Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 January 2015
Three groups of the Funnel Beaker culture in the middle Neolithic have been distinguished in Poland: East, Southeast and Silesian-Moravian (Kowalczyk 1970: Jażdżewski 1984), dated to 5250–4450 b.p. (4095–3245 BC) (Wiślański 1979). The earliest research was carried out on the cemeteries of the East Group, and a variant form, the Kujavian grave type, recognized (FIGURE 1A).
Kujavian graves are usually considered to be megalithic (Midgley 1985; Hoika 1990). They have stone-bordered barrows of triangular or trapezoid shape, being on average 50–100 m long and 3.5–15 m wide (Chmielewski 1952; Jażdżewski 1969). The majority of the Kujavian graves had a central grave usually located near the base of the construction. The number of burials varies between one and four, comprising extended inhumation, with the body lying on its back in a shallow pit which was sometimes had oval settings of stones round them (Chmielewski 1952).