Janus Pannonius Múzeum Évkönyve 26 (1981) (Pécs, 1982)

Régészet - Ecsedy István: A kelet-magyarországi rézkor fejlődésének fontosabb tényezői

A KELET-MAGYARORSZÁGI RÉZKOR 93 les to the Bodrogkeresztur Culture possibly having led a stock-breeding, half nomadic way of life which must have been similar to the economy of the Cernavoda III, Boleráz and Baden population.

02 The new ethnic factor of the Late Copper Age in Eastern Hungary was provided by the groups of the Pit-Grave Culture as shown by the kurgan burials of identical type all over the area. They can be equated with the similar burials of the steppe on the one hand and with the Baden and Cotofeni cultures on the other.

63 Only the earliest of them are synchronous with the very end of the Usatovo Culture which as a whole can be dated earlier than the Pit-Grave burials in Eastern Hungary. Our study concerning the relative chronology of the Pit-Grave burials has been published and the significant features of the ritual are well known too.

64 It is some remarks concerning the Pit-Grave Culture and its significance which seems necessary before analysing their possible role in the transformation of the Copper Age in South-Eastern Europe. The distribution of the Pit-Grave burials West of the Dniester is the same as that of the Csongrád Marosdécse - Casimcea type. Judging from the characteristic graves found under the barrows of different kurgan - fields or - groups it seems likely that in the Late Copper Age massive groups of the steppic nomads invaded the areas suitable for them from the Lower Danube until the Tisza river. The identical features of the ritual found even in graves relatively far from each other possibly indicate the ethnic and cultural unity. It is well known too, especially by the scholars studiing the prehistoric cultures of the steppe, that the Pit-Grave burials of the Lower Danube - Olt - Tisza area constitute a compact group. They may well represent a particular tribe within the Pit-Grave Culture covering a huge territory during a considerable period and obviously containing the material of several nomadic tribes with only a few of them specifiable for the time being.

65 It must be stressed that we count only with the graves belonging beyond doubt to the PitGrave (Yamna) type judging from their rite since it is at least doubtful wether all of the tumulus burials can be regarded as belonging to the „Kurgan Culture". It does not seem methodologically justifiable to choose widely distributed phenomenons like the tumulus itself, the fortified settlements and some techniques of vessel-decoration like the Winkelschnur" and „Furchenstich" as distinguishing features and to postulate special connections judging from their occurence.

66-67 Differently from all the later migrations from the steppe area only the burials in question testify the westward movement of the Pit-Grave population. West of the Dniester there have not been vessels found which could be regarded as characteristic products of the Pit-Grave population i. e. so called „Yamna" pottery. This fact implies that it is impossible to bring in connection the settlements with the graves possibly belonging together or to determine the settlements at all. The direct evidence proves nothing more than the appearance of the Pit-Grave population on the area. A seemingly logical hypothesis has been formed concerning the relative chronology judging from the results of the evaluation of the kurgan-tratigraphies and some radiocarbon-measurings. According to this hypothesis the earliest pit-graves West of the Dniester are likely to be equated with the Late Usatovo - Early Cernavoda III period and the latest ones are presumably contemporaneaus with the Late Cotofeni, Late Baden, Early Glina III - Schneckenberg В (Ezerovo-Zimnicea) cultures - and there is not any piece of evidence for dating precisely the majority of the graves within this relatively long period of time.

68 It seems obvious that any assumption relating to the economy and/or cultural relations of the PitGrave Culture can be risked only cautiously and there is not any sound basis for suggesting the impact of the Pit-Grave population on the areas outside the distribution of the pit-graves. We are possibly not far from right supposing that at least one part of the material culture of the PitGrave groups namely the pottery was altered after the steppeans had occupied the areas West of the Dniester. The shift must have been induced by the impact of the new neighbourhood resulting in the disappearance of the traditional „Yamna" pottery widely used on the steppe earlier and in the adoption of the types produced by the neighbouring (or subjugated?) groups. Consequently, it can be assumed that the settlements of the Pit-Grave population contain Cernavoda III, Cernavoda II, Celei, Cotofeni, Baden pottery.

69 For the time being it seems impossible to decide wether the inhabitants of a certain settlement practised the pit grave ritual. We can take into account most likely the settlements of short occupation which were found near to kurgan-fields with a pottery belonging to the period in question and with indications of the appearance of the horse. The assumption based on these features can be supported by the special characteristics of the pottery in some particular cases. The settlements containing Cernavoda III pottery appeared in Eastern Hungary without any local tradition and synchronously with the earliest groups of the Pit-Grave Culture so it seems the direct connection in this case probable. Considering these special difficulties one cannot avoid calling in question the far-reaching hypothesis about the impact of the steppic population in South-East Europe, the dispersal of the Indo-European languages, the „Indoeuropaisation of the territory of Greece, the transformation of all the cultu-