The Boian Culture - An Overview

Seminar paper from the year 2011 in the subject Archaeology, grade: 1,3, Christian-Albrechts-University of Kiel (Institut für Ur- und Frühgeschichte), course: Neolithikum in Transilvanien, language: English, abstract: The Boian culture is a middle Neolithic culture originated in the south-east territory of today's Romania. It is named after the eponym site at Lake Boian in Munteria, Romania. Members of the Boian culture can be considered as one the earliest farmers on European ground. The term Boian culture includes rich decorated pottery, an evolved lithic industry, a changing architecture and a Neolithic subsistence strategy. We´ll face repeated burial rites with grave goods, early metallurgy, bigger settlements than in the previous times and probably signs of social- and gender differentiation. Research on the Boian culture and on the Romanian Neolithic in general comes from many different countries in Europe like Great Britain, France or Germany and is therefore written and published in different languages and influenced by different schools. This paper offers a comprehensive overview of the Boian findings, the history of research and tries to find an answer to the question what the Boian culture stands for on the wide landscape of European Neolithic cultures.