Introduction

The Neolithic brought with it the creation of new worlds (Whittle 1996). It was achieved through varied mechanisms and processes and with various media and resources. Domesticated and wild animals were integral and central elements of these social worlds. The keeping, maintaining, and controlling of major domesticates such as cattle, pigs, sheep, and goats, and eating their flesh, were exercised as integral parts of the process of making a living. Animals contributed to creating and maintaining social relations, in particular construction of individual and communal identity through different kinds of engagements such as sacrifice, feasting, and exchange. Although animals have traditionally been investigated in terms of their place within subsistence practices, diet, and strategies of environmental adaptation, recent studies of the European Neolithic clearly reveal their social, ontological, symbolic, and cosmological status during the period (e.g., Marciniak 2005, 2011b; Marciniak and Pollard 2014; Pollard 2006; Tilley 1996; Whittle 2003).

This chapter explores changes in social, symbolic, and ontological relations between people and animals during the Middle Neolithic in the Polish part of the North European Plain. It seeks to investigate how domestic animals were embedded in the process of change of significant social variables following the demise of early farming communities. This period is marked by a transition from largely homogeneous communal arrangements of local groups in the Early Neolithic to autonomous household organization in the following period (Marciniak 2005). In this vein, the chapter explores how animals and their associated products constitute sources of wealth and status in dynamically developing farming groups in the lowlands.

The chapter examines these changes in the areas settled for the first time following the demise of the Early Neolithic occupation of the North European Plain, as exemplified by the Wielkopolska region in the western part of today’s Poland (Figure 9.1). Early Neolithic lifeways comprised a point of departure and a point of reference for local developments across the lowlands in this period—that is, the second half of the fifth millennium BC. Accordingly, special attention is focused on diachronic interrelations in order to outline the manner in which the fabric of Neolithic societies was transformed over time. Insights into details of these transformations are provided by looking at the Racot settlement near Kościan in the south of the Wielkopolska region (Czerniak 1989). This is a spatially diverse site with numerous faunal remains. These have been investigated in terms of taphonomy, meat- and marrow-utility indices, body-part representation, and species composition, as well as horizontal distribution of faunal remains in relation to other categories of archaeological data. All these variables were studied in different contexts across the settlement.

Figure 9.1. Location of Racot, site 18 in the Polish lowlands.

Animal Exploitation and Social Developments in the Early Neolithic North European Plain

The Early Neolithic communities in the North European Plain are represented by the Linear Band Pottery Culture (Linearbandkeramik – LBK). They emerged from the loess uplands around the middle of the sixth millennium BC (calibrated) and continued their steady and uninterrupted development for around 400 to 500 years through the beginnings of the fifth millennium BC (Czerniak 1998:23; Milisauskas and Kruk 1989:404). The lowland LBK comprised a distinct element of a large complex stretching from the Paris Basin in the west to the Dnestr River in the east and from the Drava River in the south to northern Poland in the north (e.g., Barker 1985; Kruk and Milisauskas 1999). The immigrant groups brought with them a whole array of new material culture, in particular longhouses along with a simple-style pottery with curvilinear and rectilinear motifs, and stone technology in the form of symmetrical axes and heavy adzes with a planoconvex cross section. They were characterized by a communal organization and practiced mixed-farming subsistence technology (e.g., Keeley 1992; Kulczycka-Leciejewiczowa 1993; Milisauskas and Kruk 1989; Price, Gebauer, and Keeley 1996; Starling 1985).

The external origin of early farming is even more convincing, considering that none of the characteristic features of the material culture associated with it were found in the Mesolithic communities preceding their farming successors. The same applies to domesticates, as there is no straightforward evidence of localized, indigenous domestication of ungulates in the region (e.g., Bollongino et al. 2006; Glass 1991:30; Götherström et al. 2005). Early farmers and hunter-gatherers certainly coexisted but they inhabited and exploited different, mutually exclusive ecological zones (Kruk and Milisauskas 1999:29; Marciniak 2008a).

Early LBK sites were scattered throughout the Polish lowland on fertile rich brown and black soil, similar in quality to the loess soil of the uplands. These comprise Kujavia, the Chełmno Land, and the Pyrzyce Land along the lower Oder area (Figure 9.1). Longhouses dominated the landscape. These were significantly elaborated structures, far larger than needed for permanent dwellings. During the region’s historical trajectory, longhouses grew in significance, becoming a focal point for the farming groups (Marciniak 2000:343–344).

Cattle were the most important animals of the Early Neolithic farmers of the North European Plain (e.g., Bogucki 2008; Marciniak 2005, 2013). Cattle bones significantly outnumbered other species (e.g., Grygiel 2004:546; Sobociński 1985:87). The importance of cattle certainly went beyond a contribution to the diet of local groups (Bogucki 1988, 1993; Ray and Thomas 2003). Cattle were probably an important source of mobile and inheritable wealth, and on special occasions, of meat, probably due to qualities such as their size, strength, vitality, and mobility (Whittle et al. 1999:385). This special treatment afforded to cattle is widely discernible across Europe and the Near East and they may have achieved this position long before domestication altered their anatomy, as documented in the Near Eastern Neolithic (e.g., Akkermans and Schwartz 2003:75; Edmonds 1999:28).

The ceremonial character of cattle exploitation in the Early Neolithic of the North European Plain is indicated by a range of variables. Body-part representation is often characterized by a deliberate selection of certain anatomical segments, in particular skulls, scapulae, and axial segments, and is marked as well by avoidance of limbs (Grygiel 2004:549, Marciniak 2005:140–142). Cattle marrow was commonly consumed in a characteristic manner. The bones were first roasted and then broken and then the cooked marrow was eaten. This appears as a common, deliberate, and quite peculiar culinary practice of the early lowland farmers (Grygiel 2004:559, Figure 435; Marciniak 2005:131–132). Juvenile and adult animals were slaughtered, as revealed by recent studies of age profiles in the Brześć Kujawski region (Grygiel 2004:555).

The slaughtering of cattle in the Early Neolithic was a distinct and symbolically significant social practice linked to the communal sharing of meat in the form of feasting. Animals aged three to five years were used for this purpose. This practice was clearly regarded as appropriate in one social context and inappropriate in another, as indicated by the deliberate deposition of the resulting bones in specific settlement locales, in particular in the open space between longhouses referred to as loam pits (Marciniak 2005:188–190). The ceremonial food was probably cooked in hearths or ovens located outside of longhouses. The presence of feasting debris in loam pits, earlier used to extract raw material for longhouse construction, may suggest that feasting was linked with house building.

Cattle, in addition to elaborate longhouses, formed the very fabric of Early Neolithic lifeways. They marked new ideas and principles for the farming groups moving into previously uninhabited areas, and their significance remained unchanged for centuries of occupation of early farming centers in the lowlands in the second half of the sixth millennium BC.

Sheep and goats are the second most common species in the Early Neolithic in the North European Plain; however, they were treated in a completely different manner than were cattle. Generally, ovicaprids exhibit a fairly even body-part distribution, implying that entire carcasses were eaten on a regular basis. Ovicaprids were exploited for primary products in an apparently non-ritual fashion. This is indicated by a dominance of juveniles (ca. nine months of age) with a smaller percentage of subadults and adults also present, as recognized in the Brześć Kujawski group (Grygiel 2004:555). Marrow was eaten but not roasted. Consumption of sheep and goats took place in the house and/or directly around it and bone remains were dumped in pits flanking entrances of the houses (Marciniak 2005:188–190).

The pattern for pigs is much more difficult to discern due to the low frequencies of their remains in Early Neolithic sites. However, fragmentary evidence implies that pigs might have also been a component of feasting events and that pork was not consumed on a daily basis. This is indicated by a pattern of anatomical body-part distribution dominated by heads and axial elements, very similar to the pattern for cattle, and their deposition in loam pits. The kill-off pattern is dominated by individuals from subadult and adult age categories (Grygiel 2004:555), mostly between two and three years (Sobociński 1985:103).

The Middle Neolithic in the North European Plain: The Racot Settlement

The world of early LBK farmers became a point of departure and a point of reference for further developments in the region, involving transformation and modification of their original constituent principles. The period between about 5000 and 4800 BC (calibrated) marks the beginning of the second important phase in the development of farming communities in the North European Plain, which became more pronounced in the second half of the fifth millennium BC. The previously homogeneous society was replaced by numerous dispersed and varied groups associated with the late phases of the Danubian tradition, such as the Late Band Pottery (LBPC), Stroke Ornamented Pottery, and Lengyel cultures (Kruk and Milisauskas 1999).

The first genuinely local farmers inhabiting the great valley zone of the Polish part of the North European Plain, known as the Brześć Kujawski group of the Lengyel culture, emerged around the middle of the fifth millennium BC. This community was formed as a convergence and synthesis of various elements from different areas, including those of local foragers (Czerniak 1994:123). It retained numerous regional traits but remained embedded in the Danubian Neolithic tradition.

The Lengyel settlement at Racot (site 18) from the Wielkopolska region (Figure 9.1) has been dated to the period between 4400 and 4000 BC and encompasses phases IIA, IIB, and IIIA in a conventional chronological scheme of this culture (Czerniak 1989). As indicated by technology and style of pottery, the founders of the site arrived from the early farming center in Kujavia. For quite some time, it remained the only setting of its kind in the region. Only later, in phase IIIA, did similar settlements come into existence in this part of Wielkopolska, and the settlement became an element of a new communication network in the lowlands.

It is estimated that the Racot settlement covered an area of about seven hectares (Figure 9.2). In all, sixteen trapezoidal longhouses along with numerous pits have been revealed, mainly in the northern part of the site. The settlement was occupied in three and possibly four phases. It is estimated that no more than six longhouses were in use at the same time. Longhouses were more than thirty meters long, which makes them the longest constructions of this type in the Lengyel culture. They were carefully designed and very similar to each other in terms of their length and size. This may indicate that they retained their significance and referential meaning known from their LBK predecessors.

Figure 9.2. Plan map of a portion of Racot, site 18: (1) internal pit, (2) external pit, and (3) loam pit.

However, they were not identical to their Early Neolithic counterparts, as indicated by departures from previously existing spatial arrangements and details of construction. In the early phase of the Racot settlement occupation, longhouses were built in pairs (Buildings 133 and 134; Buildings 32 and 88), parallel to each other (Czerniak 1989). This appears to be a typical pattern at the beginning of the Lengyel culture, as indicated by settlements at Březno in Bohemia (Pleinerová 1984) and Bielawki and Barłożno in northern Poland (Czerniak 2006). In the final phase, some of the houses had different alignments than the older ones and more importantly they had small rooms attached to the longhouse in the course of their rebuilding (Building 12 and 106), indicating a departure from the previously standardized mode of their construction and maintenance.

Significant social changes in the Middle Neolithic are also manifested in other domains. Highly standardized burial rites, numerous rich grave foods, and other formal rituals of the preceding period were replaced by haphazard patterns with almost no grave goods (Gabałówna 1966:87). This is clearly seen in the case of the only burial (feature 82) from the Racot settlement. It was dug inside a longhouse (Building 88), but is dated to phase IIIA, about 200 years later (Czerniak 1989). A woman in a crouched position was buried on her right side rather than on her left. Previously, this position had been reserved in the Early Neolithic for men. This does not imply that all elements of these rites were changed. The position of the skeleton and its alignment remained in accordance with general rules from the preceding period. Contrary to burials from the Early Neolithic, the Racot grave has a number of grave goods, including copper. It is dated to the period of the emergence of megalithic burials in the region that arguably replaced Early Neolithic longhouses and acquired referential meaning in the process (e.g., Hodder 1990). This can be seen as a local manifestation of the idea of replacing the domestic domain by the burial sphere, which played a major role in constructing and maintaining communal identity in the European Copper Age (Biehl and Marciniak 1999).

The oldest pair of longhouses (Buildings 133 and 134) dates to phase IIA. It is associated with a complex of internal and external pits (Features 135, 203, and 220) as well as two loam pits (Features 138 and 174). The oldest phase is also represented by an adjacent longhouse (Building 64) and an accompanying external pit (Feature 17). The following phase (IIB) is represented by another pair of longhouses (Buildings 32 and 88) with an associated complex of internal and external pits (Features 40, 53, 54, 67, 68, 80, and 101). The last phase (IIIA) is represented by yet another longhouse (Building 106) with accompanying pits (Features 107 and 210) as well as the two youngest longhouses (Buildings 12 and 211).

Internal and external pits are arguably remains of some kind of dwellings used for daily activities and are labeled domestic pits by the site excavator (Czerniak 1989). External pits might have had some kind of roofing. Loam pits appear in clusters comprising a number of smaller features. Interestingly, the largest loam pits were associated with the earliest pair of longhouses (Buildings 133 and 134). Longhouses from the earliest phase had internal pits and were flanked by loam pits, a pattern known from the Early Neolithic, where they contained residues of ceremonial consumption (Marciniak 2005). The latest longhouse (Building 12) at the settlement marks a departure from the existing pattern as it was devoid of internal pits.

Fauna from Racot

The faunal assemblage from the Racot settlement consists of 5,229 bones. Out of this total, 4596 specimens (87.9 percent) were identified while 633 specimens (12.1 percent) remain unidentified. The dominant species is cattle (33.9 percent), followed by sheep/goats (31.1) and pigs (12.2). The most common wild animal was roe deer (2.6 percent), followed by red deer (1.3), beaver (1.1), and wild horse (0.8). The faunal material at the Racot settlement originates almost exclusively from three categories of features: (1) internal pits inside longhouses, (2) external pits associated with longhouses but located outside, and (3) loam pits. Because publication of this site has not yet been completed, relationships between some pits and houses as well as the chronological position of them, in particular loam pits, are not clear at this point. Hence, only pits with a securely defined chronological position are used for the comparative analysis.

There is a significant discrepancy in species composition between loam and domestic pits. Altogether, only 343 bones were deposited in two large loam pits from phase IIA. Out of this number, 42.3 percent of specimens were so fragmented that they remain unidentified. The assemblage was dominated by sheep/goats (26 percent) and cattle (18 percent). A considerable number of red-deer bones (7.9 percent) were also found. Pigs were only represented by 4.4 percent of bones.

The faunal assemblage from domestic pits in phase IIA consists of 568 bones. They were in an excellent stage of preservation, thus only 0.7 percent were not identified. The assemblage was dominated by sheep/goats (56.5 percent), followed by pig (23.1), with cattle represented by only 11.4 percent of bones. Wild species were represented by less than 1 percent of a total number of bones. In the following phase (IIB), the assemblage was composed of 1,054 bones. They were also well preserved: only 10.1 percent of them remained unidentified. Similarly as in the preceding period, the fauna was dominated by sheep/goats (47.7 percent), followed by pigs (14.0 percent), cattle (11.4 percent) and roe deer (8.3 percent). Other species were present in low numbers. In the final phase (IIIA), we have a small assemblage of only 165 specimens. All of them were identified. Species composition changed considerably. It was dominated by cattle (43 percent) and sheep/goats (40 percent). There is a dramatic decrease in the number of pigs (5.5 percent). We also encounter roe deer (5.5 per cent) and red deer (4.2 per cent).

Depositional practices can be revealed by bone fragmentation. In loam pits from phase IIA, a vast majority of specimens (74.8 percent) had less than a quarter of the complete element represented (Figure 9.3). The same pattern is characteristic for the three major domesticated animals in this context. This is indicative of heavy fragmentation due to intense bone processing. The bones in domestic pits in subsequent phases are significantly less fragmented. In phases IIA and IIB, specimens representing less than a quarter of the complete element are within a range of 51 to 55 percent. An overall percentage of bones from this category increased slightly in the final phase (Figure 9.4). There are a considerable number of bones (17.9 to 23 percent) between a quarter and a half complete, while the number of bones between three-quarters or more complete is much lower (around 10 percent). Interestingly, in all three complexes of domestic pits, the fragmentation of cattle bones is significantly higher than that of sheep/goats, as indicated by the frequency of specimens representing less than a quarter of the bone (73.4–76.3 percent for cattle in comparison to 46.1–67.9 percent for sheep/goats).

Figure 9.3. Bone fragmentation of cattle, sheep/goat, and pigs from loam pits, phase IIA. (x-axis represents completeness: 2 = < ¼ complete; 3 = ¼–½ complete; 4 = ½–¾ complete; 5 = >¾ complete; 6 = almost complete; 7 = complete. BP, cattle; OC, domestic sheep and goats; SD, domestic pig.)

Figure 9.4. Bone fragmentation of cattle, sheep/goat, and pigs from internal and external pits, phase IIB. (x-axis represents completeness: 2 = < ¼ complete; 3 = ¼–½ complete; 4 = ½–¾ complete; 5 = >¾ complete; 6 = almost complete; 7 = complete. BP, cattle; OC, domestic sheep and goats; SD, domestic pig.)

The number of bones with carnivore gnawing is very low in loam pits. It was recorded on only two specimens, which comprised 0.6 percent of bones from this context. The frequency of carnivore gnawing is considerably higher in domestic pits. It varied in different periods, ranging between 4.9 and 7.2 percent of the total number of bones.

A similar pattern was revealed for bone weathering. In loam pits from phase IIA, 6.4 percent of bones were recorded as weathered, mainly type 2 and 3 according to Behrensmeyer (1978:151). The frequency of weathered bones from domestic pits was higher and varied from 22.2 percent in phase IIA through 10 percent in phase IIB to 20.6 percent in phase IIIA.

While looking at the frequency distribution of cut-marked specimens of the three major domesticated species, an interesting pattern has been detected. Altogether fifteen cut and thirty chop marks were found on cattle bones. A vast majority of them appeared on joints, mainly on distal ends of metatarsals and humeri, ribs, proximal ends of the radii and metacarpals, calcanei, astragali, and phalanges (Figure 9.5). Only a single cut mark was found on a long-bone shaft.

Figure 9.5. Distribution of cut and chop marks on skeletons of cattle (top) and sheep/goats (bottom). Black circles represent cut marks; gray circles represent chop marks.

The proportion of cut-marked bones of sheep/goats differed from that of cattle (Figure 9.5). Out of only twelve cut marks and seven chop marks, a majority of them were chopped in the mid-shaft (mainly radii and humeri). However, there are also some bones with cut and chop marks on joints. A slightly different pattern was revealed for pigs. The pattern also needs to be referred to very carefully, as only fourteen cut and chop marks were discerned. Interestingly, a majority of them were found on cranium and ribs. The remaining marks were located on both ends and shafts of long bones (radius, humerus, femur).

Breakage patterns for long bones are again considerably different between domestic and loam pits. In loam pits from phase IIA, the most common breakage pattern is a longitudinal fracture. It is especially evident in the case of cattle, where it represents 58.5 percent of all cattle long bones with fractures. The second most common are stepped fractures (17 percent). This pattern differs slightly from that of sheep and goats in this context. Longitudinal breakage is also dominant (50 percent) but is followed by perpendicular-irregular and oblique-irregular fractures (15.4 percent each). Other categories of breakage are significantly less common. No pattern can be revealed for pigs, as they are only represented by three specimens with breakage (Figure 9.6).

Figure 9.6. Frequency of fracture types for cattle, sheep/goat, and pigs from loam pits, phase IIA. (1 = stepped; 2 = jagged; 3 = perpendicular irregular; 4 = oblique irregular; 5 = perpendicular regular; 6 = oblique irregular; 7 = spiral irregular; 8 = spiral regular; 9 = channeled; 10 = longitudinal. Note: categories 2, 7, and 9 are not represented in this figure.)

The breakage pattern is significantly different in domestic pits, especially in phases IIA and IIB (Figure 9.7). In general, the number of cattle and pig bones with recorded breakage is lower than that of sheep/goats. In the case of cattle, except for longitudinal breakage representing between 21.6 and 32 percent, the most dominant are stepped (17.8–20.8 percent), followed by perpendicular-irregular (12.5–27 percent), oblique-irregular, and spiral-irregular fractures. A different pattern is discerned for sheep/goats. The most common is longitudinal breakage (21.6–36.8 percent), followed by perpendicular-irregular (16.6–27 percent), and stepped (11.8–23 percent) fractures. A breakage pattern for pigs from domestic pits is again completely different. The far most common is perpendicular-regular breakage (29.5–34.2 percent), followed by spiral-irregular, perpendicular-irregular, and jagged fractures.

Figure 9.7. Frequency of fracture types for cattle, sheep/goat, and pigs from internal and external pits, phase IIB. (1 = stepped; 2 = jagged; 3 = perpendicular irregular; 4 = oblique irregular; 5 = perpendicular regular; 6 = oblique irregular; 7 = spiral irregular; 8 = spiral regular; 9 = channeled; 10 = longitudinal.)

The number of bones with signs of heating and burning is low. Altogether, fifty-three burned cattle bones were found. A majority of them (twenty-six specimens) were brown and dark brown, indicative of burning; the vast majority of them appeared on long bones. The most common burning was on the mid-shafts of long bones. A small number of specimens were also burned on their proximal and distal ends. A considerable number of burned cattle bones originate from loam pits. In a single case, they come from domestic pits from the oldest phase (IIA) as well as pits of unknown function.

A similar number (N = 49) of specimens with burning was also reported for sheep/goats. The pattern of burning, however, is different than for cattle. The largest number of burned bones represents skulls and teeth (sixteen specimens), followed by metapodia. Long bones with burning marks are less numerous. Interestingly, as many as forty-one specimens (83.7 percent) are charred or partly charred. The vast majority of burned sheep/goats bones come from domestic pits; none of them was found in loam pits.

Human-Animals Relations in the Middle Neolithic on the North European Plain: The Racot Settlement

Bone fragmentation is a byproduct of animal butchering and marrow processing (Greenfield 2000:94) and its degree of intensity is related to differential treatment of major domestic animals and their products. Bone preservation at the Racot settlement varied depending upon the context of deposition. The material from both internal and external pits from all phases of the site occupation showed greater integrity than from loam pits. This interfeature disparity is particularly well reflected by the percentage of identifiable bones. Only 57.7 percent of the material from loam pits was diagnostic compared to more than 90 percent from domestic pits. Cattle bones from loam pits are particularly fragmented, often to the point in which they cannot be identified. This is indicative of intense bone processing, arguably for marrow extraction. At the same time, bones of the major domesticated species, including cattle, in internal and external pits are significantly less processed. However, fragmentation of cattle bone remains higher, compared with other species.

In all categories of pits, bone-surface condition was moderate to good as indicated by the low incidence of modified bones. Gnawed material was not frequently encountered, indicating that dogs had limited access to the bones prior to their deposition. However, there is a disparity in carnivore modification of the materials in loam pits and domestic pits. In the former, it has hardly existed, which is indicative of immediate deposition after meat and/or marrow consumption. A low incidence of gnawed bones in loam pits further implies that their fragmentation is not due to carnivore action but to intense processing by humans. This pattern is also corroborated by analysis of bone weathering.

Available evidence implies that cattle and sheep/goat carcasses were processed and dismembered differently. As near-joint cut marks usually represent disarticulation, the pattern for cattle in loam pits indicates that tools were used to chop bones through joints and break them into smaller sizes. We encounter here, almost exclusively, the remains of carcass disarticulation; the lack of evidence for skinning or filleting marks implies a lack of domestic consumption practices.

The distribution of bone breakage and burning across the settlement provides insights into cooking practices at the settlement. Fracture classification is based on several criteria, such as overall shape of the break in relation to the long-bone axis, the angle of the break surface, and its texture. Cattle bones from loam pits are characterized by longitudinal fractures of long break surfaces, parallel to the long-bone axis. These were followed by various kinds of transverse fractures characterized by breaks at right angles to the long axis of the bone, implying that bones were heated and cooled. This process led to the bones being fractured obliquely and longitudinally, with break surfaces usually jagged and rough. This pattern implies roasting bones encased in meat, as well as boiling (Johnson 1985). A high number of longitudinal fractures is also caused by postdepositional processes. There is a conspicuous lack of spiral fractures, which indicates that the bones were not fresh when broken (Lyman 1994:320). This kind of consumption, however, was not associated with pigs. The number of spiral fractures identified on pig remains implies that bones were broken while they were fresh, which is indicative of different culinary practices, not present elsewhere, as indicated by debris in loam pits. The breakage pattern for sheep/goats is characterized by perpendicular and oblique fractures, implying that bones were being broken while dry, after meat was consumed.

The breakage pattern is significantly different in domestic pits. The composition of fractures of sheep/goats bones in some of them is reminiscent of the pattern from loam pits and is characterized by a high frequency of stepped and perpendicular fractures indicative of roasted-marrow consumption. At the same time, cattle bones reveal a considerable frequency of oblique and spiral fractures, implying a different consumption pattern.

The few fragments of burnt bone that were present displayed a range of colors from brown through black to whitish, implying an exposure to temperatures of between 200 and 600 Celsius (Lyman 1994). Cattle bones, mainly from loam pits, were burned on the mid-shaft, indicating the extraction of the marrow and its consumption in a roasted form (Binford 1981). A different pattern of burning was revealed for domestic pits. Sheep/goat bones were mostly charred, implying bones were defleshed or partly defleshed while exposed to fire (Lyman 1994:387). This kind of burning is not present in loam pits. This again corroborates different cooking and eating habits across the settlement.

The significance of marrow consumption is additionally supported by a correlation between marrow indices and body-part representation (see Marciniak 2005:Figure 6.22). Both loam and domestic pits from the early phase (IIA) contained remains of marrow consumption for both cattle and sheep/goats. In later phases, the predominant species consumed for marrow was almost exclusively sheep/goats, and the remains of sheep/goat marrow consumption were dumped in domestic pits. This may indicate that sheep/goat marrow consumption was moved from the communal domain into the domestic sphere. It should be stressed, however, that internal and external pits securely associated with longhouses are few in number, making it difficult to discern consumption and deposition practices in greater detail.

In addition to differentiated consumption of the major domestic animals across the settlement, there are also clear discrepancies in the depositional histories in loam versus domestic pits. Cattle bones, characterized by high fragmentation that implies intensive processing for marrow consumption, were deposited exclusively in loam pits in all phases (e.g., feature 138 from phase IIA or feature 129 from phase IIIA).

Cattle-marrow consumption was clearly a spatially distinct practice and might have taken place outside longhouses in the form of ceremonial and possibly communal feasting. It is striking to note that cattle-marrow-consumption remains were never placed in internal and external domestic pits, although cattle bones were present there. At the same time, sheep/goat bones indicative of marrow consumption were not deposited in loam pits but exclusively in internal and external pits. This is further supported by the diverse body-part representation of these species. Due to a high degree of fragmentation caused by marrow consumption, sheep and goats were characterized by a predominance of head/neck bones and bones of the vertebral column. The pattern was discernible exclusively in internal pits from all three phases of the site occupation. However, the majority of domestic pit assemblages are dominated by anatomical segments representing sheep/goats, implying ordinary consumption practices by individual households.

A distinct depositional pattern of three major domestic species is additionally corroborated by their association with different categories of artifacts in all three categories of features. As compared with internal and external pits, loam pits were generally poor in faunal remains, which is typical of these features at other Lengyel settlements (Czerniak 1989). At the same time, external pits held more animal bones than the internal ones. Pottery clearly outnumbered animal bones in almost all internal pits. There is no indication of any association between the deposition of such archaeological material as antlers and stone and bone tools on one hand and the composition of animal remains in any of the features on the other.

Human-animal relations, consumption of meat and marrow, as well as distinctive depositional practices at the site of Racot are clearly embedded in the Early Neolithic tradition in the lowlands, although some significant departures are discernible. This direct reference to the LBK predecessors is particularly evident in the early phase of the Racot settlement in the form of the practice of roasted-marrow consumption, probably of communal character, and depositing the resulting debris in loam pits flanking monumental longhouses. This implies that earlier traditions, practiced to a limited degree, were remembered for a very long time. It is difficult to reckon the extent to which the original value attached to these practices was still recollected or whether it had survived in the form of conventionalized and formalized activity.

Important shifts in human-animal relations took place in the second phase of occupation at Racot. Sheep/goats—and in particular their marrow—appear to have been used in a ceremonial manner similar to cattle in the Early Neolithic. Interestingly, this consumption was arguably performed at the level of individual houses rather than communally, reflecting a significant shift in social arrangements at the settlement. Hence, sheep/goats, whose numbers increased dramatically as compared with the LBK, seemed to replace cattle as a means of creating and providing social stability and security of the group. This is particularly vital in the context of a frontier settlement such as Racot, where the inhabitants were establishing an agricultural community in a remote place. Interestingly, this may mark the beginnings of a broader tendency in this period, particularly visible in the following millennium, in which sheep/goats acquired symbolic and ceremonial significance (e.g., Kruk and Milisauskas 1999:151). Hence, one would expect them to become a more valuable resource in fulfilling this role in the domestic domain than cattle, which began to be shifted to separate ceremonial and ritual settings outside the realm of the Early Neolithic longhouses (e.g., Marciniak 2008b). It has been stressed, however, that caprines were not exclusively consumed in this ceremonial way and were also the focus of “regular” domestic consumption practices, as indicated by faunal remains from about half of the features.

Treatment of pigs and their products strongly resembles the Early Neolithic pattern for ceremonial treatment of cattle in the form of communal feasting. This was the dominant form of pig exploitation at Racot. Moreover, pig bones were deposited in the same way during all phases of the settlement occupation, reflecting a considerable uniformity in their economically nonutilitarian use over time.

Social Change and Animal Exploitation in the Middle Neolithic: Final Remarks

The Racot settlement is an exemplary case that makes it possible to capture the changing nature of human-animals relations following abandonment of the stable world of early farmers in the North European Plain in the second half of the sixth millennium BC. Animals were integral components of the significant social and economic transformations that occurred in this period. The most important transformation, with far-reaching consequences, was the demise of the communal organization in early farming groups that was focused upon monumental longhouses (e.g., Milisauskas 1986:215–218). Instead, in the fifth millennium BC a number of small coexisting communities emerged within intense communication networks.

Social changes in this period were characterized by small-scale modifications and transformations of the early farming tradition. The changes were uneven and highly localized, and their dynamics varied. References to the tradition of early farmers remained strong and were exercised in many domains. Some of these practices were identical to the LBK, but in the majority of cases they appeared in a transformed and modified form.

These new Lengyel communities were marked by strongly articulated individual and kinship identities, and their mutual relations were less closely tied than in the preceding period. Household organization began to dominate (e.g., Grygiel 1986; Marciniak 2000, 2005, 2008a). The gradual increase in household autonomy challenged the social, ceremonial, and economic foundations of the early Neolithic communities. It developed in the domain of longhouses but eventually contributed to their demise. A longhouse was no longer a monumental structure but began to serve as an ordinary domestic dwelling. Its referential and metaphoric meaning, as in the Early Neolithic, was no longer important to maintain local farming groups.

Food-related practices in the Middle Neolithic also changed. A reference to the Early Neolithic food traditions was certainly more pronounced in newly occupied regions than in the early farming centers, where change was less distinct. As revealed at the Racot settlement, some food traditions remained identical to those in the preceding period but in the course of time began to be transformed and modified. Cattle remained reserved for “special” and public consumption events. The practice of cattle-marrow consumption outside the longhouse in the form of communal feasting hardly changed and was particularly common in the early stage of the Middle Neolithic. As in the Early Neolithic, the debris from these activities was deposited in loam pits not directly associated with the house. Interestingly, pork was eaten in a similarly public way. Towards the end of the Middle Neolithic, consumption of sheep/goats began to dominate. They were prepared for small groups of people inhabiting subsequent buildings but also involved ceremonial consumption, albeit performed in a smaller scale, in the manner similar to that of cattle in earlier phases.

More generally, the Middle Neolithic brought about considerable changes in relations between people and domestic animals. In accord with social changes of the time, Middle Neolithic peoples such as those at Racot began to separate the economic and subsistence practices from the social and symbolic domains so prevalent in the Early Neolithic. The disassociation of animals from these realms had far-reaching consequences for the whole economy and enabled local groups to settle a range of ecological zones (Marciniak 2011a). In the long run, that dissociation strengthened individual households, which had begun to differentiate by incorporating elements of the transformed tradition of their ancestors. Acquisition of wealth and status became particularly pronounced in the following millennia. The social and ceremonial importance of animals remained significant but eventually became executed in specific settings such as enclosures, ditches, ceremonial centers, and the like (e.g., Marciniak 2008b), far distanced from the domestic domain of the Early Neolithic settlements.