Materials of the Malice culture at site 28 in Świerszczów (AZP 86-94/218)

The site of Świerszczów 28 was discovered in 2012 during field works connected with the construction of the Hrubieszów ring-road. The site is located on the border between Horodło Bar (Grzęda Horodelska) and Hrubieszów Basin (Kotlina Hrubieszowska). As a result of excavations, 221 non-portable features were found, of which 81 were dated based on artefacts found in their fills. The oldest phase of settlement is represented by artefacts connected with the Rzeszów phase of the Malice culture. Nine features yielded a series of 66 fragments of vessels (the majority of them were found in one feature, i.e. pit no. 243–53 sherds) which, in terms of technology, belong to the category of medium- or thick-walled pottery. Pottery forms represent vessel types typical of the Malice culture: biconical vessels – both pots and amphorae, profiled bowls and beakers on hollow feet. Vessels were decorated with ornamentation motives arranged in horizontal bands. The most typical ornaments were notches (corrugations), fingernails notches, “pinched” impressions and fingertips imprints. Knobs and plastic belts also appeared. Flint artefacts are represented by only 11 specimens. Two of them merit particular attention: an end-scraper with an oval front from feature no. 243 and a blade found in the layer of humus. Nine artefacts were made of Volhynian flint, the remaining two are burnt. The traces of the Malice culture occupation at Świerszczów 28 site are connected with a small settlement. The analyzed collection of artefacts is linked with the oldest segment of the Rzeszów phase (IIa) of the Malice culture, connected with trans-Carpathian influences from the proto-Tiszapolgár culture and phase A of the Tiszapolgár culture, which in terms of absolute chronology corresponds to the last quarter of the fourth millennium BC.