The Aurignacian in Hungary is characterized by abundant bone points. “Classic” Aurignacian stone tool types such as nosed and carinated endscrapers are not well- represented in these assemblages. Recently, two Aurignacian sites with high frequencies of these endscrapers were found near Nagyréde, in the area of Mátra Mountains in northeast Hungary. The stone tool kit composition of these sites signifies a typologically diverse and unique Aurignacian appearance in Hungary

Béres, Sándor

Fodor, László

Lengyel, György

English

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Eura sian Pre his tory, 4 (1–2): 79–85.NEW LITHIC EVI DENCE OF THE AURIG NA CIANIN HUN GARYGyörgy Lengyel1, Sán dor Bé res2 and László Fo dor31 Her man Ottó Mu seum, 28 Gör gey road, 3529 Miskolc, Hun gary; lengyelgu@free mail.hu2 33 Bok ros street, 2011 Bu da kalász, Hun gary3 Dobó Ist ván Cas tle Mu seum, 1 Vár, 3300 Eger, Hun gary; fodi@div.iif.huAb stractThe Aurig na cian in Hun gary is char ac ter ized by abun dant bone points. “Clas sic” Aurig na cian stone tool types suchas nosed and cari nated end scrap ers are not well- represented in these as sem blages. Re cently, two Aurig na cian sites withhigh fre quen cies of these end scrap ers were found near Nagyréde, in the area of Mátra Moun tains in north east Hun gary.The stone tool kit com po si tion of these sites sig ni fies a ty pologi cally di verse and unique Aurig na cian ap pear ance in Hun -gary.IN TRO DUC TIONThe early Up per Paleolithic Aurig na cian cul -ture is known from few sites in Hun gary (Dobosi,2000). There are only two caves that clearly con -tain Aurig na cian lay ers, IstállósklÞ and PeskÞ(Vértes, 1955, 1965).IstállóskÞ  Cave is lo cated in the west ern re -gion of Bükk Moun tains at an el e va tion of 535 masl (Fig. 1). Ex ca va tions re corded two Aurig na -cian lay ers (Kadiæ, 1934; Hillebrand, 1935;Vértes, 1955; Vörös, 1984; Ringer, 2002). PeskÞCave is also lo cated in the West ern Bükk, a fewki lo me ters south of IstállóskÞ, at an el e va tion of745 m asl (Fig. 1). The ex ca va tions re trievedAurig na cian ma te rial from two lower lay ers(Kadiæ, 1935; Vértes et al., 1956; Vértes, 1965).On the ba sis of the bone point col lec tion ofIstállóskÞ Cave, the Aurig na cian se quence wasdi vided into two phases: Aurig na cian I and II(Vértes, 1955). Aurig na cian I (lower layer) ischar ac ter ized by split base bone points and theAurig na cian II (up per layer) by Olschewa bonepoints (Vértes, 1955; Dobosi, 2002). The PeskÞas sem blage is des ig nated Aurig na cian II on theba sis of sim i lar i ties to IstállóskÞ up per layer(Vértes, 1965). Ra dio met ric dates for the Aurig -na cian I are be tween ca 44 ka and 31 kauncalibrated BP and for the Aurig na cian II are be -tween ca 35 ka and 28 ka uncalibrated BP inIstállóskÞ and PeskÞ caves (Vogel and Wa ter-bolk, 1963, 1972; Ad ams, 2002; Ringer, 2002;Ad ams and Ringer, 2004). These data sup port theno tion that the Aurig na cian is par tially con tem po -ra ne ous with the Szeletian in the Bükk Moun tains (Dobosi, 2000; Ad ams, 2002; Ad ams and Ringer,2004).Re cently, two open air Aurig na cian siteswere found near the vil lage of Nagyréde in north -east Hun gary. The ar ti facts were col lected dur inga sur vey with out ex ca va tion. The ar chaeo logi calma te rial is housed at the Dobó Ist ván Cas tle Mu -seum in Eger. The aim of this pa per is to pro vide a pre limi nary re port of these new dis cov er ies.NAGYRÉDE AURIG NA CIAN SITESLo ca tionNagyréde sites are lo cated south of the vol -canic Mátra Moun tains, on pied mont, near thecon junc tion of the north ern part of the Hun gar ianGreat Plain (Fig. 1). In this area, abun dant streams run from north west to south east. The sites aresituated on the right bank of Rédei- Nagy- patakstream on Öreg- hegy (Old hill). Nagyréde site 1 is found at an ele va tion of 187 m asl and Nagy- rédesite 2 is 1 km away at a higher ele va tion, 200 masl. Nowa days, vine yards are planted in the area.Lithic as sem blagesRaw ma te ri alsBoth as sem blages are dom i nated byhydroquartzite (Ta ble 1). Sources are lo catedabout 7 km to the sites north west. The raw ma te -rial out crops yield ir reg u lar shape blocks in dif -fer ent sizes with strong whit ish pa tina and cor ti cal 80 G. Lengyel et al.Fig. 1. North east ern Hun gary; Mátra, Bükk and Zemplén moun tains. 1 – Nagyréde sites 1 and 2; 2 – IstállóskÞCave; 3 – PeskÞ Cave; 4 – Szeleta CaveTa ble 1Stone raw ma te ri als of Nagyréde 1 and 2 lithic as sem blagesNAGYRÉDE 1 NAGYRÉDE 2Raw ma te rial Ori gin # % # %Hy droquartz ite South ern Mátra 1,251 95.9 1,715 90.8Er ratic flint South Po land 29 2.2 158 8.4Ra dio larite Váh val ley, Slo va kia 13 0.9 5 0.3Quartz ite Un known 2 0.2 3 0.2An des ite Mátra 8 0.6 2 0.1Ob sid ian Zem plén 0 0 1 0.1Hornstone South ern Bükk 2 0.2 1 0.1Total 1,305 100 1,885 100patches. This raw ma te rial con tains sev eral crack- sur faces and in clu sions, which is in low qual ityfor the pur poses of knapping. The next mostabun dant raw ma te rial is the er ratic flint. Thismay have de rived from south Po land, as ob servedin IstállóskÞ Aurig na cian (Ad ams, 1998). Thenum ber of flints is higher at Nagyréde site 2.Radiolarite, pos si bly from north west in Váh val -ley in Slovakia, an de site of Mátra, horn stone ofthe South ern Bükk, and quartz ite of un known or i -gin are rep re sented by a few pieces.Lithic prod uctsFlakes domi nate the as sem blages. Blades and es pe cially bla de lets are pres ent in small num bers.Small dif fer ences in the fre quen cies be tween theblades and flakes can be ob served be tween thetwo as sem blages (Ta ble 2). Flake cores are abun -dant while blade and bla de let cores are un der rep -re sented in both as sem blages. Tested raw ma te rial nod ules with one or two re mov als (pre cores) oflo cal hy dro quartz ite also are abun dant.Tool kitsThe same raw ma te ri als were used for toolmak ing in both as sem blages (Ta ble 3). The hy -dro quartz ite is the most fre quent. The pro por tionof flint is sig nifi cant in Nagyréde 2 com pris ing38% of the tool kit. In both as sem blages, the ma -jor ity of the tool blanks are flakes (Ta ble 4).Blades are rare and bla de lets are not pres entamong the tools.Aurig na cian in Hungary 81Ta ble 2Ma jor groups of lithic prod ucts in the Nagyréde 1 and 2 as sem blagesProd ucts (com plete and frag ments)NAGYRÉDE 1 NAGYRÉDE 2# % # %Flakes 488 37.3 960 50.9Blades 79 6.1 84 4.5Bla de lets 14 1.1 13 0.7Uni po lar flake core 16 1.2 6 0.3Multi plat form flake core 44 3.4 51 2.7Uni po lar blade core 31 2.4 12 0.6Unipolar bla de let core 14 1.1 2 0.1Tools 112 8.6 79 4.2Wastes 507 38.8 678 36To tal 1,305 100 1,885 100Ta ble 3Raw ma te ri als of the Nagyréde sites’ tool kitsNAGYRÉDE 1 NAGYRÉDE 2# % # %Hy droquartz ite 94 84 46 58.2Er ratic flint 8 7.1 30 38Ra dio larite 8 7.1 2 2.5Quartz ite 2 1.8 1 1.3To tal 112 100 79 100End scrap ers make up the ma jor ity of the tools (Ta ble 4). Sim ple end scrap ers, also on re touchedblanks, and thick nosed end scrap ers are the preva -lent types (Figs. 2–4). Thin nosed endscrapersalso are abun dant in Nagyréde 1. Among bu rins,di he dral bu rins char ac ter ize Nagyréde 1. InNagyréde 2, bu rins are fewer and mostly made onbreaks. The re touched blades have scaled re touchin both as sem blages, situ ated fre quently par tiallyon the edge. In Nagyréde 1 and Nagyréde 2, thereare re spec tively two and three speci mens that re -sem ble Aurig na cian blades with two re touchededges. The re touch on the flakes con trary to theblades of ten is con tinu ous. Trun cated tools can be 82 G. Lengyel et al.Ta ble 4Stone tool type list of the Nagyréde 1 and 2 lithic as sem blagesTool typesNAGYRÉDE 1 NAGYRÉDE 2blank total blank totalflake blade # % flake blade # %End scrap erssim ple 11 8 19 17 10 2 12 15.2on re touched blank 6 6 12 10.7 1 2 3 3.7nosed 7 7 6.3 1 1 1.3thick nosed 9 2 11 9.8 15 1 16 20.3thick shoul dered 4 4 3.6cari nated 2 1 3 2.7 1 1 1.3atypi cal cari nated 2 2 1.7 2 2 2.5dou ble 1 1 0.9 2 2 2.5atypi cal 2 1 3 2.7 2 2 2.5thick atypi cal 4 4 3.6 4 4 5.1Bu rinsdi he dral 3 3 6 5.4on break 3 1 4 3.6 1 2 3 3.7on con cave trun ca tion 1 1 0.9 1 1 1.3oblique trun ca tion 1 1 1.3trans ver sal 1 1 0.9Re toucheditems 5 6 11 9.8 4 15 19 24.1Trun ca tions oblique 2 2 1.7Notches 2 2 4 3.6 5 5 6.3Den ticu lates 6 2 8 7.1 3 3 3.7Side scrap erssim ple 2 2 1.7 1 1 1.3in verse 1 1 0.9con verg ing 1 1 1.3con vex 5 5 4.5 0.0Com pos ites endscraper/bu rin 1 1 1.3Di versra clette 1 1 1.3ra bot 1 1 0.9To tal 76 36 112 100 56 23 79 100found solely in Nagyréde 1. In both as sem blages,notches, den ticu lates and sidescrap ers were madeof flakes. Within side scrap ers, con vex side scrap -ers char ac ter ize the Nagyréde 1 as sem blage. InNagyréde 2 there is no char ac ter is tic type. Among the varia is a ra clette in Nagyréde 2 and a ra bot inNagyréde 1.DIS CUS SIONRaw ma te rial pro cure ment, lithic com po si -tion, and the com mon types of re touched piecesshow the same pat tern in both Nagyréde as sem -blages. The char ac ter is tics of these as sem blagesare the hy dro quartz ite and er ratic flint raw ma te -rial use, the domi nant flake debitage, low fre -quen cies of blades, and abun dant endscrapers –in clud ing the thick Aurig na cian types.Com par i sons with both Aurig na cian phasesin di cates that at IstállóskÞ blade tech nol ogy dom -i nates (Ad ams, 1998; Kadiæ, 1935; Vértes, 1955,1965). Within their tool kit, only the Aurig na cianII (n = 100) con tains the fossile directeur of theAurig na cian, namely the Aurig na cian blade. Thistype con sti tutes the sec ond larg est tool group(31% of the tool kit) af ter the re touched blades(39% of the tool kit; Ad ams, 1998). The Aurig na -cian I tools (n = 12) are mostly re touched bladesand bladelets (33.3% and 41.6% of the tool kit, re -spec tively), and no Aurig na cian types are rec og -nized (Ad ams, 1998; Vértes, 1965). Gen eral Up -per Paleolithic types such as endscrapers, burinsand bor ers, Mid dle Paleolithic sidescrapers, andSzeletian type bifaces are also pres ent in bothAurig na cian I and II. The fre quen cies of each ofthese tools is no more than 10% of the tool kit(Vértes, 1955, 1965; Ad ams, 1998). In the toolsof PeskÞ Aurig na cian (n = 26), sim i larly to that ofIstállóskÞ, re touched blades dom i nate (33.3% ofthe tool kit). Aurig na cian types, ex cept a sin glethin nosed endscraper, are ab sent. Other tooltypes are rare (Vértes, 1965).Com par ing the fea tures of the lithic as sem -blages of Nagyréde and IstállóskÞ-PeskÞ dis sim i -lar i ties can be ob served on both tech no log i cal and ty po logi cal lev els. Tech no log i cally the Nagyrédeas sem blages are char ac ter ized by flake debitagewhile the cave as sem blages by blade debitages.Such data for Pesko are not pub lished. The typo-log i cal is that re touched blades, in clud ing Aurig -Aurig na cian in Hungary 83Fig. 2. Aurig na cian stone tools of the Nagyréde 1 as -sem blage. 1–3 – nosed end scrap ers; 4–5 – cari natedend scrap ers; 6–8 – endscrapers on re touched blanks; 9–re touched blade frag mentFig. 3. Aurig na cian stone tools of the Nagyréde 1 as -sem blage. 1–6 – nosed end scrap ersna cian blades, dom i nate IstállóskÞ  and PeskÞwhile endscrapers are abun dant in Nagyréde toolkits (Fig. 5). Within endscrapers, the pres ence ofAurig na cian types such as nosed and carinateditems is sig nif i cant. Nagyréde sites with the 24–25% of Aurig na cian endscrapers in the tool kitsre sem ble the Aurig na cian II in Périgord (Djin-djian, 1993) or the “clas sic” Aurig na cian phe -nom e non across Eu rope (Kozlowski and Otte,2000). Al though IstállóskÞ  upper layer and PeskÞare also des ig nated Aurig na cian II (Vértes, 1955,1965), the Nagyréde as sem blages sig nify a dif fer -ent and still unique Aurig na cian lithic ap pear ancein Hun gary. Fu ture ex ca va tions will clar ify thepo si tion of the Nagyréde as sem blages among theHun gar ian Aurig na cian con text.84 G. Lengyel et al.Fig. 4. Aurig na cian stone tools of the Nagyréde 2 as sem blage. 1–8 – nosed end scrap ers; 9 – sim ple end scraper;10 – re touched blade frag ment; 11 – bu rin on breakAc knowl edg mentsWe thank Zsolt Mester from the Uni ver sity ofMiskolc in Hun gary for his con struc tive com ments onthe draft of this pa per. We are grate ful to Wren Four -nier, Pea body Mu seum, Har vard Uni ver sity, for ed it ing the Eng lish text.REF ER ENCESAD AMS B. 1998. The Mid dle to Up per Pa laeo lithicTran si tion in Cen tral Europe. The rec ord from theBükk Moun tain re gion. BAR In ter na tional Se ries693.AD AMS B. 2002. New ra dio car bon dates from Szeletaand Istállós-kÞ Caves, Hun gary. Praehistoria, 3,53–55.AD AMS B., RINGER A. 2004. New 14C dates for theHun gar ian Early Up per Pa laeo lithic. Cur rent An -thro pol ogy, 45/4, 541–551.DJINDJIAN F. 1993. L’Aurig na cien en Pé rig ord: Unerévi sion. Préhis toire eu ropéenne, 3, 29–54.DO BOSI V. T. 2000. Up per Pa laeo lithic re search inHun gary – a situa tion re port from 2000. Prae his to -ria, 1, 149–159.DOBOSI V. T. 2002. Bone finds from Istállós-kÞCave. Praehistoria 3, 79–102.HIL LE BRAND J. 1935. Mag ya rország oskok ora (DieAl tere Ste in zeit Un garns). Ar chaeo logica Hun garica XVII. Mag yar Törté neti Múzeum, Bu da pest.KADIÆ O. 1934. Der Mensch zur Eiszeit in Un garn.Mit tei lun gen aus dem Jahr buch der kgl. Un gari -schen Ge olo gischen An stalt, 30, Bu da pest, 1–147.KADIÆ O. 1935. A Pesko bar lang ban ed dig végzettásatások eredmé nyei. Bar lang ku tatás (Höh len for -schung), V/3-4, 49–54.KO ZLOWSKI J. K., OTTE M. 2000. La for ma tion del’Aurig na cien en Europe. L’An thro polo gie, 104: 3–15.RINGER Á. 2002. The new im age of Szeleta andIstállós-kÞ caves in the Bükk Moun tains: a re vi sionpro ject be tween 1999-2002. Praehistoria, 3, 47–55.VÉ RTES L. 1955. Neuere Aus gra bun gen und paläo -lithische Funds in der Höhle von Istállóskö. ActaAr chaeo logica Aca de miae Sci en tarium Hun gari -cae, 5, 111–131.VÉRTES L. 1965. Az ÞskÞkor és az átmeneti kokoremlékei Magyarországon. A Mag yar régészetkézikö- nyve I. Akadémiai Kiadó, Bu da pest.VÉRTES L., JÁNOSSY D., HERRMANN M.,STIEBER J. 1956. Ausgrabungen in der Petényi-und PeskÞ-Höhle (Bükk-Gebirge). Folia Archaeo-logica, 8, 151–169.VO GEL J. C., WA TER BOLK H. T. 1963. Gron in genra dio car bon dates IV. Ra dio car bon, 5, 163–202.VO GEL J. C., WA TER BOLK H. T. 1972. Gron in genra dio car bon dates X. Ra dio car bon, 14, 6–110.VÖRÖS I. 1984. Hunted mam mals from the Aurig na -cian cave bear hunt ers’ site in the IstállóskÞ Cave.(Az IstállóskÞ barlang aurignaci barlangi medvevadásztelep zsákmányállatai.) Folia Archaeologica, 35, 7–31.Aurig na cian in Hungary 85Fig. 5. Chart show ing the main ty po logi cal dis sim i lar i ties be tween IstálloskÞ, PeskÞ and Nagyréde Aurig na cianas sem blages. Re touched blades cat e gory in cludes Aurig na cian blades. Data for IstállóskÞ  is from Ad ams 1998 and for PeskÞ is from Vértes 1965

New lithic evidence of the Aurignacian in Hungary

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