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Identification of exotic raw-materials discovered within the context of Late Glacial societies of the North European Plain is a crucial factor in discussion about far-reaching exchange systems of goods and ideas. The present paper considers the occurrence of obsidian finds on the Polish Lowlands, hundreds of kilometers away from its sources located south of the Carpathians. The focus is on chemical recognition and identification of a large and unique assemblage of obsidian artefacts from two Polish localities based on non-invasive Prompt Gamma Activation Analysis (PGAA). As a result, a clear connection of northern Polish obsidians with its outcrops located on the northern (Slovakian) fringe of the Tokaj Mountains was established that is the first detailed identification of obsidian finds from the territory of Poland ever. A review of Polish and Slovakian obsidian assemblages from the Late Glacial times and the importance of obsidian exchange and mobility for Late Palaeolithic societies of Central Europe are discussed supported by analytical results of PGAA.

The origin and further development of the Funnel Beaker Culture is one of the key problems in the studies of the middle Neolithic of Northern Europe. This paper presents and discuss new data from the Dąbki site (southern Baltic coastal area), where Late Mesolithic and early Funnel Beaker Culture settlement of the Northern Group was studied over last 10 years. These data are starting point for discussion on the origin of FBC. The authors interpret the earliest appearance of funnel beaker in the Northern Group of FBC around 4200-4000 cal. BC as a stylistic phenomenon that spread quickly on the European Lowland. Only after 4000 cal. BC we may consider the FBC as a completely formed Neolithic farming culture

The presented paper is an attempt to analyse the available paleoenvironmental and settlement data not only to demonstrate that already at the end of the Pleniglacial (Greenland Stadial GS-2) the conditions on the Plain were favourable for the existence of human societies, but also to present evidence for the development of the Lowland settlement before the Gl-le phase of the Late Glacial

The matter of causes and mechanisms behind the radical cultural modification, which occurred at the turn of the Late Glacial and the Early Holocene and was characterized by the Mesolithic communities settlement throughout the North European Plain, constitutes the most vividly discussed issue connected with research on hunter-gatherer societies of that area. Fast and profound transformations of natural environment, taking place in that period all over the Plain, are the essential element of this debate. The article presents the latest results of the investigations into the changes of natural environment. It also argues basic conceptions concerning the disappearance of the Late Palaeolithic groups and the settle¬ment of the Mesolithic communities in the north of Europe. In the authors' opinion, the process of cultural transformations that can be observed in the North European Plain between ca. 10000-9000 BC was an independent phenomenon lasting together with co-occurring environmental changes. Their synchronism was absolutely coincidental. Thus, the natural envi¬ronment transformations can be treated only as a kind of catalyst of limited (and diversified) influence but not as decisive and causative factor