Folia archeologica 54.

20 ANDRÁS MARK

O of Kasov I.

3

8 Taking into consideration, that in Szob not a single retouched tool of these raw material groups were found and the local production of burins is clearly indicated by the presence of the characteristic spalls, we can point out that the secondary worked pieces were exported from the site also. Some pieces were imported to Szob as ready-made tools and only the use and the rejuvenation of the edge was carried out on site. In these cases the first part of the reduction sequence is missing from the assemblage, like at the complex nr. 26. In some cases, like the 'baking slabs' of andesite (complexes 11, 13), the fragments of angular pattern and the relatively coarse grained quartzite variants, the absence of the pieces seems to be surprising. Concerning this later group we have to mention, that the raw material of several complexes (7, 16, 20 and 29 or 18, 23 and 24) are very similar to each other and possibly originate from the same blocks. CONCLUDING REMARKS The refitting study proved to be successful method even in the case of the more than 44 years ago excavated site of Szob - Ipoly-part: about one quarter of the assemblage could have been refitted. On the first approach the presence of at least 13 different siliceous pebbles and nodules, 7 cobbles of quartzite and 3 slabs of andesite could have been reconstructed and as a minimum 15 reduction refits are documented from the excavated part of the site. Apart from the special complexes of the andesite there are two different classes of both the artefacts and the refit groups: the siliceous pebbles were mainly used to form single platform bladelet cores to produce partly cortical blanks, similar to the naturally backed pieces, and the coarser grained quartzite was probably exploited as flake cores, yielding numerous cortical pieces also. In the reduction system of the siliceous pebble types the imported intact pieces were decorticated, transformed to bladelet cores, renewed and abandoned on the site. A part of the blanks and the retouched tools were exported from the excavated area, similarly to the burins of which only the spalls are present in the assemblage. On the other hand, at least in some cases the special raw material types, attested by hardly incomplete operational chains were introduced to the site as readymade tools (burin of silex) or as prepared core (Mecsek-type radiolarite), and were only maintained and/or discarded on site. We can suppose that the single pieces of the extralocal hydrothermal raw material types from the Cserhát and the Mátra mountains or the obsidians, found in the 'lower layer' before the Word War II were part of a similar, open system of stone working. The character of the site of Szob is partly described as a primary workshop of pebble raw materials, sustained by the presence of the cortical blanks detached from the exported cores, even if the generally low quality of the raw materials seems to contradict this. The high number of'tested' and abandoned pieces, together with the completely reconstructed reduction system of the oval shaped quartzite pebbles underlines the workshop-character. On the other hand, the 'economic' method of the core exploitation of reddish radiolarite, the indications of imported cores, lacking from the assemblage and the secondary working of naturally broken fragments of very low quality pebbles seem to be unexpected on a primary workshop site. Furthermore the unique moulds of fossil molluscs, collected in the immediate vicinity of the site of Szob and the complex fireplace, found in 1940 call our attention to the problems and the complexity of the determination of the purpose of a settlement. Generally, our observations agree with the overall picture of the Ságvárian in-