The early days of Neolithic Alsónyék: the Starčevo occupation (original) (raw)
Related papers
Krisztián Oross et al.: The early days of Neolithic Alsónyék: the Starčevo occupation
Bericht der Römisch-Germanischen Kommission 94 (2013), 2016
The excavations at Alsónyék revealed numerous Starčevo features, over 50 in the southern part of subsite 10B and some 500 in subsite 5603. The overwhelming majority of the features uncovered were individual pits and pit complexes. Traces of houses or above-ground structures were recorded, but no certain house plans could be identified; numerous hearths and ovens were found. 25 Starčevo burials have been identified, with some in disused pits and ovens. The occupation excavated in subsite 5603 was substantial, the largest yet discovered in Transdanubia. The north-west distribution of the Early Neolithic cultural complex of the northern Balkans – the Starčevo, Körös and Criş cultures – represents the first food-producing communities in many parts of the Carpathian basin. Starčevo sites are now known in the southern part of western Hungary up to Lake Balaton, but there are many unresolved questions about the precise chronology of the Early Neolithic in Transdanubia and beyond, in the Starčevo-Körös-Criş complex as a whole, and about the character and identity of the first farmers of the region. This paper presents 34 radiocarbon dates from 33 samples, interpreted within a Bayesian framework, for the dating of the Starčevo occupation at Alsónyék. 18 samples of human and animal bone were selected as part of the OTKA-funded project Alsónyék: from the beginnings of food production to the end of the Neolithic in collaboration with the ERC- funded The Times of Their Lives project, in conjunction with 15 existing dates from human burials. The programme aimed to date Starčevo occupation and burials at Alsónyék, and in so doing to contribute to further understanding of the character and pace of the spread of the Neolithic way of life in the region. The Bayesian model presented estimates that Starčevo activity probably began in 5775–5740 cal BC (68% probability), probably lasted for 190–245 years (68% probability), and probably ended in 5560–5525 cal BC (68% probability). The transition from pottery Style group 1 to 2 probably occurred in 5760–5730 cal BC (68% probability), with the transition from pottery Style group 2 to 3 probably in 5595–5570 cal BC (68% probability). The implications of these estimates for the character of the Starčevo occupation at Alsónyék are discussed, as well as for the wider development of the Starčevo culture and of the Early Neolithic in the region as a whole. The current picture suggests the densest Starčevo presence in south-east Transdanubia within the Hungarian distribution of the culture, with a gradual spread to the north later on. The results also demonstrate that Early Neolithic settlements in western Hungary lasted for a substantial period of time, across several human generations.
2016
The excavations and ongoing investigations of the site of Alsónyék-Bátaszék in south-west Hungary, remarkable for both its longevity and size, are introduced. Its occupation encompasses the succession of the Starčevo, Linearbandkeramik culture (LBK), Sopot and Lengyel periods, from the earlier sixth to the mid-fifth millennium cal BC. The papers devoted to its chronology that follow in this volume are sketched, covering the Bayesian approach adopted and other aspects of methodology, period by period modelling of an extensive series of radiocarbon dates, and finally discussion of the implications of results. The setting of the site in the Tolna Sárköz region of south-east Transdanubia is detailed, and the excavation process described, along with the principal features of the site, period by period. The paper ends by emphasising the extensive nature of ongoing investigations of all aspects of Alsónyék.
2013
Der vorliegende Band befasst sich mit den Ausgrabungen und noch anhaltenden Untersuchungen des Fundortes Alsonyek-Bataszek in Sudwest-Ungarn, der fur seine lange Belegungsdauer und GroEe bekannt ist. Seine Okkupation umfasst die Starcevo Kultur, die Kultur der Linearbandkeramik (LBK) und die Perioden Sopot und Lengyel; also insgesamt einen Rahmen vom fruhen 6. bis Mitte des 5. Jahrtausends cal BC. In dieser Einfuhrung werden die folgenden Aufsatze, die sich mit der Chronologie des Fundortes beschaftigen, umrissen. Sie verfolgen den Bayes’schen Ansatz und andere methodische Aspekte und analysieren eine umfassende Serie von Radiocarbondaten. In einer Schlussdiskussion werden die Ergebnisse zusammengefuhrt. Die Verortung von Alsonyek-Bataszek in der Tolna Sarkoz Region in Sudosttransdanubien und die Ausgrabungen werden ausfuhrlich beschrieben, ebenso die wichtigsten Merkmale und Auspragungen der einzelnen Perioden innerhalb des Fundortes. Abschliesend wird der enorme Umfang der noch an...
Documenta Praehistorica, 2001
In southeastern Europe, in the region of northern Croatia (between the Drava, Sava, and Danube Rivers), which geographically belongs to southern Pannonia, the first Neolithic settlements developed during the early and middle Neolithic, ca. 6000–4800 BC. Numerous archaeological excavations in the last 25 years have enabled an overview of the development of Starčevo Culture settlements (the earliest Neolithic culture in this region), from the first phases to the end of its development.
Data to the question of the Starcevo/Körös Culture dwellings in the Upper Tisza Region
In the second half of the 1970s and in the 1980s the author investigated two settlements of the Starcevo/Körös (Cris) Culture (SKC) in the Transcarpathian Region. By this time, the settlement of Méhtelek-Nádas and a number of other sites was known in the northeastern part of Hungary. The question of their ethnocultural attribution has been discussed for a long time . Sites investigated in the Transcarpathian Region definitely supported the suggestion about the direct presence of the Starcevo/Körös communities in the Upper Tisza region, and showed that the whole of northeastern valley of the Tisza river belonged to the SKC.
Neolithic economy of the east Slavonija and Baranja - the first steps
2013
According to the results of the archeological researches at some neolithic settlements in the eastern part of Slavonija and in Baranja (Cepin, Knezevi Vinogradi, Belisce, Osijek) it is possible to get the insight into the beginning of the prehistoric economy of that region. The first neolithic population of the mentioned region is called Starcevo culture. With its appearance (end of 7th millenium) the economy based on agriculture and breeding of some animal species, fe. cattle, begins. The first trade routes which provided stone of high quality, are established. Neolithic economy of that time was in its very beginnings. Starcevo culture in the east part of Slavonija and Baranja was replaced by Sopot culture (about 5500 BC), which in that region lasted till the end of Neolithic and the first signs which announced the beginning of the next period – the Eneolithic or the Copper Age (about 4300 BC). Population of Sopot culture is represent of the developed neolithic economy, primarily a...
The Early Neolithic settlement of Moravia and Lower Austria against the central European background
2014
The south-eastern periphery of the LBK – the StarčevoKörös-Criş culture complex The Hungarian offshoot of the LBK is known as the Transdanubian LBK. In its earliest phase, known as formative phase, the Transdanubian LBK extended across the whole of Transdanubia (map 2). To the south, it reached as far as the left bank of the Dráva, and to the west as far as the Danube. In the area delimited roughly by the rivers Kapos and Dráva, its distribution overlapped with that of the Starčevo culture. Stratigraphy and finds analyses have shown that the LBK appeared in this area only after the disappearance of the Starčevo culture. According to N. Kalicz, the Transdanubian LBK originated in the northern part of Transdanubia at the same time as the Starčevo culture had reached the Linear B phase. During the latter’s late phase – the Starčevo Spiraloid AB – and until its extinction, the LBK was the northern neighbour of the Starčevo culture. Only later did the Transdanubian LBK shift further sout...
Early Neolithic burials of Starčevo culture at Galovo, Slavonski Brod (Northern Croatia)
Documenta Praehistorica, 2010
At Galovo, near Slavonski Brod (Posavina, northern Croatia), a part of an early phase Starčevo culture settlement was found. Inside the settlement a ritual space was separated from the living area by semicircular wooden fences, which shows the so far unknown dimension of ritual burials and organisation of life in the settlement during this period. In a big burial pit, three individuals were buried: a man (complete skeleton), and a woman and a man, both without heads. In the small burial pit a man without a face was buried. Offerings near the buried individuals and objects in the pits show function and tribal status of these individuals at the settlement. Radiocarbon analyses date the burials to around 5700 and 5300 calBC.
Svet prvých roľníkov a budovateľov rondelov. Štúdie o neolitických kultúrach na západnom Slovensku, 2024
Slovakia as a small country in the centre of Europe, with area of approx. 50,000 km2, is geomorphologically and culturally divided into the flat and hilly western and more rugged eastern Slovakia. Northern and part of central Slovakia are covered with mountain ranges. With the exception of the Late Linear Culture settlement in the Váh river valley between the Vysoké Tatry and Nízke Tatry mountain ranges and in Spiš, these mountainous areas of Slovakia were uninhabited until the Eneolithic. Western Slovakia and the development in the northern part of western Hungary were a cultural unit – in the Linear Pottery culture period as well as in the course of the following Lengyel culture. Eastern Slovakia belonged to the Tisza river basin in terms of hydrology, and culturally, it was part of the Neolithic cultures in the territories north of the Körös river. Southern parts of central Slovakia were culturally associated with development at the hills of northern Hungary. The geomorphological and cultural duality of Slovakia in the Neolithic requires separate investigation of settlement in eastern and western Slovakia. The chapter on origin of the Neolithic and spreading of the Neolithic way of life from the Near East through Anatolia and southeastern Europe uses results of our own investigation in Bulgaria (Pavúk 2016; Pavúk/Bakamska 2021) to suggest the trajectory of arrival of production economy in central Europe – by diffusion rather than by migration and colonization of populations. The assumed migration waves cannot be synchronized with the archaeologically defined autonomous Neolithic cultures from Anatolia to central Europe. The archaeological cultures from the Anatolian Plateau to central Europe documented by sequences, such as Çatal Höyük, Hacilar, Ulucak and Demircihüyük in western Turkey, Protosesklo – Sesklo – Dimini in Thessaly, Nea Nikomedeia A and B in Macedonia, Hoca Çeşme and Karanovo in Thracia, Protostarčevo – Starčevo in southern and Danubian Balkans extending to southern Hungary and finally, in the northern Carpathian basin, two Linear Pottery cultures, evolved continuously in the whole Neolithic within geographically delimited territories without being homogenized by any migrating populations. Around 6400 BC, the climate and ecological conditions near the Aegean Sea allowed expansion of production economy and the Neolithic way of life to the Balkans and central Europe.