Zsuzsanna Tóth | Hungarian National Museum (original) (raw)
Papers by Zsuzsanna Tóth
Ce lexique multilingue a ete etabli dans le cadre des travaux du Groupement De Recherche Europeen... more Ce lexique multilingue a ete etabli dans le cadre des travaux du Groupement De Recherche Europeen « Exploitation des matieres osseuses dans l’Europe prehistorique » (GDRE PREHISTOS) du CNRS. Il est concu comme un outil de travail qui vise a repertorier et a traduire dans les differentes langues parlees au sein du Groupement, les principaux termes - d’ordre technique, typologique ou fonctionnel - utilises dans l’etude des industries en matieres dures animales. Cette version fait suite a celle publiee en 2010 et propose une liste elargie de termes traduits en 12 langues (francais, anglais, allemand, danois, espagnol, italien, portugais, roumain, bulgare, polonais, russe et hongrois).
A peculiar type of injury observed on the second cervical vertebra (epistropheus) of an adult cat... more A peculiar type of injury observed on the second cervical vertebra (epistropheus) of an adult cattle in the animal bone assemblage from the Roman fort at Cramond, Scotland, bears a striking resemblance to similar traumatic lesions previously described in Migration Period sacrificial horses. Transversal metal cut marks observed on the dens epistrophei of the cattle specimen under discussion here are consistent with the possibility that the animal was disposed of by severing the spine through the dorsal intervertebral space between the atlas and epistropheus. Due to their relatively hidden anatomical position such cut marks are unlikely to have been post mortem, as targeted dismemberment leaves different traces on the cervical vertebrae. This way of killing is still being practiced in contemporary bull fights as a coup de grâce using a small knife called the puntilla. Ethnographic parallels to this method are also briefly discussed. Kivonat A skociai Cramond romai erőditeseiből felszi...
Early Urbanism in Europe, 2020
Table 5.2: Distribution of 'interesting' sherds by excavation unit (by J. Chapman). House A9 Pit,... more Table 5.2: Distribution of 'interesting' sherds by excavation unit (by J. Chapman). House A9 Pit, Sondazh 1 Megastructure Test Pits Row Totals Making 5 14 96 19 134 Form/Decoration 6 173 110 102 391 Cases of re-fits 9 22 124 50 205 Post-depositional 0 50 84 286 420 Column Totals 20 259 414 457 1150 75 Cf. the traces of the use of a turntable at the Cucuteni AB site of Drăgăneşti-Valea Ungureanului (Palaguta 2007, 20 & Fig. 26).
Dissertationes Archaeologicae, 2018
Aszod–Papi foldek a keső neolitikum europai jelentősegű lelőhelye, ahol egy nagy kiterjedesű tele... more Aszod–Papi foldek a keső neolitikum europai jelentősegű lelőhelye, ahol egy nagy kiterjedesű telepules es hozza tartozo 224 sir kerult elő. A projekt eredmenyekent 16 kutato reszvetelevel elkeszult a lelőhely monografikus feldolgozasanak kezirata. A monografia tartalmazza a teljes leletanyag, telepulesi jelensegek es az osszes temetkezes nemcsak regeszeti, hanem interdiszciplinaris modszerekkel vegzett vizsgalatat. A leletanyag a Tisza- es a Lengyel-kultura anyagi kulturajanak, szokasainak szimbiozisat tukrozi. A sok kozos vonas athatja a telepules es a temetkezesek kozos helyet es rendjet, a mindennapi elet legkulonfelebb targyait, behatol a temetkezesi ritusba, a szellemi szfera es az anyagi kultura csaknem minden reszletebe. A palyazati tamogatasbol elsősorban termeszettudomanyos vizsgalatokat vegeztunk: 1. a keramia petrografiai vizsgalata bebizonyitotta, hogy a tiszai stilusu edenyek helyben keszultek, 2. a Spondylus ekszerek stabilizotop-geokemiai vizsgalatai alapjan az Adriai...
Dissertationes Archaeologicae, 2017
The game pieces found at the site of Mosonszentjános-Homokbánya (Györ-Moson-Sopron County, Hungar... more The game pieces found at the site of Mosonszentjános-Homokbánya (Györ-Moson-Sopron County, Hungary) are unique to the 6 th century Carpathian Basin in respect of their design and choice of material. Although only a few close parallels are known from England and Italy, many gaming sets were found in prominent burials across Europe from the 6-7 th century. The context of the artefacts and their craftsmanship presume that the game pieces of Mosonszentjános were of high value, which is in line with the image of the members of the elite being fond of board games that can be perceived from written sources. The game set is probably not complete, therefore only indirectly and based on the various sized and di erently painted pieces can we make assumptions on the nature of games that were played.
BEAUTY AND THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER: personal adornments across the millennia / edited by Monica Mărgărit and Adina Boroneanţ., 2020
Kisköre-Gát is a significant site of the Hungarian Late Neolithic Tisza culture. A settlement and... more Kisköre-Gát is a significant site of the Hungarian Late Neolithic Tisza culture. A settlement and a cemetery with at least 37 graves were found before dam construction works. Excavations were directed by J. Korek. Altogether, 32 graves were assigned to the Tisza culture and yielded a rich assemblage of personal adornments made from hard animal materials placed with the deceased in 12 graves. Real and imitation red deer canines, usually combined with limestone and shell beads, strung together to form chains decorating the head, neck, breast or waist, were found in eight graves, while Spondylus bracelets were placed in seven graves. Although the site has been known for decades and scientific publications on the material is available as well, the finds made from hard animal materials were evaluated on a subjective, typological basis alone and their manufacturing characteristics and raw material identification have never been studied in a detailed manner by a specialist. The object biography and construction of these necklaces based on a low magnification study will be presented in this article.
Dissertationes Archaeologicae ex Instituto Archaeologico Universitatis de Rolando Eötvös nominatae Supplementum 2., 2018
Six objects (belt attachments, comb, sabretache closer, needle case, bow brackets) dated to the e... more Six objects (belt attachments, comb, sabretache closer, needle case, bow brackets) dated to the end of the 6th century to the middle of the 7th century made of hard animal materials have been discovered in the cemetery of Bodajk (County Fejér, Hungary) from the Avar period. The objects were observed with optical light microscopes; the raw material of the belt attachments, bow brackets and comb were verified as red deer antler, while the needle case and sabretache closer as animal bone. The acquisition of the animal bones is easy, while the gathering of the shed antler or hunting deer stag requires more organization. The average quality of manufacturing shown by the objects buried together with the deceased is rather good, made by experienced craftsmen with throughout knowledge of the raw material’s properties. The manufacturing process is complex, different techniques used. The decorated antler comb could have been traded to the site.
Százszorszépek. Emberábrázolás az őskori Nyugat-Magyarországon. (Die Wunderschönen. Menschendarstellung im urzeitlichen Westungarn. Wounderful beauties. Human representations in Prehistoric Western Hungary)., 2007
A "Szombathelyi-Oladi plató" ásatása során napvilágra kerülő festékrögöket és festett kerámiatöre... more A "Szombathelyi-Oladi plató" ásatása során napvilágra kerülő festékrögöket és festett kerámiatöredékeket vizsgálatuk infravörös (FTIR) és Raman-spektroszkópiai (FT-Raman) módszerekkel. A sárga és a piros festékrögökben limonitot, illetve hematitot azonosítottunk. Az egyik jellegzetes vörös festékrög tisztított hematit-tömbnek bizonyult. A díszített kerámiákon - meglepő módon - vörös festékként nagy tisztaságú kaolinnal kevert cinnabaritot (HgS) mutattunk ki. A fehér festékréteg tiszta, homogén kalcitnak bizonyult.
The Sound of Bones edited by: Felix Lang Salzburg 2013. Proceedings of the 8th Meeting of the ICAZ Worked Bone Research Group in Salzburg 2011., 2013
The late Neolithic site of Aszód, situated some 40 kilometres from Budapest in central Hungary, y... more The late Neolithic site of Aszód, situated some 40 kilometres from Budapest in central Hungary, yielded a large assemblage of worked osseous materials; bone and antler tools and waste. More than 1200 objects were discovered at the site, making it one of the most important collections from this period in Hungary. A special group within the bone assemblage, the so-called ‘hide beamers’, comprises 56 specimens. Preferences in species and skeletal elements were immediately evident, with emphasis laid on metapodials from large ungulates. A detailed study of several sites, however, showed that such raw material choices were not universal. Besides wild and domesticated cattle, the bones of other species were used as well, and on some sites were preferred in the production of this tool type. The skeletal element preference seems to be more complex than initially thought. The tool type is characterised by two or four working surfaces, usually placed symmetrically on the sides of a long bone diaphysis. Although they seem to be a special tool type, manufactured for a special activity, appearing quite often and in high numbers on all late Neolithic sites, their function, based on use-wear studies, remain obscure. They were shaped by scraping with chipped stone tools. All the marks identifiable on their working surfaces, however, are scraping marks, connected either to the manufacturing process or the renewing of the tools. There is a complete absence of use-wear, which means that the role these tools were supposed to play in hide processing, based on ethnographic parallels, remains in question.
This tool type is spread over central and eastern Europe, but completely missing on the western side of the continent in this time period. Although they are easy to identify, the frontier of their distribution is not clear at the moment.
In this study we focus on different levels of space and time, and their interaction at the site o... more In this study we focus on different levels of space and time, and their interaction at the site of Polgár-Csőszhalom. Oure arlier archaeological investigations there were concerned with macro-structures of the Csőszhalom settlement, namely the tell encircled by an enclosure system and the horizontal settlement, and we were able to reconstruct two different space-time reference systems that diverged regarding their basic characteristic features. The accuracy of classical radiocarbon dates did not permit acomparative and meaningful spatial-temporal examination of the smaller spatial elements that made up the macro-structures already described of the site. One goal of our current, long-term research project is a more detailed assessment based on the presently available 32 AMS dates in order to examine the internal dynamics of the interactions between houses, pits, wells and burials representing the different physical loci of human activities and events, as well as the spatial and functional associations of these loci and their spatial ranges. In a visual model of our initial results, the features and the entirety of the Polgár-Csőszhalom site can be presented as a system of horizontally and vertically interconnected spatial and social organisational levels, and of corresponding different timescales. Our basic assumption is that every spatial scale had its own temporality and dynamics, and that these temporalities can only be interpreted and contextualised on their own level. At the same time, it also follows from the complexity theory that if a certain threshold is exceeded, a change in any level will affect the entire system. In our case study of the complex settlement at Polgár-Csőszhalom, we started from the larger scale-space-range to zoom in and inspect other levels at a finer grained resolution. Then we examined and reconstructed the rhythm of temporal changes within the context of different levels and ranges of complexity from another perspective: from the bottom up. We interpreted the new AMS data on three different levels, using Bayesian statistics: on the level of the house, on the level of the tell and the horizontal settlement, and on the level of the site's entirety. The hierarchical and structured system of the macro-features had similarly complex temporal dynamics. The spatial elements with different social ranges had independent place-biographies, which represented the differing frequencies of former events that blended into the orchestrated consonance of the entire site through levels of decreasing frequency, moving upward from the levels with the lowest level of organisation. This consonance, blending the diverse frequencies and levels with differing complexity, incorporates the material relics and categories of finds from individual spatial segments representing special temporalities in relation to human activities. The space/time dimension of the changes in ceramic styles, the use of lithics and copper, as well as of the tools and implements fashioned from them, the consumption of animal products and their deposition offer a much finer picture of the internal dynamics of the entirety of the Csőszhalom site. Using this approach, we can explore the segment of former events that have left an imprint in the archaeological record.
Dissertationes Archaeologicae ex Instituto Archaeologico Universitatis de Rolando Eötvös Nominatae, 2016
The game pieces found at the site of Mosonszentjános-Homokbánya (Györ-Moson-Sopron County, Hungar... more The game pieces found at the site of Mosonszentjános-Homokbánya (Györ-Moson-Sopron County, Hungary) are unique to the 6 th century Carpathian Basin in respect of their design and choice of material. Although only a few close parallels are known from England and Italy, many gaming sets were found in prominent burials across Europe from the 6–7 th century. The context of the artefacts and their craftsmanship presume that the game pieces of Mosonszentjános were of high value, which is in line with the image of the members of the elite being fond of board games that can be perceived from written sources. The game set is probably not complete, therefore only indirectly and based on the various sized and differently painted pieces can we make assumptions on the nature of games that were played.
Prehistoric exploitation of hard animal materials An overview of the exploitation of hard animal materials during the Neolithic and Chalcolithic/Exploatarea materiilor dure animale în preistorie O privire asupra exploatării materiilor dure animale de-a lungul neoliticului și calcoliticului., 2014
The search for the method of debitage by extraction in Hungary has yielded interesting results. A... more The search for the method of debitage by extraction in Hungary has yielded interesting results. A single piece of waste bone was found in the Early Neolithic, Hungarian Starčevo Culture, which suggested that this method was used. However, it turned out to be a case of repeated bipartition using the groove and splinter procedure and not method of extraction we were searching for. For Middle Neolithic times there is no evidence of the method of debitage by extraction in any material although in the Late Neolithic there were some promising finds (long antler points, harpoons, quartered awls and some antler waste). In my opinion, the existence of this method in Hungary has not yet been demonstrated convincingly. The method of debitage by extraction may have been used but there is no evidence of such for this period.
A. Choyke - S. O'Connor (eds.): From These Bare Bones: Raw materials and the study of worked osseous objects. Proceedings of the Raw Materials session at the 11th ICAZ conference, Paris, 2010, 2013
The site of Aszód–Papi földek in Central Hungary lays on the border between the two main cultural... more The site of Aszód–Papi földek in Central Hungary lays on the border between the two main cultural complexes of the Late Neolithic (5000/4900 – 4500/4400 BC), the Lengyel and Tisza Cultures. It has long been suggested by researchers that the people living here controlled local obsidian exploitation and played an important role in the circulation of this and other raw materials and products such as Spondylus or antler. Traces of this role emerge from comparison of the archaeozoological material and the worked osseous assemblage. The archaeozoological material is characteristic of the Late Neolithic in the region with cattle dominating faunal assemblages and an increased importance of game animals. The worked osseous material shows clear preferences for skeletal elements from cervids, caprines and an increased role for red deer antler compared to earlier Neolithic periods. In this paper, I will look at some of the rules governing raw material selection at Aszód–Papi földek in comparison to two other coeval Late Neolithic sites in Hungary and explore why the people living here produced antler tools in such great numbers.
Archaeometriai Műhely, 2013
A peculiar type of injury observed on the second cervical vertebra (epistropheus ) of an adult ca... more A peculiar type of injury observed on the second cervical vertebra (epistropheus ) of an adult cattle in the animal bone assemblage from the Roman fort at Cramond, Scotland, bears a striking resemblance to similar traumatic lesions previously described in Migration Period sacrificial horses. Transversal metal cut marks observed on the
dens epistrophei of the cattle specimen under discussion here are consistent with the possibility that the animal was disposed of by severing the spine through the dorsal intervertebral space between the atlas and epistropheus. Due to their relatively hidden anatomical position such cut marks are unlikely to have been post mortem, as targeted dismemberment leaves different traces on the cervical vertebrae. This way of killing is still being practiced in contemporary bull fights as a coup de grâce using a small knife called the puntilla. Ethnographic parallels to this method are also briefly discussed.
Archeometriai Műhely, 2013
Scanning electron microscopic (SEM-EDS), Raman (FT-Raman) and infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopic inve... more Scanning electron microscopic (SEM-EDS), Raman (FT-Raman) and infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopic investigations were performed on raw pigment materials and polichrome painted ceramic fragments from the excavation of Szombathely-Oladi plató and Gór-Kápolnadomb.. In the raw yellow and red pigments we could identify goethite and hematite as colouring minerals, respectively. A special raw red pigment was found to be of ‘pure’ hematite. On the ceramic fragments decorated with red, the paint layer proved to be made of cinnabar (HgS) mixed with high-purity kaolin. The white decoration proved to be pure, homogeneous calcite. To our knowledge, this is the first evidence of the use of cinnabar (HgS) for decorated pottery in Late Neolithic period in the region of Hungary. The use of cinnabar as painting material proved though to be rare among our samples from both archaeological sites
Archaeometriai Műhely, 2013
Szombathely-Oladi plató és Gór-Kápolnadomb ásatása során napvilágra kerülő festékrögöket és több ... more Szombathely-Oladi plató és Gór-Kápolnadomb ásatása során napvilágra kerülő festékrögöket és több színnel (vörös, narancs, barna, sárga és fehér) festett kerámiatöredékeket vizsgáltuk pásztázó elektronmikroszkópos (SEM-EDS), Raman-spektroszkópiai (FT-Raman) és infravörös (FT-IR) spektroszkópiai módszerekkel. A sárga és vörös festékrögökben goethitet, illetve hematitot azonosítottunk. Az egyik jellegzetes vörös festékrög „tiszta” hematit-tömbnek bizonyult. A díszített kerámiákon – meglepő módon – vörös festékként nagy tisztaságú kaolinnal kevert cinnabaritot (HgS) mutattunk ki. A fehér festékréteg tiszta, homogén kalcitnak bizonyult. Tudomásunk szerint először tudtunk cinóbert azonosítani magyarországi késő neolit festett kerámiákon, bár e festékanyag alkalmazása meglehetősen ritka a vizsgált minták között.
Ce lexique multilingue a ete etabli dans le cadre des travaux du Groupement De Recherche Europeen... more Ce lexique multilingue a ete etabli dans le cadre des travaux du Groupement De Recherche Europeen « Exploitation des matieres osseuses dans l’Europe prehistorique » (GDRE PREHISTOS) du CNRS. Il est concu comme un outil de travail qui vise a repertorier et a traduire dans les differentes langues parlees au sein du Groupement, les principaux termes - d’ordre technique, typologique ou fonctionnel - utilises dans l’etude des industries en matieres dures animales. Cette version fait suite a celle publiee en 2010 et propose une liste elargie de termes traduits en 12 langues (francais, anglais, allemand, danois, espagnol, italien, portugais, roumain, bulgare, polonais, russe et hongrois).
A peculiar type of injury observed on the second cervical vertebra (epistropheus) of an adult cat... more A peculiar type of injury observed on the second cervical vertebra (epistropheus) of an adult cattle in the animal bone assemblage from the Roman fort at Cramond, Scotland, bears a striking resemblance to similar traumatic lesions previously described in Migration Period sacrificial horses. Transversal metal cut marks observed on the dens epistrophei of the cattle specimen under discussion here are consistent with the possibility that the animal was disposed of by severing the spine through the dorsal intervertebral space between the atlas and epistropheus. Due to their relatively hidden anatomical position such cut marks are unlikely to have been post mortem, as targeted dismemberment leaves different traces on the cervical vertebrae. This way of killing is still being practiced in contemporary bull fights as a coup de grâce using a small knife called the puntilla. Ethnographic parallels to this method are also briefly discussed. Kivonat A skociai Cramond romai erőditeseiből felszi...
Early Urbanism in Europe, 2020
Table 5.2: Distribution of 'interesting' sherds by excavation unit (by J. Chapman). House A9 Pit,... more Table 5.2: Distribution of 'interesting' sherds by excavation unit (by J. Chapman). House A9 Pit, Sondazh 1 Megastructure Test Pits Row Totals Making 5 14 96 19 134 Form/Decoration 6 173 110 102 391 Cases of re-fits 9 22 124 50 205 Post-depositional 0 50 84 286 420 Column Totals 20 259 414 457 1150 75 Cf. the traces of the use of a turntable at the Cucuteni AB site of Drăgăneşti-Valea Ungureanului (Palaguta 2007, 20 & Fig. 26).
Dissertationes Archaeologicae, 2018
Aszod–Papi foldek a keső neolitikum europai jelentősegű lelőhelye, ahol egy nagy kiterjedesű tele... more Aszod–Papi foldek a keső neolitikum europai jelentősegű lelőhelye, ahol egy nagy kiterjedesű telepules es hozza tartozo 224 sir kerult elő. A projekt eredmenyekent 16 kutato reszvetelevel elkeszult a lelőhely monografikus feldolgozasanak kezirata. A monografia tartalmazza a teljes leletanyag, telepulesi jelensegek es az osszes temetkezes nemcsak regeszeti, hanem interdiszciplinaris modszerekkel vegzett vizsgalatat. A leletanyag a Tisza- es a Lengyel-kultura anyagi kulturajanak, szokasainak szimbiozisat tukrozi. A sok kozos vonas athatja a telepules es a temetkezesek kozos helyet es rendjet, a mindennapi elet legkulonfelebb targyait, behatol a temetkezesi ritusba, a szellemi szfera es az anyagi kultura csaknem minden reszletebe. A palyazati tamogatasbol elsősorban termeszettudomanyos vizsgalatokat vegeztunk: 1. a keramia petrografiai vizsgalata bebizonyitotta, hogy a tiszai stilusu edenyek helyben keszultek, 2. a Spondylus ekszerek stabilizotop-geokemiai vizsgalatai alapjan az Adriai...
Dissertationes Archaeologicae, 2017
The game pieces found at the site of Mosonszentjános-Homokbánya (Györ-Moson-Sopron County, Hungar... more The game pieces found at the site of Mosonszentjános-Homokbánya (Györ-Moson-Sopron County, Hungary) are unique to the 6 th century Carpathian Basin in respect of their design and choice of material. Although only a few close parallels are known from England and Italy, many gaming sets were found in prominent burials across Europe from the 6-7 th century. The context of the artefacts and their craftsmanship presume that the game pieces of Mosonszentjános were of high value, which is in line with the image of the members of the elite being fond of board games that can be perceived from written sources. The game set is probably not complete, therefore only indirectly and based on the various sized and di erently painted pieces can we make assumptions on the nature of games that were played.
BEAUTY AND THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER: personal adornments across the millennia / edited by Monica Mărgărit and Adina Boroneanţ., 2020
Kisköre-Gát is a significant site of the Hungarian Late Neolithic Tisza culture. A settlement and... more Kisköre-Gát is a significant site of the Hungarian Late Neolithic Tisza culture. A settlement and a cemetery with at least 37 graves were found before dam construction works. Excavations were directed by J. Korek. Altogether, 32 graves were assigned to the Tisza culture and yielded a rich assemblage of personal adornments made from hard animal materials placed with the deceased in 12 graves. Real and imitation red deer canines, usually combined with limestone and shell beads, strung together to form chains decorating the head, neck, breast or waist, were found in eight graves, while Spondylus bracelets were placed in seven graves. Although the site has been known for decades and scientific publications on the material is available as well, the finds made from hard animal materials were evaluated on a subjective, typological basis alone and their manufacturing characteristics and raw material identification have never been studied in a detailed manner by a specialist. The object biography and construction of these necklaces based on a low magnification study will be presented in this article.
Dissertationes Archaeologicae ex Instituto Archaeologico Universitatis de Rolando Eötvös nominatae Supplementum 2., 2018
Six objects (belt attachments, comb, sabretache closer, needle case, bow brackets) dated to the e... more Six objects (belt attachments, comb, sabretache closer, needle case, bow brackets) dated to the end of the 6th century to the middle of the 7th century made of hard animal materials have been discovered in the cemetery of Bodajk (County Fejér, Hungary) from the Avar period. The objects were observed with optical light microscopes; the raw material of the belt attachments, bow brackets and comb were verified as red deer antler, while the needle case and sabretache closer as animal bone. The acquisition of the animal bones is easy, while the gathering of the shed antler or hunting deer stag requires more organization. The average quality of manufacturing shown by the objects buried together with the deceased is rather good, made by experienced craftsmen with throughout knowledge of the raw material’s properties. The manufacturing process is complex, different techniques used. The decorated antler comb could have been traded to the site.
Százszorszépek. Emberábrázolás az őskori Nyugat-Magyarországon. (Die Wunderschönen. Menschendarstellung im urzeitlichen Westungarn. Wounderful beauties. Human representations in Prehistoric Western Hungary)., 2007
A "Szombathelyi-Oladi plató" ásatása során napvilágra kerülő festékrögöket és festett kerámiatöre... more A "Szombathelyi-Oladi plató" ásatása során napvilágra kerülő festékrögöket és festett kerámiatöredékeket vizsgálatuk infravörös (FTIR) és Raman-spektroszkópiai (FT-Raman) módszerekkel. A sárga és a piros festékrögökben limonitot, illetve hematitot azonosítottunk. Az egyik jellegzetes vörös festékrög tisztított hematit-tömbnek bizonyult. A díszített kerámiákon - meglepő módon - vörös festékként nagy tisztaságú kaolinnal kevert cinnabaritot (HgS) mutattunk ki. A fehér festékréteg tiszta, homogén kalcitnak bizonyult.
The Sound of Bones edited by: Felix Lang Salzburg 2013. Proceedings of the 8th Meeting of the ICAZ Worked Bone Research Group in Salzburg 2011., 2013
The late Neolithic site of Aszód, situated some 40 kilometres from Budapest in central Hungary, y... more The late Neolithic site of Aszód, situated some 40 kilometres from Budapest in central Hungary, yielded a large assemblage of worked osseous materials; bone and antler tools and waste. More than 1200 objects were discovered at the site, making it one of the most important collections from this period in Hungary. A special group within the bone assemblage, the so-called ‘hide beamers’, comprises 56 specimens. Preferences in species and skeletal elements were immediately evident, with emphasis laid on metapodials from large ungulates. A detailed study of several sites, however, showed that such raw material choices were not universal. Besides wild and domesticated cattle, the bones of other species were used as well, and on some sites were preferred in the production of this tool type. The skeletal element preference seems to be more complex than initially thought. The tool type is characterised by two or four working surfaces, usually placed symmetrically on the sides of a long bone diaphysis. Although they seem to be a special tool type, manufactured for a special activity, appearing quite often and in high numbers on all late Neolithic sites, their function, based on use-wear studies, remain obscure. They were shaped by scraping with chipped stone tools. All the marks identifiable on their working surfaces, however, are scraping marks, connected either to the manufacturing process or the renewing of the tools. There is a complete absence of use-wear, which means that the role these tools were supposed to play in hide processing, based on ethnographic parallels, remains in question.
This tool type is spread over central and eastern Europe, but completely missing on the western side of the continent in this time period. Although they are easy to identify, the frontier of their distribution is not clear at the moment.
In this study we focus on different levels of space and time, and their interaction at the site o... more In this study we focus on different levels of space and time, and their interaction at the site of Polgár-Csőszhalom. Oure arlier archaeological investigations there were concerned with macro-structures of the Csőszhalom settlement, namely the tell encircled by an enclosure system and the horizontal settlement, and we were able to reconstruct two different space-time reference systems that diverged regarding their basic characteristic features. The accuracy of classical radiocarbon dates did not permit acomparative and meaningful spatial-temporal examination of the smaller spatial elements that made up the macro-structures already described of the site. One goal of our current, long-term research project is a more detailed assessment based on the presently available 32 AMS dates in order to examine the internal dynamics of the interactions between houses, pits, wells and burials representing the different physical loci of human activities and events, as well as the spatial and functional associations of these loci and their spatial ranges. In a visual model of our initial results, the features and the entirety of the Polgár-Csőszhalom site can be presented as a system of horizontally and vertically interconnected spatial and social organisational levels, and of corresponding different timescales. Our basic assumption is that every spatial scale had its own temporality and dynamics, and that these temporalities can only be interpreted and contextualised on their own level. At the same time, it also follows from the complexity theory that if a certain threshold is exceeded, a change in any level will affect the entire system. In our case study of the complex settlement at Polgár-Csőszhalom, we started from the larger scale-space-range to zoom in and inspect other levels at a finer grained resolution. Then we examined and reconstructed the rhythm of temporal changes within the context of different levels and ranges of complexity from another perspective: from the bottom up. We interpreted the new AMS data on three different levels, using Bayesian statistics: on the level of the house, on the level of the tell and the horizontal settlement, and on the level of the site's entirety. The hierarchical and structured system of the macro-features had similarly complex temporal dynamics. The spatial elements with different social ranges had independent place-biographies, which represented the differing frequencies of former events that blended into the orchestrated consonance of the entire site through levels of decreasing frequency, moving upward from the levels with the lowest level of organisation. This consonance, blending the diverse frequencies and levels with differing complexity, incorporates the material relics and categories of finds from individual spatial segments representing special temporalities in relation to human activities. The space/time dimension of the changes in ceramic styles, the use of lithics and copper, as well as of the tools and implements fashioned from them, the consumption of animal products and their deposition offer a much finer picture of the internal dynamics of the entirety of the Csőszhalom site. Using this approach, we can explore the segment of former events that have left an imprint in the archaeological record.
Dissertationes Archaeologicae ex Instituto Archaeologico Universitatis de Rolando Eötvös Nominatae, 2016
The game pieces found at the site of Mosonszentjános-Homokbánya (Györ-Moson-Sopron County, Hungar... more The game pieces found at the site of Mosonszentjános-Homokbánya (Györ-Moson-Sopron County, Hungary) are unique to the 6 th century Carpathian Basin in respect of their design and choice of material. Although only a few close parallels are known from England and Italy, many gaming sets were found in prominent burials across Europe from the 6–7 th century. The context of the artefacts and their craftsmanship presume that the game pieces of Mosonszentjános were of high value, which is in line with the image of the members of the elite being fond of board games that can be perceived from written sources. The game set is probably not complete, therefore only indirectly and based on the various sized and differently painted pieces can we make assumptions on the nature of games that were played.
Prehistoric exploitation of hard animal materials An overview of the exploitation of hard animal materials during the Neolithic and Chalcolithic/Exploatarea materiilor dure animale în preistorie O privire asupra exploatării materiilor dure animale de-a lungul neoliticului și calcoliticului., 2014
The search for the method of debitage by extraction in Hungary has yielded interesting results. A... more The search for the method of debitage by extraction in Hungary has yielded interesting results. A single piece of waste bone was found in the Early Neolithic, Hungarian Starčevo Culture, which suggested that this method was used. However, it turned out to be a case of repeated bipartition using the groove and splinter procedure and not method of extraction we were searching for. For Middle Neolithic times there is no evidence of the method of debitage by extraction in any material although in the Late Neolithic there were some promising finds (long antler points, harpoons, quartered awls and some antler waste). In my opinion, the existence of this method in Hungary has not yet been demonstrated convincingly. The method of debitage by extraction may have been used but there is no evidence of such for this period.
A. Choyke - S. O'Connor (eds.): From These Bare Bones: Raw materials and the study of worked osseous objects. Proceedings of the Raw Materials session at the 11th ICAZ conference, Paris, 2010, 2013
The site of Aszód–Papi földek in Central Hungary lays on the border between the two main cultural... more The site of Aszód–Papi földek in Central Hungary lays on the border between the two main cultural complexes of the Late Neolithic (5000/4900 – 4500/4400 BC), the Lengyel and Tisza Cultures. It has long been suggested by researchers that the people living here controlled local obsidian exploitation and played an important role in the circulation of this and other raw materials and products such as Spondylus or antler. Traces of this role emerge from comparison of the archaeozoological material and the worked osseous assemblage. The archaeozoological material is characteristic of the Late Neolithic in the region with cattle dominating faunal assemblages and an increased importance of game animals. The worked osseous material shows clear preferences for skeletal elements from cervids, caprines and an increased role for red deer antler compared to earlier Neolithic periods. In this paper, I will look at some of the rules governing raw material selection at Aszód–Papi földek in comparison to two other coeval Late Neolithic sites in Hungary and explore why the people living here produced antler tools in such great numbers.
Archaeometriai Műhely, 2013
A peculiar type of injury observed on the second cervical vertebra (epistropheus ) of an adult ca... more A peculiar type of injury observed on the second cervical vertebra (epistropheus ) of an adult cattle in the animal bone assemblage from the Roman fort at Cramond, Scotland, bears a striking resemblance to similar traumatic lesions previously described in Migration Period sacrificial horses. Transversal metal cut marks observed on the
dens epistrophei of the cattle specimen under discussion here are consistent with the possibility that the animal was disposed of by severing the spine through the dorsal intervertebral space between the atlas and epistropheus. Due to their relatively hidden anatomical position such cut marks are unlikely to have been post mortem, as targeted dismemberment leaves different traces on the cervical vertebrae. This way of killing is still being practiced in contemporary bull fights as a coup de grâce using a small knife called the puntilla. Ethnographic parallels to this method are also briefly discussed.
Archeometriai Műhely, 2013
Scanning electron microscopic (SEM-EDS), Raman (FT-Raman) and infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopic inve... more Scanning electron microscopic (SEM-EDS), Raman (FT-Raman) and infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopic investigations were performed on raw pigment materials and polichrome painted ceramic fragments from the excavation of Szombathely-Oladi plató and Gór-Kápolnadomb.. In the raw yellow and red pigments we could identify goethite and hematite as colouring minerals, respectively. A special raw red pigment was found to be of ‘pure’ hematite. On the ceramic fragments decorated with red, the paint layer proved to be made of cinnabar (HgS) mixed with high-purity kaolin. The white decoration proved to be pure, homogeneous calcite. To our knowledge, this is the first evidence of the use of cinnabar (HgS) for decorated pottery in Late Neolithic period in the region of Hungary. The use of cinnabar as painting material proved though to be rare among our samples from both archaeological sites
Archaeometriai Műhely, 2013
Szombathely-Oladi plató és Gór-Kápolnadomb ásatása során napvilágra kerülő festékrögöket és több ... more Szombathely-Oladi plató és Gór-Kápolnadomb ásatása során napvilágra kerülő festékrögöket és több színnel (vörös, narancs, barna, sárga és fehér) festett kerámiatöredékeket vizsgáltuk pásztázó elektronmikroszkópos (SEM-EDS), Raman-spektroszkópiai (FT-Raman) és infravörös (FT-IR) spektroszkópiai módszerekkel. A sárga és vörös festékrögökben goethitet, illetve hematitot azonosítottunk. Az egyik jellegzetes vörös festékrög „tiszta” hematit-tömbnek bizonyult. A díszített kerámiákon – meglepő módon – vörös festékként nagy tisztaságú kaolinnal kevert cinnabaritot (HgS) mutattunk ki. A fehér festékréteg tiszta, homogén kalcitnak bizonyult. Tudomásunk szerint először tudtunk cinóbert azonosítani magyarországi késő neolit festett kerámiákon, bár e festékanyag alkalmazása meglehetősen ritka a vizsgált minták között.