Search

El descubrimiento del sepulcro de corredor de Santa Inés en Bernardos (Segovia), al norte de la sierra de Guadarrama, abre nuevas expectativas sobre la distribución espacial del megalitismo en la meseta española. En el trabajo se presentan los resultados de las excavaciones realizadas en el yacimiento desde 2018, las cuales acreditan el uso en la construcción del sepulcro de ortostatos de distintos materiales y colores, sin duda con una intención simbólica. También permiten reconocer varias etapas sucesivas en la biografía del monumento, algunas de particular interés como las relativas a la fase campaniforme y a la Edad del Bronce.

Two features recorded in the 1960s and 1980s in the course of excavations at Flögeln and Hainmühlen, both District of Cuxhaven, in the northern Elbe-Weser triangle, have since been repeatedly discussed in connection with cult houses from Denmark. Parts of these sites, finds and features have only been published in rudimentary form and have so far not been subject of comparative analysis. For some aspects, the information has been passed down orally for decades and has eventually found its way into the literature. In order to improve the record, the two features are presented here, followed by a comparison with similar features from the wider area of the Funnel Beaker Culture.

The materiality of forced migration and resettlement have understandably moved to the forefront of archaeological research recently, although data from prehistoric refugia remain limited. One potentially informative example is the west Mediterranean island of Sardinia, where remains of the later third millennium BC document discontinuities associated with the appearance of Bell Beaker elements in local cultural modalities. Employing an augmented version of Aaron Burke’s ethnographically based approach, this study examines the Sardinian record, first toward identifying the contexts and factors that may have induced forced migration, such as agonistic relations with Beaker-bearing entities, then toward identifying likely refugia. Diagnostic correlates are derived in terms of the material consequences of adaptations to anthropologically documented risks encountered by refugees (e.g. landlessness, homelessness, marginalization). On these criteria, the eastern Sardinian settlement of Sa Sedda de Biriai in Oliena is identified and investigated as a possible refuge settlement of the Monte Claro culture. Evidence is marshalled with the aim of discovering temporal, spatial and material patterns consistent with Burke’s model in an augmented form, emphasizing non-local source venues, homelands or pre-flight affiliations, pre-flight or transitional objects, post-flight/refuge integrative expressions, security-adapted house architecture, residential enclaves or districts and removals of iconic pre-flight cult spaces. The social identity of the bearers of Beaker material culture on Sardinia is discussed briefly.

The contribution presents the results of a comprehensive study of the Late Copper Age Deschmann’s pile-dwelling sites near Ig in the Ljubljansko barje, central Slovenia. It opens with a history of research and goes on to tackle the main topics associated with the cultural attribution of the sites. A re-examination of the recovered pottery and available archival records, coupled with a new typological and chronological analysis of the small finds has enabled a cultural and chronological redefinition of the Ljubljana culture and its characteristic pottery. In addition to the typical vessel forms, usually decorated with whipped-cord impressions, the newly-defined Ljubljana culture includes common ware that reveals influences primarily from the Somogyvár-Vinkovci culture in the Carpathian Basin. Some of the vessels of the Ljubljana culture also follow the tradition of the Vučedol culture, while others reflect the influences and maybe contacts with the Corded Ware, Globular Amphora and Bell Beaker cultures.

The main subject of the article is evidence of settlement and burial activities from the beginning of the Early Eneolithic from Dambořice belonging to the Funnel Beaker culture. From the perspective of the current chronology, this is the early phase of the Baalberg stage of the Moravian – Lower Austrian group of this particular culture. To date, ten settlement features with a representative assemblage of pottery and six graves with burials in an extended position without grave goods have been investigated. The site is another example of only recently recorded burial customs of a local Funnel Beaker group and, simultaneously, an opportunity to present this phenomenon of the Early Eneolithic in Moravia in a broader context. The article includes an evaluation of anthropological material and a presentation of the radiocarbon dates that were acquired from the bones.

The former island of Södertörn, just south of Stock- holm, was intensively settled during the Early Neo- lithic. For more than twenty years a field at Stensborg, Grödinge parish, was surveyed for surface finds. Most numerous among the various artefact categories were axes, with stone axes of different shapes showing that they had been intentionally fragmented. Fragments of pointed-butted and thin-butted flint axes were also found, all of them changed by intensive heat. Just as the flint axes indicate contact with southern Scandi- navia, slate objects demonstrate the existence of net- works extending to northern Sweden. During the Early Neolithic the site was a slope situ- ated in the innermost part of a bay, delimited by the shoreline on one side and a ridge on the opposite side. Two small but pronounced ravines of streams also form part of the natural boundary of the site. During excavation of the field several small pits were found that were filled with fragments of axes, pottery and other objects, along with a considerable amount of carbonized seed. Most of the finds have in- dications of destruction, either directly or by the use of fire. The field seems to have been used as a place for assemblies, where rituals were an important part of the activities. The Stensborg site seems to represent yet another kind of natural enclosure involving ritual activities during the Early Neolithic. This presenta- tion is part of a project in progress.

An investigation by Headland Archaeology (UK) Ltd took place in late 2002 ahead of the extension of a sand and gravel quarry near Thankerton, South Lanarkshire. Excavations revealed domestic activity dating from the middle Neolithic to the late Bronze Age, with a further phase of activity in the early historic period. Middle Neolithic pits were recorded across the site and contained sherds of Impressed Ware, a polished stone axe and an assemblage of lithics. Following the middle Neolithic there appears to have been a hiatus in activity until the Bronze Age. Several late Bronze Age features were recorded including at least two ring-ditches. The latest feature on site is a bicameral enclosure, with a possible palisade of uncertain date.

Archaeological excavations ahead of the enlargement of Melton Quarry, in 2003, 2012 and 2015, have provided a regionally significant dataset which will aid better understandings of prehistoric occu...

The aim of this article is an attempt to reconstruct the settlement network and settlement conditions for the Funnel Beaker Culture (FBC) site «Chub» in Lezhnytsia near Ivanychi, in the Volhynian Upland. The excavation research carried out in this place in 1933-1934 and in 1962 uncovered the vast FBC settlement with stable dwelling and farm buildings (7 immovable constructions in total). The collection of movable artefacts allows us to relate the functioning of the settlement to the last quarter of the fourth thousandBC and makes it parallel with the sites type Gródek II, Zymne II in the Volhynian Upland and Vynnyky, site «Lysivka» and Mali Hrybovychi, site «Chorna Hora» in Roztocze. Due to the amount of exploration studies and information obtained about the microregion around Lezhnytsia, it is one of the best archaeologically recognized areas in Ukraine. Favourable environmental conditions (soil, river network system) and the presence of natural resources (flint and copper) had a great impact on the settlement concentration there. Speaking ofthe sites, their various functions have been discovered (settlements, camps, traces of economic activity, mass finds of flint artefacts). Regarding the preserved layout of the FBC settlement points around Lezhnytsia, certain features of spatial organization can be found. As for the central parts of the analyzed area, there are settlements together with a large number of single finds («treasures» of flint blades) in their vicinity, as well as smaller settlements. They are accompanied by small sites that were probably only used occasionally or temporally. These systems resemble structures known from other areas of Ukraine (Vynnyky, Zymne) and the upper Vistula basin of that period. The TRB communities living in the Lezhnytsia region, due to the network of trade connections, played an important role in the cultural transformations in the fourth thousand BC. Their effect was the distribution of local West Volhynian flint of the Turonian period to the western regions of the TRB range (i.e. to the Vistula basin) and the cultural elements related to the Baden culture in eastern areas (a central part of the Horyn basin). Key words: Funnel Beaker Culture, Volhynian Upland, microregional studies.

The authors of this article consider the relationship in European prehistory between the procurement of high-quality stones (for axeheads, daggers, and other tools) on the one hand, and the early mining, crafting, and deposition of copper on the other. The data consist of radiocarbon dates for the exploitation of stone quarries, flint mines, and copper mines, and of information regarding the frequency through time of jade axeheads and copper artefacts. By adopting a broad perspective, spanning much of central-western Europe from 5500 to 2000bc, they identify a general pattern in which the circulation of the first copper artefacts was associated with a decline in specialized stone quarrying. The latter re-emerged in certain regions when copper use decreased, before declining more permanently in the Bell Beaker phase, once copper became more generally available. Regional variations reflect the degrees of connectivity among overlapping copper exchange networks. The patterns revealed are in keeping with previous understandings, refine them through quantification and demonstrate their cyclical nature, with additional reference to likely local demographic trajectories.

The prominent pottery type of the Catacomb cultures of the northern Pontic steppe in 2500—2300 BC are the beakers of the Donetsk type. Donetsk beakers can be described as globular vessels with straight neck and articulated foot. Beaker’s body is often decorated with impressions of braid that form circles or a garland. Though the majority of Donetsk beakers originate from the burials of Donetsk Catacomb culture of the Seversky Donets basin, several beakers were found to the west from the Donetsk culture area. Currently, 14 Donetsk beakers coming from the Inhul Catacomb culture are known. Mapping of the Donetsk beakers found in the burials of the Inhul Catacomb culture indicates the distribution of the Eastern vessels among all local groups of the Inhul culture such as Molochansk, the North-Crimea, the Oril-Samara, the Southern and Northern Inhul and Kryvyi Rih territorial areas. As an exception can be named the Dniester-Southern Bug group. The latter is often described in historiography as an inclusion from outer influences during the second half of the 3rd millennia and the study of beakers is supported by such a conclusion. Mapping also reveals the concentration of Donetsk beakers near Kryvyi Rih copper ore basin, which had been exploited since the second half of the 4th millennia BC. It may be assumed that the appearance of Donetsk beakers represents the migration of Donetsk culture’s metallurgists who were searching for the new sources of raw materials. The distribution of the Donetsk Catacomb culture burials, as well as Donetsk beakers, allows reconstructing two routs of migration of the Donetsk people. Some of them could have come from the South, the North-Eastern Azov region. Others could have come from the North, the territory of the Left-bank Ukraine Forest-Steppe. Distribution areas of the Donetsk and Inhul cultures collide on the line Poltava-Lozova which is attested by the materials of Storozhove, Ternivka and Petrivka burial mound. Thus, numerous examples of Donetsk beakers found inside the burials of the Inhul Catacomb culture indicate a long-running migration of the Donetsk people from the Sevesky Donets basin to the Ukrainian Right-bank steppe during the period from 2500 to 2300 BC.

The Bell Beaker (BB) cultural package is one of the concepts explaining the extensive diffusion of this phenomenon in Europe. Artefacts associated with the package, discovered mainly in the graves of men, form groups defining the status of the deceased. The BB package is a dynamic turn of events, changing depending on the region, but preserving certain characteristic traits. The complete set of its initial ingredients was not copied in any location, and new local elements were added in various areas of its diffusion. The ritual features unearthed in north-eastern Poland, which contained elements of the BB package, are the assemblages located the furthest in the East European periphery of the phenomenon. The eco- and artefacts from these assemblages are difficult to interpret conclusively within the framework of the classic BB package, as well as in terms of its changes associated with its diffusion. This is connected with the fact that they include elements unknown among the local cultural entities, which reflect the broad circle of contacts their owners maintained.

The ephemeral nature of religious practices and rituals makes them challenging to trace in the archaeological record of Late Neolithic hunter-gatherer communities in central and eastern Europe. A ritual feature with Bell Beaker elements discovered in north-eastern Poland, a region occupied by hunter-gatherer groups of the Neman cultural circle, is thus exceptional. Its syncretic character indicates its role as a harbinger of wider cultural change that led to the emergence in this region of the western group of the Bronze Age Trzciniec cultural circle.

Takabuti, was a female who lived in ancient Egypt during the 25th Dynasty, c.660 BCE. Her mummified remains were brought to Belfast, Northern Ireland, in 1834 and are currently displayed in the Ulster Museum. To gain insight into Takabuti’s ancestry, we used deep sampling of vertebral bone, under X-ray control, to obtain non-contaminated bone tissue from which we extracted ancient DNA (aDNA) using established protocols. We targeted the maternally inherited mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), known to be highly informative for human ancestry, and identified 38 single nucleotide variants using next generation sequencing. The specific combination of these SNVs suggests that Takabuti belonged to mitochondrial haplogroup H4a1. Neither H4 nor H4a1 have been reported in ancient Egyptian samples, prior to this study. The modern distribution of H4a1 is rare and sporadic and has been identified in areas including the Canary Islands, southern Iberia and the Lebanon. H4a1 has also been reported in ancient samples from Bell Beaker and Unetice contexts in Germany, as well as Bronze Age Bulgaria. We believe that this is an important finding because first, it adds to the depth of knowledge about the distribution of the H4a1 haplogroup in existing mtDNA, thus creating a baseline for future occurrences of this haplogroup in ancient Egyptian remains. Second, it is of great importance for archaeological sciences, since a predominantly European haplogroup has been identified in an Egyptian individual in Southern Egypt, prior to the Roman and Greek influx (332BCE).

Radiocarbon dating and Bayesian chronological modelling have provided precise new dating for the henge monument of Mount Pleasant in Dorset, excavated in 1970–1. A total of 59 radiocarbon dates are now available for the site and modelling of these has provided a revised sequence for the henge enclosure and its various constituent parts: the timber palisaded enclosure, the Conquer Barrow, and the ditch surrounding Site IV, a concentric timber and stone monument. This suggests that the henge was probably built in the 26th century calbc, shortly followed by the timber palisade and Site IV ditch. These major construction events took place in the late Neolithic over a relatively short timespan, probably lasting 35–125 years. The principal results are discussed for each element of the site, including comparison with similar monument types elsewhere in Britain and Ireland, and wider implications for late Neolithic connections and later activity at the site associated with Beaker pottery are explored.

How are we to understand and interpret intentional deposits of stone built-up over long time spans? The empirical point of departure for this contribution is a complex cairn located on a hilltop in Sauherad, Telemark, excavated in 2015. Twenty C14-samples date the site from c. 300 cal. BC to the present. Additionally, a single deposition of two Neolithic thin-butted axes of Funnel Beaker type (3800–3300 BC) was uncovered. The main phase of activity is related to the Early Iron Age (c. 300 BC–AD 450). No remains of Iron Age burials were identified, but it is argued that the Neolithic axes represent a secondary deposit related to the Iron Age activity. Taking the temporal depth and durability in the practice of removing stone as a point of departure, this paper explores how gathering and placing of stones may have been accorded meaning during various points in time and focuses particularly on the relationship between stone clearance, agriculture, fertility and ancestors.

The site of L’anse de la République, Talmont-Saint-Hilaire, Vendée, France, belonging to the Beaker culture, was discovered by Roger Joussaume in the 1960s. It was subsequently investigated during the late 1980s and more recently in 2014. Several items excavated during these operations are clearly linked to metallurgy. This article assesses the results of new analyses (XRF, petrographic analysis, metallographic microscope observation, SEM and EDS microprobe analysis) undertaken on the different artefacts (copper residue, slags, smelting-crucible sherds), which allow the authors to assert that copper ore was smelted on the site. Radiocarbon dating of organic residue preserved on a ceramic sherd confirms the dating of the site to the earliest phase of the Beaker culture (2500bc). The metallic copper produced here is characterised by two main impurities: arsenic and nickel. This provides an opportunity to review the extremely rare vestiges of Beaker metallurgy in France, which contrast with the numerous metal objects recovered. This article also considers the use of domestic smelting vessels for smelting ore; this technique may have been more widespread than previously thought in the Beaker culture on the Atlantic coast of Europe.

The article characterises new materials obtained in the course of studies of Neolithic (according to the Baltic periodisation) settlements of the Vistula Lagoon coast. These sources according to all their features belong to the Funnel Beaker culture, whose monuments were previously unknown in the region. All Funnel Beaker materials were identified in settlements, the main cultural complexes of which belong to the Primorskaya culture. Small sites of the Funnel Beaker culture existed here before the arrival of the Primorskaya population. In Ushakovo 3, Funnel Beaker pottery were found in the cultural layer in the eastern part of the excavation area, where it lies mainly separate from ceramics of the Primorskaya culture. In Pribrezhnoye, in addition to pottery, traces of two constructions with a double-row pillar wall structure were found. Buildings were of a ground type, elongated, with a width of not more than 3.20 m. Technological and morphological characteristics of ceramic fragments found within the buildings leave no doubt that these complexes belong to the Funnel Beaker culture. Also, two amphorae with typical features of the ‘badenised’ Funnel Beaker culture were revealed here. Funnel Beaker ceramic ware was also found in the cultural layer of settlements. All these materials from the settlements of Ushakovo 3 and Pribrezhnoye are dated in the range of 3500-3100 BC. It is most likely that inconsiderable human groups of the Funnel Beaker culture reached the coastal area around the middle of the 4th millennium BC when local communities of the Neolithic Zedmar culture had existed on this territory for a long time.

The 2012–2019 investigations in Western Ukraine identified the reaches of the Funnel Beaker and Tripolye cultures in western Volhynia and on the upper Dniester, and syncretic phenomena produced in all likelihood by direct contacts between the representatives of these different communities. Moreover, it was found that the contacts were greatly intensified by the exchange of so-called Volhynia flint. It was distributed to both the Late Tripolye Brînzeni group in northern Moldavia and the eastern and south-eastern groups of the FBC. The intensification of contacts between the communities of the two cultures may be associated with the lifetime of the Brînzeni group. The investigations sought to answer the question what changes were induced in these cultures by the intensification of contacts between their populations.

In scientific literature the discussion over the evident ties between the Baden complex and Tripolye culture dates back to the mid 1990s and is related to Sofievka type complexes. In earlier papers by scholars on TC Stage CII only passing mention was given to Baden influences, the exception being works by Mykhailo Videiko, who paid particular attention to contacts with the Carpathian Basin. He noted their impact upon Troyaniv-Gorodsk type complexes and pointed out the presence of the Baden pottery style in the settlements of the Kasperivtsy-Gordineşti complex. The adoption of Baden traits by communities belonging to the Funnel Beaker and Tripolye cultures in western Volhynia ran along very different lines. The quantity of data on Baden influence upon Funnel Beaker culture communities in the area between the Western Bug, Upper Dniester and Styr rivers remains small.

This study describes and discusses an old find from a wholly new perspective. The non-local fragment or fragments represent imports or imitations that can be linked to the Funnel Beaker culture and not to Kostolác, Coţofeni, Livezile or Bošáca as originally suggested by József Korek. The hallmarks distinctive to the culture are the ornamented rim exterior and rim interior, the zigzag motif under the rim and the ladder motif on the belly. However, the channelling on the belly is a typical Baden trait, which has not been noted on Funnel Beaker vessels to date. The best and closest analogies can be cited from the Baden settlement at Oldalfala/Stránska–Mogyorós, where they were erroneously identified as Coţofeni/Livezile imports. The occurrence of Funnel Beaker pottery on several sites on the southern fringes of the Western Carpathians suggests a more complex situation; however, their stratigraphic contexts on these multi-period, stratified sites remain unclear due to the field techniques employed during the old excavations. The determination of the exact place of origin is rather difficult within the culture’s vast distribution, although they can most likely be assigned to the Funnel Beaker eastern group, Wiórek phase (IIIB – IIIB-C in the current terminology), whose absolute dates fall between 3700/3600 and 3200 BC. The petrographic analyses revealed that the clay and the tempering agents are of local volcanic origin, providing conclusive evidence that Funnel Beaker vessels had been made locally. In this sense, the pottery fragment discussed here can be best described as a local hybrid product.

The oldest silver artefact from north of the Alps was found on the territory of Czech Republic is Stollhoff-type disc found in Kotouč hill near Štramberk. Similar silver disc was recently excavated at Vanovice (Czech Republic). This paper was complied to answer these particular questions: 1. what was the origin of earliest silver artefacts in Central Europe, 2. when these artefacts were emerged, and 3. what raw material was used and how it was processed. To answer these questions, typological analysis of vessels, thermoluminescence (TL) dating, compositional analysis (performed by ED-XRF) and scanning electron microscopy were employed. According to shape of ceramic vessels accompanying silver artefact, the Vanovice hoard can be dated to the Baalberge phase of the Funnel Beaker Culture during the later Eneolithic. Attempt to date pottery by TL method was not successful. The local origin of the pottery and the Carpathian/East-Balkan source of metal suggest that the Vanovice silver disc and the accompanying pottery were made in different periods, largely because precious metals endure longer than pottery.

In this article we present the fragments of a crucible and a possible tuyère that provide evidence of early copper metallurgy in Scandinavia at least 1500 years earlier than previously thought. The technical ceramics were found in a cultural layer containing Early Neolithic Funnel Beaker pottery dating to around 3800–3500bcbeneath a long barrow dating to 3300–3100bc. The presence of a copper alloy in the crucible is confirmed by three independent X-ray fluorescence analyses using both a hand-held and a stationary instrument, SEM-EDS analysis of a cross-section, as well as a Bruker Tornado μ-X-Ray-fluorescence scanner (μ-XRF). The transmission of metallurgy to southern Scandinavia coincided with the introduction of long barrows, causewayed enclosures, two-aisled houses, and certain types of artefacts. Thus, metallurgy seems to be part of the new networks that enabled the establishment of a fully Neolithic society.

This work reports the results of an interdisciplinary study seeking to address the issue of bone tempering in the Funnel Beaker (TRB) culture from the territory that is today Poland. In this paper we contribute to this debate by closely examining the geochemical characteristics (using INAA, ICP-MS, SEM-EDS, γ-ray spectrometry and OM) of six ceramic vessels collected from the archaeological site in Kaldus, northern Poland. Particular emphasis is placed on the need to clarify whether the bones in the pottery from Kaldus were deliberately added or incidentally incorporated in a clay paste. Through exploring the chemical, mineralogical and petrographic composition of ceramics, we also investigate whether different pastes were used contemporarily by potters from Kaldus for different types of wares during the mid-4th millennium BC. The results has allowed us to hypothesise a local provenance of the bone-tempered vase from Kaldus. Furthermore, the TRB potters’ choices to add crushed and burned bones to a clay paste seemed to lack a technological basis. Rather, it appears that a temper made of bones had strong symbolic associations and was most likely ritualised in the working memory of the TRB potters from Kaldus, or even the entire TRB East Group milieu.

The tradition of hoarding axeheads is a well-known phenomenon within the first agrarian societies on the North European Plain. Unfortunately, the majority of known hoards have been found as stray finds or under circumstances with poor or no documentation, leading to considerable source critical issues. However, in this paper we analyze four hoards that have either been professionally excavated or have had their find circumstances recorded and are all found within the same geographical area along the southern Limfjord region of Denmark. The detailed contextual information of these hoards is used as a foundation for interpreting these hoards and question the oft-repeated dualistic categorization of hoards as wetland or dryland phenomena. The analytical method employed in this study uses micro- and macroscopic observations to create biographies for the axeheads and to so shed new light on hoarding practices. This approach challenges the previous macro-scale approaches. The results in the study provide a detailed insight on production, use-life, exchange and deposition of axeheads in hoards within the TRB. The aim of the paper is to forward this analytical approach and to offer a fresh perspective on the TRB hoards. In concluding, avenues for future research and debate are sketched out.

The cemetery of the Funnel Beaker culture at Stryczowice is situated in the Sandomierz Upland region. Three megalithic tombs and a flat cemetery were discovered and examined. The most well-preserved tomb is about 30 m long, and its plan has a trapezoidal shape. Its stone settings formed a kind of dry-stone wall – a phenomenon on a European scale. In the front part of this tomb, a central grave has been examined, consisting of two stone chests – one at ground level and the other built into the ground. In this second feature, fragments of a male skeleton were discovered. Around the central grave, six burials were uncovered. Each of the megalithic tombs were accompanied by a flat cemetery. Six graves and a stone pavement were excavated. The burial pits were constructed of low, stone chests, covered with pavement. Some of the deceased were equipped with burial goods – collared flasks, a battle-axe, retouched flint blades, and some hematite lumps.

Neolithic communities appeared in Polish territories around the mid-6th millennium BC. However, until the beginning of the 4th millennium BC, they inhabited only small enclaves. This situation changed within the first half of the 4th millennium BC, when the most of the Polish territories became settled by Neolithic groups attributed to the Funnel Beaker culture (TRB). There is a fairly large amount of data on plants cultivated by TRB people. Based on this, one can conclude that mainly Triticum dicoccon, T. monococcum and Hordeum vulgare were grown. T. dicoccon and T. monococcum could be sown together. It should be noted that large amounts of weeds typical of cereal fields have been recorded. It is much more difficult to determine the economic importance of other cultivars because of their low numbers. Nevertheless, the TRB inventories contain remains of Pisum sativum, Lens culinaris, Linum usitatissimum and Papaver somniferum.

From 2014 on, the archaeological excavations of the Roman fort of Apsaros (Gonio, eastern Black Sea area) concentrated in the central area of early buildings, where a large architectural complex from the second half of the first to the first half of the secondcenturies AD was located. This structure probably was a praitorion, the residence of the garrison commander. There was an ancient looters’ pit discovered in one room; it appeared in relation to the construction works in the fort in the late second or early third century AD. The most outstanding find from this pit is a fragmented red slip beaker featuring a relief ornamentation. The beaker comprised an elongated conical body survived to the height of 8.8 cm and a ring-foot measuring 3.8 cm in diameter. The outer side of the vessel is ornamented with two rows of impressed ovals arranged as a chess-board pattern and divided by shallow incised horizontal lines. The vessel is unevenly fired: the clay is bright orange at the top and gray at the bottom. Bright orange slip covers the top of the beaker. No direct analogies to this find are known so far. The red slip beakers of a different shape and vase-like vessels with typical ornamentation of impressed ovals occurred among the products of the workshops from the second to fourth century AD located in northern Bulgaria. Similar vessels, also locally produced, appeared on the sites from the Roman period in the south-western Romania. It is considered that such vessels imitated the glass ware which existed in the same period. Although tumblers and beakers with oval designs on the walls were among the most widespread types of glass ware in Eastern and Northern Europe in the late third and early fourth century, their shape could not be considered the complete parallel to the find under study. The closest similarity appeared among the glass ware from the last quarter of the first to the second half of the second centuries AD, particularly conic beakers with a disc-foot ornamented with elongated ovals. The beaker discovered in Gonio probably dates from a similar period. The quality of the slip and the method of its application indicate that this vessel was possibly produced in the Black Sea area.