Longhouse times: dating the Alsónyék LBK settlement (original) (raw)
Related papers
Krisztián Oross et al.: Longhouse times: dating the Alsónyék LBK settlement
Bericht der Römisch-Germanischen Kommission 94 (2013), 2016
In the central part of the main area of the Alsónyék complex investigated an LBK settlement was discovered. The features belonging to the LBK occupation were uncovered in subsites 10B, 11 and 5603. The location of houses could be determined by the long pits flanking presumed timber framed constructions; postholes are very poorly preserved. Fifty house plans could be identified, most of them based on the long pits. Most Neolithic archaeologists agree that the western part of the Carpathian basin served as the cradle of the LBK. The Balaton area and the region south of the lake had an important role in the development of the culture and in the spread of the Neolithic to central Europe. Southern Transdanubia, however, has previously been a veritable terra incognita for settlement research of the culture, despite the evidence for LBK sites from the region. Dating of the LBK occupation was funded by the OTKA project, Alsónyék from the beginning of food production to the end of the Neolithic and has been undertaken in a cooperation with the ERC-funded project, The Times of Their Lives. The aim has been to provide formally modelled date estimates of the timing and duration of the LBK occupation at Alsónyék, to gain insight into intra-site development and dynamics, and further the absolute chronology of the LBK on a regional scale. This paper presents 23 radiocarbon dates from 21 samples, interpreted within a formal chronological framework, for the LBK settlement at Alsónyék. The Bayesian model presented estimates that LBK activity probably began in 5335–5280 cal BC (68% probability), probably lasted for 290–410 years (68% probability), and probably ended in 5010–4915 cal BC (68% probability).
Alex Bayliss, Osztas Anett, Tibor Marton, István Dr. Zalai-Gaál, Krisztina Somogyi, Gaal Istvan, Eszter Banffy, Éva Ágnes Nyerges, Anett Osztás, Alasdair Whittle, Köhler Kitti
2016
The Neolithic settlement of Alsónyék reached its greatest extent during the Late Neolithic Lengyel period. Nearly 9000 features, including postholes associated with 122 houses, pits and pit complexes, and c. 2300 burials, could be assigned to it. The traces of Lengyel settlement and burials were found over the entire excavated area, with an estimated extent of some 80 ha. The burials uncovered mostly form part of groups of graves, actually being small cemeteries within the various parts of the settlement. Apart from the grave groups, several solitary or scattered graves were also found. Other large Lengyel burial grounds or large Lengyel settlements with numerous burials are known in Transdanubia, but the enormous number of graves at Alsónyék is unprecedented within the Lengyel cultural complex as a whole, and provides exciting opportunities for varied archaeological and bioarchaeological investigations. The discovery of 122 surface-level, timber-framed houses at a single site is also unique for the area and the Lengyel period as a whole. These buildings help to build a better understanding of the architecture and lifestyle of the Lengyel population, which is a fairly new strand in the settlement archaeology of the Lengyel culture in Hungary and beyond. This and the sheer size of the site make Alsónyék exceptionally significant. Altogether 217 radiocarbon results are presented for the Lengyel phase. For the purpose of analysis subsites 5603, 11 and 10B have been modelled separately. The modelled estimates are precise enough that it is possible to estimate robustly the timing of activity across the site. The modelling suggests that burial activity in subsite 5603 probably began in 4790–4740 cal BC (68% probability) and that it began at a similar time, 4795–4745 cal BC (68% probability), in subsite 11. An intensive period of burial began slightly later, in 4715–4690 cal BC (68% probability), on subsite 10B. At this time settlement was established across a wide area, in subsite 11 from 4745–4690 cal BC (68% probability), on subsite 5603 from 4745–4665 cal BC (68% probability), and on subsite 10B from 4720–4700 cal BC (68% probability). After a brief episode of intense occupation, lasting at most a few decades, settlement and then burial ended on the northernmost subsite 10B, in the 4700s or 4690s cal BC (68% probability) and 4695–4670 cal BC (68% probability) respectively. Settlement also ended before burial on subsite 11, but endured for much longer. The settlement here ended in 4670–4620 cal BC (37% probability) or 4610–4565 cal BC (31% probability) and burial in 4585–4515 cal BC (68% probability). Both settlement and burial endured longest on subsite 5603, although here the end of burial preceded the end of settlement by well over a century. Burial ended here in 4515–4465 cal BC (68% probability), and settlement ended in 4345–4245 cal BC (68% probability).
Coalescent community at Alsónyék: the timings and duration of Lengyel burials and settlement
2016
The Neolithic settlement of Alsonyek reached its greatest extent during the Late Neolithic Lengyel period. Nearly 9000 features, including postholes associated with 122 houses, pits and pit complexes, and c. 2300 burials, could be assigned to it. The traces of Lengyel settlement and burials were found over the entire excavated area, with an estimated extent of some 80 ha. The burials uncovered mostly form part of groups of graves, actually being small cemeteries within the various parts of the settlement. Apart from the grave groups, several solitary or scattered graves were also found. Other large Lengyel burial grounds or large Lengyel settlements with numerous burials are known in Transdanubia, but the enormous number of graves at Alsonyek is unprecedented within the Lengyel cultural complex as a whole, and provides exciting opportunities for varied archaeological and bioarchaeological investigations. The discovery of 122 surface-level, timber-framed houses at a single site is al...
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...
Eszter Bánffy et al.: The Alsónyék story: towards the history of a persistent place
Gaal Istvan, Alex Bayliss, Osztas Anett, Tibor Marton, István Dr. Zalai-Gaál, Krisztián Oross, Eszter Banffy, Éva Ágnes Nyerges, Anett Osztás, Alasdair Whittle, Köhler Kitti
2016
Drawing on the papers in this volume that precede it, our discussion brings all the chapters of the long story of Alsónyék into a single narrative, discussing in more interpretive terms notions of persistent place, community, aggregation and coalescence, with an eye on different scales of analysis and the broader tempo of change. We look especially at the remarkably long persistence of Alsónyék, the intensity of its occupation and the trajectory of population increase and decline at the site. We begin by comparing general conditions of early village emergence with the specific evidence for the development of settlement and population in Transdanubia and beyond in central Europe, before summarising date estimates for the successive periods of occupation at Alsónyék itself, from Starčevo through LBK and Sopot to the Lengyel. We emphasise the long continuity of occupation except for the gap between Starčevo and LBK, the probable overlap between LBK and Sopot, and the acceleration of growth in the Lengyel period. The exceptional persistence of place seen at Alsónyék is examined in further detail, with comparison to elsewhere leading on to discussion of the sense of place and community that may have been experienced through the Alsónyék sequence. Characterisation of the Lengyel occupation as not only a major aggregation but also a coalescent community is explored; the causes of such developments elsewhere, as seen in the historical and ethnographic record, are noted, including periods of social instability and inter-community violence. The extraordinary intensity of activity at Alsónyék is further modelled in various ways to provide estimates of population and numbers of buildings in use through the Lengyel sequence. The peak of intense activity was probably only maintained for a generation or two around 4700 cal BC, and the decline of the Lengyel site was perhaps only slightly slower than its rise (covering two or three generations in the latter part of the 47th century cal BC). Activity did not reduce to its pre-Lengyel levels, however, but persisted for several more centuries at perhaps two or three times the intensity of any pre-Lengyel occupation. A search for the causes of the Alsónyék aggregation — and of its decline — remains challenging, though answers may eventually be found in the further study of the regional settlement complex or the detailed history of disease. No extensive signs of violence have so far been recorded. We further discuss possible constituents of the coalescence represented at Alsónyék, noting the frequent houses and possible households and neighbourhoods, and looking beyond these to the idea of wards, clans and moieties. Possible clues to internal differences within the site are noted for future research, and it is only with further work that the full Alsónyék story can be told.
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.