New data on the cultural and chronological position of the Pomeranian/Rzucewo culture

The latest AMS-dates obtained for Pribrezhnoe and Ushakovo-3, which are the earliest sites of the Pomeranian/Rzucewo culture, have been changing our understanding of when this cultural phenomenon emerged. The previous radiocarbon dates were of poor accuracy. They placed the beginnings of this culture to a much earlier period. Most dates ranged within 3300-2800 Cal BC, thus the Pomeranian culture was considered to be the earliest of the Corded Ware culture (CWC) without any justification and was even automatically excluded from this list because its dates were outside the earlier «tail» of the range. Today there is no doubt that the Pomeranian culture of the Corded Ware entity emerged within 3050-2900 Cal BC. Given the presence of a large number of corded vessels (around 60 %), it would be reasonable to narrow this time span to 2950-2900 Cal BC. The new culture emerged during a very short period of time in the course of migration and simultaneous integration of several heterogeneous components. Its population developed its own forms of vessels very quickly. The beakers of the earlier type (a local variant of A-beakers) were spread as early as the initial stage of this culture with a clear aim of developing a new identity.