Alba Regia. Annales Musei Stephani Regis. – Alba Regia. Az István Király Múzeum Évkönyve. 6.-7. 1965-1966 – Szent István Király Múzeum közleményei: C sorozat (1966)

Tanulmányok – Abhandlungen - Bándi Gábor: The Cemetery of Ercsi-Sinatelep. VI–VII, 1965–66. p. 11–25. t. I–XIV.

actually oldest Ökörhalom group, as it has been proved by Bona convincingly.

96 Probably a further development of this group gave rise to the Kulcs group along the Danube, in the area extending from Budapest to Bölcske. Judged by the excavations of settlements made so far, in this period the later Nagyrév—Vatya settlements along the Danube were uninhabited yet.

97 Their existence began at the time of the Szigetszentmiklós—Kisapostag group only, surviving in a continuous line until the end of the Vatya culture.

98 The corresponding stratigraphy of these settlements is a support for the Transdanubian inner chronology of the Nagyrév culture, as outlined here. There is no important point where this chronology woult collide with the general data and ideas regarding the inner development of the material Nagyrév culture.

90 Our final task is to define the evolution of the recently established Szigetszentmiklós— Kisapostag group, and to motivate the appearance of the Oriental elements in its material along the Danube. This group could not be developped immediately from the Kulcs group, being its precursor in the areas to the South of Budapest. This is excluded by their common sites in this area, where the Kulcs groups of graves appear in a pure and separate situation, so that we cannot suppose even a chronological contact between the two groups.

100 So it was somewhere in the area of Budapest that our group took its origin from the ökörhalom one, its nearest relative as regards archaeological material.

101 Its numerous similarities with the Kulcs group are due to this common descent.

102 Another possibility is that the two groups were formed at a roughly identical date, from a unitary basic population, but on different grounds, conveying diverse influences. In the formation of the Szigetszentmiklós— Kisapostag group, however, other factors have played a role too. This is borne out by the finds of pottery of oriental type, appearing in its material in the area of Budapest (Budapest

— Lenke Street,

10

' Lágymányos— BEAC Sports Ground,

101 96 I. BONA: Alba Regia 2,3 (1961—62) pp. 11 seq. 97 Ibid. 98 Ibid.; further Geschichte . . . pp. 12 seq. 99 Ibid. 100 Ibid. 101 Ibid. 102 Ibid. 103 F. TOMPA: BpR. 13 (1943) pp. 21 seq. 104 T. NAGY: Budapest Műemlékei II (Budapest 1962) pp. 13 seq. 105 Ibid. 106 L. NAGY: Arch Ért. 79 (1952) pp. 190 seq. 107 I. BONA: Alba Regia 2/3 (1961—62) pp. 20 seq. 108 The solution of the problem may be made easier by the material of the Alsónémedi cemetery, a site of manifold relations, where the traces of the Kőtörés and Szigetszentmiklós—Kisapostag groups of the Nagyrév culture, of a strong Bell-Beaker impact and of the Óbuda — Leipziger Sugar Factory.

105 Budapest —Castle Hill

106

), Their occurrence may be explained in two ways: 1/ by an intensive connection with the Bell-Beaker folk, 2/ possibly by the mediation of the Kőtörés group, the relations of which to the regions of the Vienna Basin and the Moravian Plain are sufficiently proved.

107 This problem is awaiting a many-sided investigation yet, pending the discovery of authentic connecting finds.

108 The Szigetszentmiklós—Kisapostag group, formed in the surroundings of Budapest, mig^ rated to the South along the Danube slowly at the turn of the Early and Middle Bronze Ages. We may find the reason of this moving possibly in the western extension of the Hatvan culture, making its appearance near the bend of the Danube at the same time.

109 This is the time which may have witnessed the birth of the westernmost group of this culture, the Tokod one.

110 To the development of the local population of the latter the Szigetszentmiklós—Kisapostag group may have contributed also genetically. This circumstance would furnish an adequate explanation for the origin of BellBeaker elements, appearing in both groups, and of the so-called „Tokod small jugs" with funnelshaped necks and globular bodies, occurring in the western group of the Hatvan culture. The further, unbroken development of the Szigetszentmiklós—Kisapostag group, drawing southwards along the Danube,

111 at the turn of the Early and Middle Bronze Ages, reaching the Vatya culture finally, may be followed through the partial analyses of the large cemeteries almost step by step, if we consider all arguments and counter-arguments quoted above. In this sense there was no obstacle to this peaceful evolution or to the formation of a new culture, respectively, either in a genetical or in an economic and social sense; actually it may have happened in the lifetime of two or three generations. On this basis we are able to solve all the riddles inherent in the theory of the Vatya origins, brought forth by I. Bona. E. g. it becomes clear, why the groups of graves of the Oriental corded ware connections are evidently present. (N. KALICZ: Arch. Ért. 84 (1957) pp. 125 seq.) The really unsolved riddle may be enucleated by authentic cemeteries which might be excavated along the northern line af the Danube and in the Budapest region. 109 N. KALICZ: The Early Bronze Age of North-Eastern Hungary and its Connections (in Hungarian)' Dissertation for a candidate's degree. Manuscript. (Budapest 1961). Chapter II, „The Hatvan Culture"; G. BÄNDI: Muzaica III pp. 41 seq. 110 Ibid. 111 The farthermost South—Western site of this move may well be the Mezőkomárom settlement, at the edge of the Mezőföld, showing the material of the Nagyrév culture, coloured by Oriental and Bell-Beaker elements. Pending a verifying excavation the material cannot be valuated adequately.