Stroke-ornamented ware culture

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, the STK moved down the Vistula and Elbe. 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.

Goseck Circle, c. 4900 BC

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.

The Dresden-Nickern settlement

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  Stroke-ornamented Ware, City of Prague Museum
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  Museum for Prehistory, Thuringia
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  State Museum of Archaeology, Chemnitz
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  State Museum of Prehistory, Berlin
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  State Museum of Württemberg, Stuttgart
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  Ceramic figurine
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  Shell necklace
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  Bracelets

Media related to Stroke-ornamented ware culture at Wikimedia Commons

• Stichbandkeramik (Baldia)