This grant permits Dr. Keeley and his Belgian colleague Dr. Daniel Cahen to conduct two summers of archaeological fieldwork in the drainages of the Geer and Faux Geer rivers in northeastern Belgium. Past work has indicated that this region is rich in LinearBandKeramik (LBK) sites, and the goal of the team is to excavate four of them, two in the center of the LBK region and two on the perifery. Since LBK sites are not deeply buried, the investigators plan to strip large areas to expose the layout of entire settlements. Individual houses will then be cleared and deeper excavation directed to uncovering such features as storage pits. The goal of the research is to determine whether these settlements were defended and the extent to which social differentiation had taken place within them. The LBK cultures in Belgium date to a very brief period, ca. 6200 - 5900 BC, and represent the first intrusion of farming peoples into Belgium. Until that time the area had been inhabited exclusively by hunters and gatherers. Some sites in this region provide evidence of surrounding fortifications which imply that hostility existed between the LBK pioneers and the prior residents. This research will examine this issue. The situation is unusual because in most instances relatively harmonious, mutually beneficial relationships are established between hunting and gathering and farming peoples. It is also unclear how these first farming communities were organized, whether they had an egalitarian or heirarchial social sutructure. By excavating a number of houses and comparing contents, Drs. Keeley and Cahen can investigate this question. This research is important because it will shed light on the long term interactions between more technologically simple and more complex societies. Such interactions not only characterized the past but continue to the present time.
