Becske−Júlia-major, an open-air Palaeolithic site in the Cserhát Mountains (Nógrád County, Northern-Hungary (original) (raw)

Among the Palaeolithic sites localized in the surroundings of the village of Becske (Nógrád County, Northern-Hungary) the Becske−Júlia-major site yielded a relatively rich chipped stone assemblage. The lithic assemblage can be classified as Palaeolithic. Only two artefacts, a fragment of a polished hand-axe and a retouched blade fragment with use-wear traces allude to the younger Stone Age, probably to the Middle Neolithic Zselíz or the Late Neolithic Lengyel culture. The overwhelming majority of the finds was made of local raw materials, such as limnic silicite and siliceous pebble. Among the regional raw materials, the ratio of the Carpathian radiolarite is very significant. Of the long-distance raw materials, the felsitic porphyry (metarhyolite) occurs in greater amounts. The cultural affiliation of an obsidian nodule can not be determined. At the site, there are peculiar raw material utilization zones. The usage of the limnic silicite and siliceous pebble was common all over, but the felsitic porphyry and radiolarite appear to be mutually exclusive. The lithic material implies the presence of a typical flake industry (or industries), the laminarity is very low. In the tool-kit, besides the varied end-scrapers, leaf-shaped tools, side-scrapers and bifacial tools can be found. Based on the typological image, the likely heterogeneous assemblage belongs to Late Middle Palaeolithic or Early Upper Palaeolithic industries with leaf-shaped tools. The characteristic method applied by the leaf-shaped tools is the so-called "wechselseitig-gleichgerichtete Kantenbearbeitung", which in the Hungarian Palaeolithic usually can be related either to the Micoquian−Bábonyian or the Szeletian industry. The artefacts made of Carpathian radiolarite can be attributed partly to a developed Upper Palaeolithic or even an Epipalaeolithic industry. As regards the text of this paper, it is a slightly modified and extended version of the draft of 2015, which was written in the Hungarian language. Unfortunately enough, the author had no opportunity to photo the artefacts that are already in the collection of the Hungarian National Museum.

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