BOOKS by Krisztián Oross
Confinia et Horizontes, 2024
The monograph series Confinia et Horizontes has been launched to disseminate the results of the p... more The monograph series Confinia et Horizontes has been launched to disseminate the results of the prehistoric research connected to the Römisch-Germanische Kommission (RGK), the 120-year-old research institution of the German Archaeological Institute. One of its key themes is the Sárköz and the dissemination of the results of the RGK’s 5-years-long support project on the proceedings of the excavations and surveys in the south Transdanubian 6th-5th millennium cal BC settlement niche, including the mega-site Alsónyék. Hungarian experts from Budapest and Szekszárd, in cooperation with the RGK, carried out the fieldwork and the evaluation. The first volume on the Sárköz Neolithic was published in 2020, with the purpose of “setting the scene”: the environmental history of the Danubian Sárköz region.
The excavation results from the Alsónyék settlement and adjacent sites in the Sárköz yielded a wide range of human osteological and zooarchaeological findings. The present volume summarises the bioarchaeological research carried out since the excavations. Parallel to the RGK and Archaeological Institute’s joint evaluation programme, a DFG research project, led by Kurt W. Alt and Eszter Bánffy, investigated the archaeogenetic and stable isotope results taken from Neolithic skeletons, with a strong focus on the Sárköz sites. Three PhD dissertations on osteology and aDNA research were born from these projects. The present volume includes the results of each: the osteological and palaeopathological study on the vast number of Alsónyék Neolithic burials (by Kitti Köhler), and the mitochondrial DNA investigations on the Sárköz skeletons as compared to neighbouring coeval human remains (Anna Szécsényi-Nagy, Viktoria Keerl). Aside from these cornerstones of the volume, further studies enrich the picture of the state of bioarchaeological research: chapters on mobility and diet based on stable isotopes (Margaux L. C. Depaermentier and colleagues), and on animal remains of mammals and mussels (Anna Zs. Biller, Balázs Nagy and colleagues). Eszter Bánffy and Alexander Gramsch edited the volume.
FULL_OA_PUBLICATION_THE ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY OF THE PREHISTORIC SÁRKÖZ REGION IN SOUTHERN HUNGARY, 2020
Confinia et horizontes is a publication series aimed at disseminating the results of major prehis... more Confinia et horizontes is a publication series aimed at disseminating the results of major prehistoric (Neolithic and Bronze Age) projects of the Romano-Germanic Commission of the German Archaeological Institute. The title of the new series deliberately combines Latin and Greek terms: in referring to border regions and boundary lines, it calls to mind that any marginal, liminal zone is characterised by different groups that establish contacts through exchange and trade, transfer ideas, knowledge and practices, and thus open new perspectives and horizons. The individual volumes will be joint publications with our cooperating partner institutions. The volumes will include publications of fieldwork, environmental and non-invasive landscape research, as well as geo- and bioarchaeology. The ultimate goal of Confinia et horizontes is to achieve interdisciplinarity, interlinking all kinds of research data in order to contribute to a differentiated construction of various dimensions of past societies. THis is Vol. 1 that gives a summary of the long-term prospections and environmental historical research on the Danube valley in Southern Hungary.
The Castellum Pannonicum Pelsonense series was established in 2010, its aim being to publish the ... more The Castellum Pannonicum Pelsonense series was established in 2010, its aim being to publish the results from archaeological investigations in and around the Roman fortification of Keszthely-Fenékpuszta. Chronologically, it focuses on Late Antiquity but volumes in the series soon began to include pre- and protohistoric contributions (CPP4) or articles concerning the Middle Ages (CPP6). The Kis-Balaton region that includes Fenékpuszta and south-western Hungary in a wider regional sense is home to a dense network of pre- and protohistoric sites which also give significant insights into occupation processes at a supra-regional comparative level. The rich spectrum of finds and contexts in the area led to the idea of assembling a volume that presents older and newer research in the region from the Neolithic to the Iron Age. This objective could not have been reached without the support of the Romano-Germanic Commission (RGK). Eszter Bánffy, director of the RGK, approved the project and worked towards developing the concept alongside Judit Barna. The substantial contribution of the RGK, both financial and in terms of the content of this volume, is acknowledged by including the Commission as a publisher? of the series. Orsolya Heinrich-Tamáska oversaw the gestation of the book – as she had done for previous volumes – on behalf of the institutions involved in its publication.
The contributions are arranged chronologically, starting with the Neolithic. The main focus of the volume is on the Copper and Bronze Ages, with an excursus into the Late La Tène period at the end. While the volume contains results from recent fieldwork undertaken by contract archaeology, and even more importantly those of completely new methods like ancient DNA research, the long-overdue publication of some material has also been included. The studies also reflect the decades-long, intensive Neolithic and Chalcolithic research activity of Zsuzsanna M. Virág and Judit P. Barna and their teams on behalf of the Balaton Museum of Keszthely.
Research into the prehistoric settlement pattern of south-western Transdanubia kicked off in 1979. A governmental decision came into force at that time, to re-inundate the former marshland in the estuary of the Zala river and the south-western part of Lake Balaton, in the Little Balaton region. Ever since the 19th century, the land, which had been intentionally drained in the hope of promoting agricultural use, failed to be productive. Thus, before the re-cultivation of the area, which today is under strict natural protection, the archaeological and heritage sites of the region had to be surveyed. Fieldwalking, surveys and excavations were carried out in cooperation with the Thury György Museum (Nagykanizsa), the Göcsej Museum (Zalaegerszeg), the Balatoni Museum (Keszthely) and the Archaeological Institute of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. Some of the contributions to the present volume are intended to belatedly offset the debt owed to this past research.
The years of the Little Balaton project proved to be an initial step in long-term and large-scale survey and excavation activity further west, in the valley connecting Nagykanizsa to Zalaegerszeg (e.g. the Hahót project, 1986–1993) and eventually the basin lying close to the Austrian and Slovenian border (the Kerka project, 1995–2002). These projects triggered further research into prehistory and produced some conclusive results from the Neolithic to the Iron Age in the broader region of Western Transdanubia. Finally, the investigations conducted before the M7 motorway was built in the 1990s along the southern shore of Lake Balaton and towards Croatia gave the opportunity to record further sites.
The present volume could draw on this long research tradition. Yet, it is not unusual that the publication of such a composite volume takes time to come to fruition. Most of the manuscripts were handed in by their authors as early as the end of 2015 or the beginning of 2016. Thus, the lack of references to literature published after that time is not the authors’ fault but a symptom of the “sickness” affecting multi-authored volumes and hence the result of the long-drawn-out editing process. We would like to thank all our authors for their patience and hope that the resulting volume has been worth the long wait.
One of the authors, László Horváth, sadly did not see this book come out. He had long been committed to the archaeology of the Iron Age and Roman period in south-western Hungary and took part in the investigations and excavations of the Little Balaton project and at Keszthely-Fenékpuszta. His essay in our volume was to be the last in a distinguished series of publications.
We hope that this collection of studies on the late prehistoric settlement and occupation of the Little Balaton area is not merely paying back an old debt but a presentation of useful and stimulating results from current research and an inspiration to all those interested in the lives of the early settlers of this region.
by Lazarovici Gheorghe, Adam Crnobrnja, Nerantzis Nerantzis, Krisztián Oross, Wolfram Schier, Diaconescu Dragos, Gaal Istvan, Marko Sraka, mirjana blagojevic, Florin Drasovean, Zsuzsanna Siklósi, Anett Osztás, and Lea Čataj
BOOK CHAPTERS by Krisztián Oross
In: Róbert Patay, András Rajna (eds): Nyomvonalak. Megelőző régészeti feltárások az M0-s autópálya délkeleti, valamint a 4. számú főút Vecsést és Üllőt elkerülő szakaszain, 2024
The main aims of the radiocarbon dating are to clarify the chronology of the Copper Age settlemen... more The main aims of the radiocarbon dating are to clarify the chronology of the Copper Age settlement at Ecser, Site 6 and Maglód, Site 1 and to estimate the start, end, and duration of activity on the site. As the samples came from disarticulated cattle bone fragments, all nine must be considered terminus post quem dates. The measurementswere carried out in the Vienna Environmental Research Accelerator (VERA) laboratory. Despite the limited number of available radiocarbon dates, four formal chronological models were completed with the OxCal v4.4.4 calibration software. The results of the individual measurements were included as normal data in the models, as otherwise, imprecise data parameters would have prevented model building. The first model considers the chronology of the Baden complex settlement as a single, continuous phase, while the others intend to analyse possible differences between the use time of distinct settlement parts.
Based on the individual calibrated intervals and primarily the first and fourth formal chronological models, the settlement was inhabited during the classical period of the Baden complex. Activity started there in the first half of the century between 3400–3300 cal BC but not before 3410 cal BC, and ended in the decades around 3000 cal BC. Some data parameters, particularly those representing 95% probability intervals, are imprecise due to the limited number of dates and cannot be used as a basis for further conclusions. It cannot be ruled out that the beginning of the activity in the central part of the settlement predates the earliest dated activity in the outer parts by one or two human generations. Some data from the central settlement part also suggest that the earliest activity may have slightly preceded the generally accepted beginning of the classical period of the Baden complex (around 3350 cal BC). However, a further, carefully planned radiocarbon dating programme could only confirm or refute these assumptions.
Eszter Bánffy and Alexander Gramsch (eds): The Neolithic of the Sárköz and Adjacent Regions in Hungary: Bioarchaeological Studies, 2024
The present study was part of the interdisciplinary research project entitled “Bevölkerungsgeschi... more The present study was part of the interdisciplinary research project entitled “Bevölkerungsgeschichte des Karpatenbeckens
in der Jungsteinzeit und ihr Einfluss auf die Besiedlung Mitteleuropas”, funded by the DFG from 2010 to
2014. The focus of this study is the population history of 6th–5th millennia cal BC Neolithic and Copper Age period
of the Carpathian Basin, focusing predominantly on the territory of present-day Hungary. Here, the results of a large
interdisciplinary project – aimed to perform ancient DNA analyses (uniparentally inherited mitochondrial DNA and
Y-chromosome) on human remains – and the conclusions thereof on population history of the study area are presented.
The comparative population genetic analyses reveal not only a massive migration of the first farming communities
(Starčevo-Körös-Criș culture) from the same Anatolian Neolithic populations of related genetic substrate but also the
predominant continuity of their maternal lineages over the studied two millennia. The sign of hunter-gatherer resurgence
was detectable only up to a small proportion in the second half of the 6th millennium cal BC. The genetic
complexity of the populations under study was influenced by smaller scale population genetic events. New paternal
lineages, arriving at the beginning of the 5th millennium cal BC to the western Carpathian Basin, lived on, along with
the maternal lineages, into the mid-5th millennium cal BC. This characterised a Late Neolithic population, which
became genetically stronger linked to the eastern part of the region than the populations of the preceding centuries.
The study is completed by a review of the the latest results gained by genome-wide analyses of ancient populations.
These essentially support the assumptions made by mitochondrial DNA analyses but also refine some of our
previous conclusions.
In: Bondár Mária (szerk.): Késő rézkori temetkezések régészeti és bioarcheológiai elemzése / Mária Bondár (ed.) Archaeological and Bioarchaeological Studies on Late Copper Age Burials , 2023
The radiocarbon dating programme of the research project examined 120 radiocarbon dates from 22 s... more The radiocarbon dating programme of the research project examined 120 radiocarbon dates from 22 sites, of which 91 individual measurements from 21 sites were analysed for obtaining data on the absolute chronology of the Baden complex. The radiocarbon dates in question represented three different categories. Some measurements came from previous evaluations and radiocarbon dating projects targeting the chronology of the Baden complex. Another group of dates was obtained to verify the age of archaeogenetic (aDNA) samples. The third series of available dates were derived from the samples that were carefully selected and measured as part of the present project. Most of these were chosen because of their archaeological context and assumed chronological position, while a few aimed at confirming the age of the aDNA samples analysed in the project. The measurements were carried out in three AMS radiocarbon facilities: the Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre (SUERC) in Glasgow, UK, the Poznań Radiocarbon Laboratory, Poland, and in the Ede Hertelendi Laboratory of Environmental Studies (HEKAL) in Debrecen, Hungary.
In: Miroslav Marić, Jelena Bulatović, Nemanja Marković (eds): Relatively Absolute. Relative and Absolute Chronologies in the Neolithic of Southeast Europe, 2023
Archaeological research on Neolithic southern Transdanubia between Lake Balaton and the Drava Riv... more Archaeological research on Neolithic southern Transdanubia between Lake Balaton and the Drava River has received particular attention over the last 20 years. Besides large-scale excavations of early farming settlements, micro-regional surveys and various bioarchaeological investigations, one of the most significant research objectives has been establishing an absolute chronological framework for the region. Hundreds of AMS radiocarbon measurements have been made during several research projects. The Times of Their Lives ERC Advanced Investigator Grant explored radiocarbon chronology as its primary task. A series of research projects funded by the National Research, Development and Innovation Office of Hungary and other institutions have enriched databases with essential data. This paper focuses on the 6th millennium cal BC, particularly on the second half of that period, and thus the consolidation of the Neolithic in the region.
The swift spread of the Neolithic across the Balkan Peninsula reached the southernmost parts of the Carpathian basin during the last centuries of the 7th millennium cal BC. The process did not become frozen entirely afterwards, and a gradual northward shift of the frontier zone could be recorded in eastern Hungary. In contrast, any regional-scale Transdanubian model can only be derived from the general dynamics of the Neolithic dispersal rather than from actual radiocarbon measurements.
Another pivotal point of the regional chronology is the formation of radically different types of settlements after the initial Neolithic and their possible contribution to the neolithisation of central Europe. Despite a series of successful dating programmes, the virtually unlimited variability of late 6th millennium cal BC material culture encourages further research on its spatial and temporal patterns. Radiocarbon dating programmes can also be powerful tools to fix the actual use-time of different pottery styles and manufacturing technologies. At the same time, they provide substantial information on the evolution and density of the regional settlement system.
The third focus of the paper discusses the end of the Linearbandkeramik world from a particular perspective. This includes the appearance of a distinct material culture (Sopot) originating in the south and its coexistence with the LBK on a regional level.
In Spataro, M., Furholt, M. (Eds.). Detecting and explaining technological innovation in prehistory. Scales of transformation in prehistoric and archaic societies 8. ISBN 978-90-8890-826-2, Leiden: Sidestone Press, 49-71, 2020
Research on the Linearbandkeramik culture has a long tradition on both the northern and the south... more Research on the Linearbandkeramik culture has a long tradition on both the northern and the southern shore of Lake Balaton, the largest still water of Central Europe. Even smaller find assemblages from the region proved invaluable when the relative chronological framework of the LBK was established for western Hungary. In the wake of the large-scale excavations after 1990, we gained an insight into the architecture of several LBK settlements. The vast amount of finds from recently discovered sites surpassed by far earlier collections both in terms of their quality and quantity. Geomagnetic prospections, the formal modelling of AMS radiocarbon dates and various bioarchaeological analyses also stimulated new approaches in the study of early farming communities that challenged earlier models.
The discovery of the LBK settlement at Keszthely-Lendl Adolf út provided an unrivalled oppor- tunity for a site-level investigation as well as for further studies on a regional scale. Some of the architectural remains of most probably 18 buildings and the pottery finds proved to be exceptionally diagnostic. The material culture of the two investigated house groups indicates an occupation during the later and late LBK phases. Keszthely style sherds were frequently found mixed with Zseliz/Želiezovce style fragments in some excavated features, occasionally together with a few Notenkopf decorated sherds. The observed combination of distinctive architectural traits, the settlement layout and pottery styles demonstrates ties with both northern and southern Transdanubia. Our recent findings have generally confirmed prior assumptions on the existence of a distinctive regional pattern in the Balaton region. Beyond this particular region, however, local traits and cultural processes should be critically reconsidered on a much wider scale between Lake Balaton and the Dráva River, in the contact zone between Central and South-East Europe.
In Amicone, S., Quinn, P.S., Marić, M., Mirković- Marić, N., Radivojević, M., (Eds.). Tracing pottery-making recipes in the prehistoric Balkans, 6th – 4th millennia BC. Oxford: Archaeopress. ISBN 978-1-78969-208-2. 65-77., 2019
Due to copyright issues unfortunately it is not possible to make the complete article accessible ... more Due to copyright issues unfortunately it is not possible to make the complete article accessible here. If you are interested in a copy please contact me.
In Burnez-Lanotte, L. (Ed.) "Matières à Penser": Raw materials Acquisition and Processing in Early Neolithic Pottery Productions. Proceedings of the Workshop of Namur (Belgium) 29 and 30 May 2015. Société préhistorique française, 111–132., 2017
Excavations on the Neolithic site of Balatonszárszó-Kis-erdei-dűlő, located in western Hungary in... more Excavations on the Neolithic site of Balatonszárszó-Kis-erdei-dűlő, located in western Hungary in central Transdanubia, on the southern shore of Lake Balaton, revealed several thousand features. On the basis of material culture and architectural features, the settlement can be assigned to the Central European Linearbandkeramik culture (LBK; ca. 5,350–5,000/4,900 cal. BC). Apart from pits, traces of 48 houses were discovered. At least 14 other sets of features could also be interpreted as houses, mainly through the presence of characteristic elongated pits.
In the first model of the site’s development, five pottery style groups were distinguished on the basis of stylistic elements such as shape and decoration. These style groups show a spatial pattern within the settlement. Their major characteristics are easy to correlate with traditional typochronological units of the LBK in the western Carpathian Basin. Although chronological relevance can be attributed to the groups, certain typological and stylistic attributes had a long duration and appear in different style groups.
For the purposes of this study, eight houses and their associated features were selected. The ceramics from these features are characteristic of each style group. The aim was to examine the technology of ceramics, in particular choices in raw materials and intentionally added tempers, as well as building techniques.
During a previous analysis of ceramics from the settlement, 461 sherds were chosen for macroscopic analysis, from which 131 samples were selected for further petrographic thin section analysis. Of these samples, 99 come from the eight houses and pits examined in this study. These features produced a total of 9,161 sherds. As part of the analysis of vessel building techniques, all the available material
from the examined houses was assessed, out of which 109 vessels could be attributed to a forming method.
Ceramic petrographic results show that there is a clear change in ceramic technology at household level. The earliest houses of the site show little variability in choices of raw materials and tempers, while houses of Style groups 2–5 show increased choice in raw materials and purposefully added tempers. As far as vessel fashioning is concerned, an opposite trend can be observed. Style group 1 ceramics show considerable variety in technical practices, with at least three forming methods, while ceramics in Style groups 2–3 and 5 are characterized by only one or two forming methods. Thus it seems that variability in building methods slightly decreased towards the end of the settlement.
Ceramic technological changes could be identified on a household level, providing an insight into settlement dynamics. These patterns in the use of raw materials/tempers and building methods may be related to the fact that producers came from different learning networks and had different conceptions of how to build a culturally appropriate vessel. The strength of analysing ceramic technologies on a household level is that we are able to model where ceramic technological changes first appeared within a given settlement and we can assess the nature of these changes. In turn, these patterns can be correlated with typochronology and the analysis of other types of material culture from the part of the site where the changes appeared. In this way we can improve our understanding of settlement dynamics and social changes.
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BOOKS by Krisztián Oross
The excavation results from the Alsónyék settlement and adjacent sites in the Sárköz yielded a wide range of human osteological and zooarchaeological findings. The present volume summarises the bioarchaeological research carried out since the excavations. Parallel to the RGK and Archaeological Institute’s joint evaluation programme, a DFG research project, led by Kurt W. Alt and Eszter Bánffy, investigated the archaeogenetic and stable isotope results taken from Neolithic skeletons, with a strong focus on the Sárköz sites. Three PhD dissertations on osteology and aDNA research were born from these projects. The present volume includes the results of each: the osteological and palaeopathological study on the vast number of Alsónyék Neolithic burials (by Kitti Köhler), and the mitochondrial DNA investigations on the Sárköz skeletons as compared to neighbouring coeval human remains (Anna Szécsényi-Nagy, Viktoria Keerl). Aside from these cornerstones of the volume, further studies enrich the picture of the state of bioarchaeological research: chapters on mobility and diet based on stable isotopes (Margaux L. C. Depaermentier and colleagues), and on animal remains of mammals and mussels (Anna Zs. Biller, Balázs Nagy and colleagues). Eszter Bánffy and Alexander Gramsch edited the volume.
The contributions are arranged chronologically, starting with the Neolithic. The main focus of the volume is on the Copper and Bronze Ages, with an excursus into the Late La Tène period at the end. While the volume contains results from recent fieldwork undertaken by contract archaeology, and even more importantly those of completely new methods like ancient DNA research, the long-overdue publication of some material has also been included. The studies also reflect the decades-long, intensive Neolithic and Chalcolithic research activity of Zsuzsanna M. Virág and Judit P. Barna and their teams on behalf of the Balaton Museum of Keszthely.
Research into the prehistoric settlement pattern of south-western Transdanubia kicked off in 1979. A governmental decision came into force at that time, to re-inundate the former marshland in the estuary of the Zala river and the south-western part of Lake Balaton, in the Little Balaton region. Ever since the 19th century, the land, which had been intentionally drained in the hope of promoting agricultural use, failed to be productive. Thus, before the re-cultivation of the area, which today is under strict natural protection, the archaeological and heritage sites of the region had to be surveyed. Fieldwalking, surveys and excavations were carried out in cooperation with the Thury György Museum (Nagykanizsa), the Göcsej Museum (Zalaegerszeg), the Balatoni Museum (Keszthely) and the Archaeological Institute of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. Some of the contributions to the present volume are intended to belatedly offset the debt owed to this past research.
The years of the Little Balaton project proved to be an initial step in long-term and large-scale survey and excavation activity further west, in the valley connecting Nagykanizsa to Zalaegerszeg (e.g. the Hahót project, 1986–1993) and eventually the basin lying close to the Austrian and Slovenian border (the Kerka project, 1995–2002). These projects triggered further research into prehistory and produced some conclusive results from the Neolithic to the Iron Age in the broader region of Western Transdanubia. Finally, the investigations conducted before the M7 motorway was built in the 1990s along the southern shore of Lake Balaton and towards Croatia gave the opportunity to record further sites.
The present volume could draw on this long research tradition. Yet, it is not unusual that the publication of such a composite volume takes time to come to fruition. Most of the manuscripts were handed in by their authors as early as the end of 2015 or the beginning of 2016. Thus, the lack of references to literature published after that time is not the authors’ fault but a symptom of the “sickness” affecting multi-authored volumes and hence the result of the long-drawn-out editing process. We would like to thank all our authors for their patience and hope that the resulting volume has been worth the long wait.
One of the authors, László Horváth, sadly did not see this book come out. He had long been committed to the archaeology of the Iron Age and Roman period in south-western Hungary and took part in the investigations and excavations of the Little Balaton project and at Keszthely-Fenékpuszta. His essay in our volume was to be the last in a distinguished series of publications.
We hope that this collection of studies on the late prehistoric settlement and occupation of the Little Balaton area is not merely paying back an old debt but a presentation of useful and stimulating results from current research and an inspiration to all those interested in the lives of the early settlers of this region.
BOOK CHAPTERS by Krisztián Oross
Based on the individual calibrated intervals and primarily the first and fourth formal chronological models, the settlement was inhabited during the classical period of the Baden complex. Activity started there in the first half of the century between 3400–3300 cal BC but not before 3410 cal BC, and ended in the decades around 3000 cal BC. Some data parameters, particularly those representing 95% probability intervals, are imprecise due to the limited number of dates and cannot be used as a basis for further conclusions. It cannot be ruled out that the beginning of the activity in the central part of the settlement predates the earliest dated activity in the outer parts by one or two human generations. Some data from the central settlement part also suggest that the earliest activity may have slightly preceded the generally accepted beginning of the classical period of the Baden complex (around 3350 cal BC). However, a further, carefully planned radiocarbon dating programme could only confirm or refute these assumptions.
in der Jungsteinzeit und ihr Einfluss auf die Besiedlung Mitteleuropas”, funded by the DFG from 2010 to
2014. The focus of this study is the population history of 6th–5th millennia cal BC Neolithic and Copper Age period
of the Carpathian Basin, focusing predominantly on the territory of present-day Hungary. Here, the results of a large
interdisciplinary project – aimed to perform ancient DNA analyses (uniparentally inherited mitochondrial DNA and
Y-chromosome) on human remains – and the conclusions thereof on population history of the study area are presented.
The comparative population genetic analyses reveal not only a massive migration of the first farming communities
(Starčevo-Körös-Criș culture) from the same Anatolian Neolithic populations of related genetic substrate but also the
predominant continuity of their maternal lineages over the studied two millennia. The sign of hunter-gatherer resurgence
was detectable only up to a small proportion in the second half of the 6th millennium cal BC. The genetic
complexity of the populations under study was influenced by smaller scale population genetic events. New paternal
lineages, arriving at the beginning of the 5th millennium cal BC to the western Carpathian Basin, lived on, along with
the maternal lineages, into the mid-5th millennium cal BC. This characterised a Late Neolithic population, which
became genetically stronger linked to the eastern part of the region than the populations of the preceding centuries.
The study is completed by a review of the the latest results gained by genome-wide analyses of ancient populations.
These essentially support the assumptions made by mitochondrial DNA analyses but also refine some of our
previous conclusions.
The swift spread of the Neolithic across the Balkan Peninsula reached the southernmost parts of the Carpathian basin during the last centuries of the 7th millennium cal BC. The process did not become frozen entirely afterwards, and a gradual northward shift of the frontier zone could be recorded in eastern Hungary. In contrast, any regional-scale Transdanubian model can only be derived from the general dynamics of the Neolithic dispersal rather than from actual radiocarbon measurements.
Another pivotal point of the regional chronology is the formation of radically different types of settlements after the initial Neolithic and their possible contribution to the neolithisation of central Europe. Despite a series of successful dating programmes, the virtually unlimited variability of late 6th millennium cal BC material culture encourages further research on its spatial and temporal patterns. Radiocarbon dating programmes can also be powerful tools to fix the actual use-time of different pottery styles and manufacturing technologies. At the same time, they provide substantial information on the evolution and density of the regional settlement system.
The third focus of the paper discusses the end of the Linearbandkeramik world from a particular perspective. This includes the appearance of a distinct material culture (Sopot) originating in the south and its coexistence with the LBK on a regional level.
The discovery of the LBK settlement at Keszthely-Lendl Adolf út provided an unrivalled oppor- tunity for a site-level investigation as well as for further studies on a regional scale. Some of the architectural remains of most probably 18 buildings and the pottery finds proved to be exceptionally diagnostic. The material culture of the two investigated house groups indicates an occupation during the later and late LBK phases. Keszthely style sherds were frequently found mixed with Zseliz/Želiezovce style fragments in some excavated features, occasionally together with a few Notenkopf decorated sherds. The observed combination of distinctive architectural traits, the settlement layout and pottery styles demonstrates ties with both northern and southern Transdanubia. Our recent findings have generally confirmed prior assumptions on the existence of a distinctive regional pattern in the Balaton region. Beyond this particular region, however, local traits and cultural processes should be critically reconsidered on a much wider scale between Lake Balaton and the Dráva River, in the contact zone between Central and South-East Europe.
In the first model of the site’s development, five pottery style groups were distinguished on the basis of stylistic elements such as shape and decoration. These style groups show a spatial pattern within the settlement. Their major characteristics are easy to correlate with traditional typochronological units of the LBK in the western Carpathian Basin. Although chronological relevance can be attributed to the groups, certain typological and stylistic attributes had a long duration and appear in different style groups.
For the purposes of this study, eight houses and their associated features were selected. The ceramics from these features are characteristic of each style group. The aim was to examine the technology of ceramics, in particular choices in raw materials and intentionally added tempers, as well as building techniques.
During a previous analysis of ceramics from the settlement, 461 sherds were chosen for macroscopic analysis, from which 131 samples were selected for further petrographic thin section analysis. Of these samples, 99 come from the eight houses and pits examined in this study. These features produced a total of 9,161 sherds. As part of the analysis of vessel building techniques, all the available material
from the examined houses was assessed, out of which 109 vessels could be attributed to a forming method.
Ceramic petrographic results show that there is a clear change in ceramic technology at household level. The earliest houses of the site show little variability in choices of raw materials and tempers, while houses of Style groups 2–5 show increased choice in raw materials and purposefully added tempers. As far as vessel fashioning is concerned, an opposite trend can be observed. Style group 1 ceramics show considerable variety in technical practices, with at least three forming methods, while ceramics in Style groups 2–3 and 5 are characterized by only one or two forming methods. Thus it seems that variability in building methods slightly decreased towards the end of the settlement.
Ceramic technological changes could be identified on a household level, providing an insight into settlement dynamics. These patterns in the use of raw materials/tempers and building methods may be related to the fact that producers came from different learning networks and had different conceptions of how to build a culturally appropriate vessel. The strength of analysing ceramic technologies on a household level is that we are able to model where ceramic technological changes first appeared within a given settlement and we can assess the nature of these changes. In turn, these patterns can be correlated with typochronology and the analysis of other types of material culture from the part of the site where the changes appeared. In this way we can improve our understanding of settlement dynamics and social changes.
The excavation results from the Alsónyék settlement and adjacent sites in the Sárköz yielded a wide range of human osteological and zooarchaeological findings. The present volume summarises the bioarchaeological research carried out since the excavations. Parallel to the RGK and Archaeological Institute’s joint evaluation programme, a DFG research project, led by Kurt W. Alt and Eszter Bánffy, investigated the archaeogenetic and stable isotope results taken from Neolithic skeletons, with a strong focus on the Sárköz sites. Three PhD dissertations on osteology and aDNA research were born from these projects. The present volume includes the results of each: the osteological and palaeopathological study on the vast number of Alsónyék Neolithic burials (by Kitti Köhler), and the mitochondrial DNA investigations on the Sárköz skeletons as compared to neighbouring coeval human remains (Anna Szécsényi-Nagy, Viktoria Keerl). Aside from these cornerstones of the volume, further studies enrich the picture of the state of bioarchaeological research: chapters on mobility and diet based on stable isotopes (Margaux L. C. Depaermentier and colleagues), and on animal remains of mammals and mussels (Anna Zs. Biller, Balázs Nagy and colleagues). Eszter Bánffy and Alexander Gramsch edited the volume.
The contributions are arranged chronologically, starting with the Neolithic. The main focus of the volume is on the Copper and Bronze Ages, with an excursus into the Late La Tène period at the end. While the volume contains results from recent fieldwork undertaken by contract archaeology, and even more importantly those of completely new methods like ancient DNA research, the long-overdue publication of some material has also been included. The studies also reflect the decades-long, intensive Neolithic and Chalcolithic research activity of Zsuzsanna M. Virág and Judit P. Barna and their teams on behalf of the Balaton Museum of Keszthely.
Research into the prehistoric settlement pattern of south-western Transdanubia kicked off in 1979. A governmental decision came into force at that time, to re-inundate the former marshland in the estuary of the Zala river and the south-western part of Lake Balaton, in the Little Balaton region. Ever since the 19th century, the land, which had been intentionally drained in the hope of promoting agricultural use, failed to be productive. Thus, before the re-cultivation of the area, which today is under strict natural protection, the archaeological and heritage sites of the region had to be surveyed. Fieldwalking, surveys and excavations were carried out in cooperation with the Thury György Museum (Nagykanizsa), the Göcsej Museum (Zalaegerszeg), the Balatoni Museum (Keszthely) and the Archaeological Institute of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. Some of the contributions to the present volume are intended to belatedly offset the debt owed to this past research.
The years of the Little Balaton project proved to be an initial step in long-term and large-scale survey and excavation activity further west, in the valley connecting Nagykanizsa to Zalaegerszeg (e.g. the Hahót project, 1986–1993) and eventually the basin lying close to the Austrian and Slovenian border (the Kerka project, 1995–2002). These projects triggered further research into prehistory and produced some conclusive results from the Neolithic to the Iron Age in the broader region of Western Transdanubia. Finally, the investigations conducted before the M7 motorway was built in the 1990s along the southern shore of Lake Balaton and towards Croatia gave the opportunity to record further sites.
The present volume could draw on this long research tradition. Yet, it is not unusual that the publication of such a composite volume takes time to come to fruition. Most of the manuscripts were handed in by their authors as early as the end of 2015 or the beginning of 2016. Thus, the lack of references to literature published after that time is not the authors’ fault but a symptom of the “sickness” affecting multi-authored volumes and hence the result of the long-drawn-out editing process. We would like to thank all our authors for their patience and hope that the resulting volume has been worth the long wait.
One of the authors, László Horváth, sadly did not see this book come out. He had long been committed to the archaeology of the Iron Age and Roman period in south-western Hungary and took part in the investigations and excavations of the Little Balaton project and at Keszthely-Fenékpuszta. His essay in our volume was to be the last in a distinguished series of publications.
We hope that this collection of studies on the late prehistoric settlement and occupation of the Little Balaton area is not merely paying back an old debt but a presentation of useful and stimulating results from current research and an inspiration to all those interested in the lives of the early settlers of this region.
Based on the individual calibrated intervals and primarily the first and fourth formal chronological models, the settlement was inhabited during the classical period of the Baden complex. Activity started there in the first half of the century between 3400–3300 cal BC but not before 3410 cal BC, and ended in the decades around 3000 cal BC. Some data parameters, particularly those representing 95% probability intervals, are imprecise due to the limited number of dates and cannot be used as a basis for further conclusions. It cannot be ruled out that the beginning of the activity in the central part of the settlement predates the earliest dated activity in the outer parts by one or two human generations. Some data from the central settlement part also suggest that the earliest activity may have slightly preceded the generally accepted beginning of the classical period of the Baden complex (around 3350 cal BC). However, a further, carefully planned radiocarbon dating programme could only confirm or refute these assumptions.
in der Jungsteinzeit und ihr Einfluss auf die Besiedlung Mitteleuropas”, funded by the DFG from 2010 to
2014. The focus of this study is the population history of 6th–5th millennia cal BC Neolithic and Copper Age period
of the Carpathian Basin, focusing predominantly on the territory of present-day Hungary. Here, the results of a large
interdisciplinary project – aimed to perform ancient DNA analyses (uniparentally inherited mitochondrial DNA and
Y-chromosome) on human remains – and the conclusions thereof on population history of the study area are presented.
The comparative population genetic analyses reveal not only a massive migration of the first farming communities
(Starčevo-Körös-Criș culture) from the same Anatolian Neolithic populations of related genetic substrate but also the
predominant continuity of their maternal lineages over the studied two millennia. The sign of hunter-gatherer resurgence
was detectable only up to a small proportion in the second half of the 6th millennium cal BC. The genetic
complexity of the populations under study was influenced by smaller scale population genetic events. New paternal
lineages, arriving at the beginning of the 5th millennium cal BC to the western Carpathian Basin, lived on, along with
the maternal lineages, into the mid-5th millennium cal BC. This characterised a Late Neolithic population, which
became genetically stronger linked to the eastern part of the region than the populations of the preceding centuries.
The study is completed by a review of the the latest results gained by genome-wide analyses of ancient populations.
These essentially support the assumptions made by mitochondrial DNA analyses but also refine some of our
previous conclusions.
The swift spread of the Neolithic across the Balkan Peninsula reached the southernmost parts of the Carpathian basin during the last centuries of the 7th millennium cal BC. The process did not become frozen entirely afterwards, and a gradual northward shift of the frontier zone could be recorded in eastern Hungary. In contrast, any regional-scale Transdanubian model can only be derived from the general dynamics of the Neolithic dispersal rather than from actual radiocarbon measurements.
Another pivotal point of the regional chronology is the formation of radically different types of settlements after the initial Neolithic and their possible contribution to the neolithisation of central Europe. Despite a series of successful dating programmes, the virtually unlimited variability of late 6th millennium cal BC material culture encourages further research on its spatial and temporal patterns. Radiocarbon dating programmes can also be powerful tools to fix the actual use-time of different pottery styles and manufacturing technologies. At the same time, they provide substantial information on the evolution and density of the regional settlement system.
The third focus of the paper discusses the end of the Linearbandkeramik world from a particular perspective. This includes the appearance of a distinct material culture (Sopot) originating in the south and its coexistence with the LBK on a regional level.
The discovery of the LBK settlement at Keszthely-Lendl Adolf út provided an unrivalled oppor- tunity for a site-level investigation as well as for further studies on a regional scale. Some of the architectural remains of most probably 18 buildings and the pottery finds proved to be exceptionally diagnostic. The material culture of the two investigated house groups indicates an occupation during the later and late LBK phases. Keszthely style sherds were frequently found mixed with Zseliz/Želiezovce style fragments in some excavated features, occasionally together with a few Notenkopf decorated sherds. The observed combination of distinctive architectural traits, the settlement layout and pottery styles demonstrates ties with both northern and southern Transdanubia. Our recent findings have generally confirmed prior assumptions on the existence of a distinctive regional pattern in the Balaton region. Beyond this particular region, however, local traits and cultural processes should be critically reconsidered on a much wider scale between Lake Balaton and the Dráva River, in the contact zone between Central and South-East Europe.
In the first model of the site’s development, five pottery style groups were distinguished on the basis of stylistic elements such as shape and decoration. These style groups show a spatial pattern within the settlement. Their major characteristics are easy to correlate with traditional typochronological units of the LBK in the western Carpathian Basin. Although chronological relevance can be attributed to the groups, certain typological and stylistic attributes had a long duration and appear in different style groups.
For the purposes of this study, eight houses and their associated features were selected. The ceramics from these features are characteristic of each style group. The aim was to examine the technology of ceramics, in particular choices in raw materials and intentionally added tempers, as well as building techniques.
During a previous analysis of ceramics from the settlement, 461 sherds were chosen for macroscopic analysis, from which 131 samples were selected for further petrographic thin section analysis. Of these samples, 99 come from the eight houses and pits examined in this study. These features produced a total of 9,161 sherds. As part of the analysis of vessel building techniques, all the available material
from the examined houses was assessed, out of which 109 vessels could be attributed to a forming method.
Ceramic petrographic results show that there is a clear change in ceramic technology at household level. The earliest houses of the site show little variability in choices of raw materials and tempers, while houses of Style groups 2–5 show increased choice in raw materials and purposefully added tempers. As far as vessel fashioning is concerned, an opposite trend can be observed. Style group 1 ceramics show considerable variety in technical practices, with at least three forming methods, while ceramics in Style groups 2–3 and 5 are characterized by only one or two forming methods. Thus it seems that variability in building methods slightly decreased towards the end of the settlement.
Ceramic technological changes could be identified on a household level, providing an insight into settlement dynamics. These patterns in the use of raw materials/tempers and building methods may be related to the fact that producers came from different learning networks and had different conceptions of how to build a culturally appropriate vessel. The strength of analysing ceramic technologies on a household level is that we are able to model where ceramic technological changes first appeared within a given settlement and we can assess the nature of these changes. In turn, these patterns can be correlated with typochronology and the analysis of other types of material culture from the part of the site where the changes appeared. In this way we can improve our understanding of settlement dynamics and social changes.
In order to gain a more complex view of these themes, three micro-regions have been selected around key sites for further study of different vantage points between Lake Balaton and the Dráva/Drava river. The southernmost one is located in the Southern Baranya Hills, the second along the Danube on the northern fringes of the Tolna Sárköz and in the adjacent section of the Sárvíz valley, while the third lies in the central section of the southern shore of Lake Balaton. Field surveys including the systematic collection of surface finds complemented by geomagnetic prospections can contribute significantly to the reconstruction of settlement clusters.
Absolute chronology has become an important research focus due to larger sets of radiocarbon dates interpreted within a Bayesian framework. The two dominant scenarios for the start of the westward expansion of the LBK are hard to harmonise with each other. An approach that estimates the beginning of the process around 5500 cal BC at the latest gains support from a west-central European perspective. In contrast, recent radiocarbon dating programmes with formal modelling of AMS series within a Bayesian framework estimate the appearance of the LBK west of the Carpathian basin hardly before 5350–5300 cal BC. The latter view provides the potential of harmonising the Neolithisation of central Europe with the emergence of the Vinča culture, at least in its northernmost region. Beyond this debate, ancient DNA analyses have enriched the discussions on migration, demic diffusion and the scale of hunter-gatherer contribution to the process with fresh arguments.
does knowledge of the archaeology with the radiocarbon dating of carefully chosen samples of
known taphonomy in association with diagnostic material culture. The risks of dating bone samples
are reviewed, along with a brief history of the development of approaches to the radiocarbon dating
of bone. In reply to Strien (2017), selected topics concerned with the emergence and aftermath of
the LBK are discussed, as well as the early Vinča, Ražište and Hinkelstein sequences. The need for
rigour in an approach which combines archaeology and radiocarbon dating is underlined.
populations were descended from Anatolian migrants1–8 who
received a limited amount of admixture from resident huntergatherers3–
5,9. Many open questions remain, however, about the
spatial and temporal dynamics of population interactions and
admixture during the Neolithic period. Here we investigate the
population dynamics of Neolithization across Europe using a highresolution
genome-wide ancient DNA dataset with a total of 180
samples, of which 130 are newly reported here, from the Neolithic
and Chalcolithic periods of Hungary (6000–2900 bc, n = 100),
Germany (5500–3000 bc, n = 42) and Spain (5500–2200 bc, n = 38).
We find that genetic diversity was shaped predominantly by local
processes, with varied sources and proportions of hunter-gatherer
ancestry among the three regions and through time. Admixture
between groups with different ancestry profiles was pervasive and
resulted in observable population transformation across almost all
cultural transitions. Our results shed new light on the ways in which
gene flow reshaped European populations throughout the Neolithic
period and demonstrate the potential of time-series-based sampling
and modelling approaches to elucidate multiple dimensions of
historical population interactions.
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.
The Sopot culture is normally regarded as a horizon with a questionable chronological position on the boundary between the Middle and Late Neolithic in western Hungary. Its role in the formation of the large-scale Lengyel complex remains controversial. Scholars can agree that it was brought to the region from the south, but there have been different views concerning the timing of its spread in the western Carpathian basin. Some have seen it as an entirely pre-Lengyel development, and others as at least partly contemporaneous with the early Lengyel culture.
Dating within the ERC-funded project, The Times of Their Lives, aimed to provide formally modelled estimates of the timing and duration of the Sopot occupation at Alsónyék, and in so doing also to contribute to better understanding of the context and development of the Sopot culture in Hungary. The paper presents 17 dates on human and animal bone (including five existing dates from burials), which are modelled in a Bayesian statistical framework. The model concentrates on the samples available from the burials, and its main element regards the burials as representing a continuous period of activity in this area of the Alsónyék complex. The model estimates that the Sopot burials probably began in
5095–5020 cal BC (68% probability), probably lasted for 220–340 years (68% probability), and probably ended in 4825–4750 cal BC (68% probability). The model also estimates a terminus ante quem for the digging of Ditch 211 of probably 4930–4870 cal BC (68%
probability).
These estimates help to inform debate about the relative sequence of cultural developments
in the region, and the relationship of Sopot communities to those of the LBK and
the Lengyel cultures. As Alsónyék is the largest currently known Sopot burial ground in
Hungary in eastern Transdanubia, this chronology is particularly valuable for modelling
cultural interactions along the Danube between the northern Balkans and the Carpathian
basin. The Sopot component also contributes significantly to the construction of a robust
chronology for the long sequence of occupations at Alsónyék.
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).
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.
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.
architectural features observed on other LBK sites, such as bedding trenches and the postholes suggesting a storage floor in the southern room of tripartite houses, were apparently lacking at this site. The Balatonszárszó settlement lies on the southern shore of Lake Balaton, in the transitional zone between northern and southern Transdanubia, which during the late LBK period was characterised by mixed ceramic assemblages containing both the Zseliz/Želiezovce type of the northern region and the Keszthely type of the southern region. The regional differences between north and south recall the situation of a few hundred years earlier when southern Transdanubia was colonised by the Starčevo culture and the northerly regions were inhabited by Late Mesolithic groups and, later, by the earliest LBK communities. The architectural differences can perhaps be interpreted as reflecting a regional variation, providing a possible explanation for why the architecture of the Balatonszárszó site, lying in the former Starčevo distribution, differs from that of the LBK houses in northern Transdanubia and south-western Slovakia.
Mapping out these patterns has therefore become an essential part of our research on the social dynamics of Roman era southern Transdanubia, concentrating mainly on Hungary’s Tolna, Somogy and Baranya counties. By utilizing recent advances in non-invasive site detection techniques (such as GPS-aided large-scale field surveys), we have examined a number of micro-regions in the area, each as similar in their environmental and observation characteristics as possible. We then surveyed these areas in their entirety. These surveys gave us the opportunity to map out not only the complete distribution of sites and find material in these regions, but also the empty areas between the different settlements. While these off-site areas were often excluded from the analysis of past surveying efforts, they form an integral part of any human landscape as the parts utilized by the inhabitants of local settlements. They may also indicate various social or economic factors that could influence where and how people settled. As such, the analysis of these areas is vital not only to the understanding of these complex human landscapes, but to their modeling as well.
The presentation aims to discuss our approach to these off-site areas, the impact of their incorporation into the assessment of micro-regional structures and the creation of a more accurate model on central Pannonia’s Roman landscape.
Hungarian Danube, and in more general terms the southern
and western parts of Transdanubia, form one of the key
regions that witnessed the transformation to sedentary and
farming life at the onset of the sixth millennium cal BC.
This landscape reflects a great many local and, apparently,
irreversible changes with an impact on a vast area of central
Europe. In this paper we report on some unusual burials from
two of the Sárköz Neolithic settlements and one from the
adjacent hills, dating from the sixth to fifth millennium cal
BC. Having given a brief general overview of these sites, we
will now focus on a few observations which seem pertinent
for each of the three sites, in particular, the presence of
‘unusual’ burials within the settlement areas.
were descended from Anatolian migrants who received a limited amount of
admixture from resident hunter-gatherers. Many open questions remain, how-
ever, about the spatial and temporal dynamics of population interactions and
admixture during the Neolithic period. Using the highest-resolution genome-
wide ancient DNA data set assembled to date|a total of 177 samples, 127
newly reported here, from the Neolithic and Chalcolithic of Hungary (6000{
2900 BCE, n = 98), Germany (5500{3000 BCE, n = 42), and Spain (5500{
2200 BCE, n = 37)|we investigate the population dynamics of Neolithization
across Europe.