Theory into practice: basic connections and stylistic affiliations of the Late Neolithic settlement at Pusztataskony-Ledence 1

Despite being positioned in the western fringes of the Tisza culture’s occupation area, the Late Neolithic settlement at Pusztataskony-Ledence 1 is seemingly well separated from the communities of the Lengyel complex. The character of its archaeological record however, together with recent results in the research of connections between the two cultural complexes raises the possibility of an amalgamation of these traditions at some point. In 2016, a grant of the National Research, Development and Innovation Office allowed us to start a threeyear-long project, aimed to process the data gained at Pusztataskony over three seasons in order to reveal foreign cognitive elements in the archaeological record of the site other than the ones observed in the burials. To match possible population movement with the appearance of Lengyel type cultural traits and understand the situation observed here classical archaeological and bioarchaeological analyses had been carried out. The current study surveys the first results of the investigations focusing on the archaeological record from one of the house clusters in the settlement. The examinations include a basic typological and resource analysis of the lithics and a stylistic analysis of the ceramic material. The interpretation focuses on the site’s contact system as outlined by the archaeological record, on the ceramic inventory as a medium of everyday symbolic communication here, as well as on our recent understanding of the character of contacts between the Tisza and Lengyel populations in the Middle and Upper Tisza Region

From bedrock to alluvium: Considerations on human-lithic resource interaction

Although lithic raw material provenience studies in Hungarian archaeology have started in the late 1970s, little attention has been paid to the methods prehistoric people with which acquired these raw materials for tool production. With our palaeoethnological approach, we investigate the relationship between human groups and the world surrounding them, aiming to recognize which environmental factors played a role in their lithic raw material economy and tool production. Prehistoric people weighed a range of such factors against each other when deciding about the utilization of a lithic raw material source. The occurrence-source-archaeological site (OSA) model presented in our article helps to describe the interaction between siliceous rock resources and humans. Any place where stone suitable for knapping can be found is considered to be an occurrence. If the lithic raw material from an occurrence is found in the archaeological material, we call it a source, as it was utilized by humans. All places where remains of human activity are found are usually considered archaeological sites. Siliceous rock occurrences are considered raw material sources with a long history prior to human interaction, travelling from the original bedrock to alluvial deposits, due to the geologic-geomorphologic processes of formation, transformation, and transport. The characteristics, of these occurrences, including location, determine not only the distance of transportation but also the quality and condition of the blocks available. Based on these assumptions our research has two aims: to locate lithic raw material occurrences available for prehistoric people and to recognize their decisions about extraction. For the first one, we mapped occurrences of several siliceous rocks in the region. To reconstruct lithic raw material utilization and preferences, we conducted a techno-economic analysis. We studied two areas and their characteristic lithic raw materials in northern Hungary: limnosilicite from the foothills of the Mátra mountain range (Mátraalja), and Buda hornstone or chert from the Buda Hills. The utilization of both materials is documented at archaeological sites of several prehistoric periods. Both rocks occur in the study areas at several locations that can be considered prehistoric extraction sites. According to Turq’s source area typology, allochthonous sources are not present, but primary and secondary autochthonous as well as sub-allochthonous types have been identified in both areas. However, the exploitation of primary autochthonous limnosilicites could not be demonstrated in the Mátraalja. At the moment, the exploitation of secondary autochthonous and sub-allochthonous sources can be hypothesized for all concerned prehistoric periods

A késő neolitikum kőnyersanyag-beszerzési kapcsolatrendszere az Alföldön

Pusztataskony–Ledence késő neolitikus, a Kr. e. 5. évezredre keltezett lelőhelyének leletanyaga kivételes lehetőséget nyújt az összehasonlításra az Alföldön mára már jól ismert tell településekkel. Az előzetes eredmények azzal a tanulsággal szolgáltak, hogy a Polgár-Csőszhalomhoz viszonyítva marginális helyzetben lévő, tell nélküli település hasonlóan intenzív kapcsolatokat ápolt a Kárpátokon kívüli régiókkal. Jelenleg folyó kutatásomban a távolsági nyersanyagokból készült pattintott kőeszközök elterjedési mintázataival kapcsolatos kérdésekre keresem a választ

The Late Neolithic Flint Exchange Network in the Great Hungarian Plain

The Late Neolithic assemblage of Pusztataskony–Ledence, dated to the 5th millennium BC, provides a unique opportunity for a comparison with already well-known tell settlements in the Great Hungarian Plain. Preliminary results revealed that this settlement, which was in a peripheral position compared to Polgár–Csőszhalom, had similarly intensive contacts with regions beyond the Carpathians. In my present research I aim to map and gain a better understanding of distribution patterns of knapped stone tools

Preliminary report on the excavation at Andornaktálya-Marinka in 2018

Andornaktálya-Marinka is among the several Palaeolithic archaeological sites in the region of Eger, on the foothills of the Bükk Mountains, North-Eastern Hungary. It is situated on the top of a 234 m high elevation located between the villages Andornaktálya and Ostoros. The site was discovered in 2014 by Ferenc Cserpák. Surface collections yielded by several field surveys show two kinds of archaeological material: one is signified mostly by a bifacial-like industry made of quartz porphyry (metarhyolite), while the other one is abundant in blade-like pieces made of Silesian erratic flint. The main aim of the excavation carried out in summer 2018 was to obtain stratigraphic information about the position of the industries, as well as to characterize the quaternary sediments covering the hilltop. The artefacts unearthed in the five trenches occurred in a depth of 60 to 80 cm in a brown chernozem-like layer

The knapped stone assemblage from Boldogkőváralja in the light of a new statistical evaluation

One of the most famous knapped stone assemblages, the 566 intact blades found in a large vessel at BoldogkőváraljaTekeres-patak, dated to the Bükk culture (5200–5000 BC) has been at the forefront of the research for decades. Our intention was three-fold when we decided to reevaluate this fnd. First, with the publication of the conjoining workshop material, we wanted to draw more attention to the whole assemblage and not just only to the depot. Second, the deliberate selection of the artefacts found in the jar has been suggested since the 1960s, which, in our opinion, can be tested by deep statistical analysis. Third, when Vértes applied parametric and non-parametric statistical analyses on knapped stone assemblages, he ventured into a brand new branch of archaeological investigation, not just in Hungary. Unfortunately, the pioneering attempts of Vértes were not followed for many decades. Our results suggest that the intact blades of the depot difered from each other signifcantly by their butt preparation because the pieces with dihedral butts are signifcantly wider than the others. On contrary, the length and the thickness of unbroken blades are homogenous, irrespective of preparation techniques. Concerning the diferent butt types across the whole assemblage, blades with plain butts are the most numerous in the depot and the workshops, but other, more thorough preparation occurred at a decreased rate in the workshops. At the same time, the diferent preparation types are evenly distributed in the four workshops, there are no signifcant diferences between them

The first in situ Old Stone Age assemblage from the Rába Valley, Northwestern Hungary

Due to the construction of the M86 motorway, intensive quarrying activity started at several locations of the Rába Valley in Northwestern Hungary. This undertaking provided the discovery of a new archaeological site near the village of Páli in August 2014. During the rescue excavation, a rich lithic assemblage was unearthed, suggesting a human occupation related to the Epipalaeolithic–Early Mesolithic period. It is the first in situ site preceding the Neolithic in the region.</p