-frames. Where the Musical Note pottery expanded east over the

Bug River uk, Західний Буг be, Захо́дні Буг , name_etymology = , image = Wyszkow_Bug.jpg , image_size = 250 , image_caption = Bug River in the vicinity of Wyszków, Poland , map = Vi ...

, the STK moved down the

Vistula The Vistula (; pl, Wisła, ) is the longest river in Poland and the ninth-longest river in Europe, at in length. The drainage basin, reaching into three other nations, covers , of which is in Poland. The Vistula rises at Barania Góra in ...

and

Elbe The Elbe (; cs, Labe ; nds, Ilv or ''Elv''; Upper and dsb, Łobjo) is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Giant Mountains of the northern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia (western half of the Czech Re ...

. The spread of this style must have been basically the transmission of cultural objects. The homes of the STK people show a slight modification that became a major feature of later cultures: one end of the long house was made shorter than the other to achieve a trapezoidal shape. The reason for this modification remains obscure. Also, the STK people developed a preference for cremation rather than burial. The preceding early LBK had used both methods.

Gosek circle

An unusual structure associated with STK has been found at Gosek, south of Berlin: a large, double concentric ring of post holes pierced by gates and surrounded by a circular ditch. The placement of the gates and some of the posts lead some investigators to hypothesize an observatory similar to Stonehenge, but in wood rather than stone; i.e., the posts mark some positions of celestial bodies.

Gallery

File:Stroke-ornamented Ware, City of Prague Museum, PJ0000062, 175581.jpg, Stroke-ornamented Ware, City of Prague Museum File:MUFT - Bad Frankenhausen Stichbandkeramik Kumpf.jpg, Museum for Prehistory, Thuringia File:Smac Neolithikum 061.jpg, State Museum of Archaeology, Chemnitz File:Schuchhardt Stichbandkeramik Benditz.jpg, State Museum of Prehistory, Berlin

References

External links

Stichbandkeramik (Baldia)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stroke-Ornamented Ware Culture Archaeological cultures of Central Europe Stone Age Europe Archaeological cultures in Austria Archaeological cultures in the Czech Republic Archaeological cultures in Germany Archaeological cultures in Poland