REMARKS REGARDING CULTURAL DIFFERENTIATION IN THE POLISH CARPATHIANS DURING THE BRONZE AND EARLY IRON AGE

This article presents the current state of research into the cultural differentiation in the Polish Carpathians during the Bronze and Early Iron Age. It uses the six-phase chronological frame developed by Marek Gedl (1998). The research material justifies the division of the area of the Polish Carpathians into three zones. Zone A, to the west of the River Dunajec, is primarily oriented towards Orawa and Spisz, while maintaining strong links with the north. The central Zone B is closely linked with settlements of the southern type, which kept penetrating there from the Ondawska Upland. The succession of cultures is analogous to that on the Slovak side of the mountains: Füzesabony, Otomni and Gava cultures followed by Scytho-Thracian and Celtic elements. Zone C, ie. the eastern part of the region, is conspicuously different. Links with the north (Trzciniec and Tarnobrzeg sub-cultures of the Lusation culture) predominate, although there are also some, hard to define, eastern and south-eastern elements, which may have spread along the outer, eastern rim of the Carpathians. Another conclusion that can be drawn from the data under review is that the area of the Polish Carpathians did not form a distinct cultural province in the Bronze and Early Iron Age. It was rather a battleground of northern and southern influences, with the latter appearing to be stronger.