Fitz Jenő (szerk.): Die aktuellen Fragen der Bandkeramik - István Király Múzeum közelményei. A. sorozat 18. A Pannon konferenciák aktái 1. (Székesfehérvár, 1972)

J. Nandris: Kapcsolatok a mérsékelt égőr legkorábbi újkőkora és a vonaldíszes kerámia között

tâtions continue to be of importance. The Tisza culture, or the Vinöa culture itself, have barbed antler points and other fishing equipment with long antecedents in the European mesolithic. Here again let us note a parallel with the hiserial antler points found with polished stone axes, antler hafts and a Tardenoisian industry at the Falkenstein Höhle, or the later Bandkeramik pottery and the wild fauna found with a similar antler point at Gniessen on the Upper Rhine.<10)

It is, of course, with the differentiated successors of the First Temperate Neolithic in south-east Europe (such as Szakálhát and Tisza, Vinca or Boian) that any Bandkeramik relations with this geographical area are to be found. After the period of relative cultural homogeneity over the FTN area more localised groups appear.

This relationship with the south east is also seen in the distribution of Spondylus ornaments, already present in the Starőevo as at Lepenski Vir, but more emphasised in Vinöa, Boian and contemporary cultures. There are no radiocarbon dates for the Starcevo levels with barrel beads at Lepenski Vir, but they should lie anywhere after the dates of c. 4(100 B. C. for the immediately preceding levels. Very comparable Spondylus barrel beads are present in the Botos cemetery from Vinca-A in the Banat. In Greece the use of Spondylus can be demonstrated by 4000 B. C. at the latest, by virtue of its occurrence in levels III or IV of Kitsos Cave near Lavrion. Level III is C-14 dated to 3920+ 150 B. C. - Gif 1280.(U) Spondylus is thus certainly in widespread use in the second half of the fifth millennium, but not necessarily associated with the earliest spread of the Bandkeramik nor indicative of its direct origin in any shell-bearing region. It certainly occurs in „Notenkopf” and Bükk contexts, and is in general thus complementary to the relations and resemblances indicated by the figurines. In Central Europe imitations of Spondylus also come into use, as in the clay pendants from Mohelnice<12) or the more directly imitative whole notched shell in calcite spar from Esperstedt, Kr. Querfurt.<13) Working of Spondylus is directly attested in the Hamangia culture in the pieces found with a copper chisel at Hirsova.U4) The question of the use of „fossil Spondylus” hardly seems to alter the relation with southern regions, since its use, as that of calcite imitations, must seem to follow upon that of Spondylus itself.

Relationships certainly seem to be present between the Bandkeramik and south east Europe, both in its formative phases (with the Hungarian plain) 10 11 12 13 14

(10) J. G. I). CLARK, Blade and Trapeze industries of the European Stone Aç/е. I’PS 1958, 24 — 42.

(11) RCH 1969, 956-966.

(12) R. TICHŸ, Die neolithische Siedlung hei Mohelnice па Мог. (Bez. Zábreh). Prehled vÿzkumu 1956. Arch, ústav CSAV, Brno 1959. Pl. 4/5.

(13) H. H. MÜLLER, AuF 2/5, 1957, 223-225, fig. 1.

(14) D. GALBENU, Dacia 7, 1963, 501.

and later on (in Spondylus ornaments.) This, together with the great east-west extension of Bandkeramik distribution, tends to produce an image of a rapid movement from east to west across Europe from the direction of the admittedly primary eastern sources for the neolithic mode. The astonishing homogeneity of the material, as e.g. between the Dutch and Czech material, and the equally noticeable parity between the radiocarbon dates (the Dutch being in general as early as any in Central Europe) seems to support this view. However, I believe it to be misleading, if viewed in the light of the evolutionary processes operating in the period. The great lateral geographical extent of Bandkeramik settlement should not disguise the fact that essentially it represents a further extension northwards, during the latter part of the fifth millennium BC, of the areas for which the ’neolithic’ way of life acquired a real adaptive value. This is manifested by the conspicuous success of the neolithic, and ultimately its dominance. The Bandkeramik itself is not primarily an east-west movement of peoples, but an extension northwards on a broad front of this area of relevance. The north-westerly distortion of this fundamental northward component is attributable to environmental factors. The trend was contained between the topography climate and vegetation of the Alpine zone on the one hand, and the Boreal (northern) forest on the other. In speaking of such ‘trends’ let us once again be clear that it is the extension of areas within which it became relevant, during the Altithermal, to adopt the neolithic mode of behaviour which is in question, and not necessarily large scale population movements. This extension northwards of established human settlement, together in all probability with a tendency to increases in population, is a major feature of the Neothermal period. Episodic movements of peoples may indeed have occurred. In cases where formerly peri-glacial or even glaciated regions are involved there can be no doubt that such events were involved, and this may be reflected in processes taking place at lower latitudes. It is however processes, such as increase of population, northward extension and the adaptations involved, increased density and aggregation of settlement, which are of the first importance in this context, rather than the events which carried them forward.

The First Temperate Neolithic probably incorporates elements of all these main processes. In its adaptation to Temperate conditions it represents an entirely original phenomenon, quite independently of any arguments about the constitution of the population involved and the nature of the observable links with proximal mediterranean regions. The Bandkeramik regions of Central Europe can almost certainly be linked in an analogous way with the First Temperate area, and constitutes just as certainly an original adaptation, although one perhaps less fundamental than the initial break with the Mediterranean environment.

In both cases there exists a mediating area of a transitional nature. In the first case this is represen