ABSTRACT
This chapter summarizes the results of an archaeological project in Poland conducted by the State University of New York at Buffalo and the Polish Academy of Sciences. The major obstacle for any American institution planning to conduct research in Poland was obtaining permission from the local authorities to conduct archaeological excavations. The goals of the Olszanica excavations evolved over two or three years. Many ideas came from the vigorous American archaeology of the 1960s. Olszanica turned out to be an ideal site for intrasite spatial analysis and also for the study of exchange. The range and spatial patterning of human activities at Olszanica were studied by analyzing the horizontal (intrasite) distribution of artifacts and features in an area representing a relatively brief occupation. The excavations at Olszanica enabled the reader to study the exchange of stone, flint, and obsidian among Early Neolithic settlements. The major contribution of the Olszanica project was in the intrasite spatial analysis of a Neolithic site.
