A Debreceni Déri Múzeum Évkönyve 1981 (Debrecen, 1983)
Természettudomány - Szathmáry László: The Skeletal History of the Neolithic in the Carpathian Basin
2. Early Neolithic The start of the Neolithic in the Carpathian Basin is indicated by the KörösCris-Starcevo culture (Brukner, 1966, Dimitrijevic, 1969, Kalicz, Makkay, 1972, Kosse, 1979, Kutzián, 1944, Trogmayer, 1968, 1969, Vlassa, 1976). The skeleton finds of Bedeháza, Cipau, Cluj (Necrasov, Cristescu, 1965), Deszk-Olajkut (Lipták, 1975), Gura Baciului (Necrasov, Cristescu, 1965), Hódmezővásárhely-Kotacpart-Vata farm, Bodzáspart, Endrőd, Maroslele-Pana (Farkas, 1975), Solca (Necrasov, Cristescu, 1965), Szajol-F elsőföld (Szathmáry, in press-a), Vaskút (Nemeskéri, 1944) sites in most cases show the southern origin of the population. The majority (75 per cents) of the complete skletons are of transitional type taxonomically. That is why their determination is doubtful. The proportion of Mediterranean types being above 50%, Nordic ones beeing 30% and that of the Brachycrans being about 10% are noteworthy. The absolute measurements of the skulls move in wide range. Tapeinocrania, metrio-eurymetopia, mesene-leptene, meso-hypsikrania, chamaerrhinia and meso-brachystaphylia are characteristic of the relative measurements of the skulls. Two components of different origin can be separated. Those being in strong connection with Late Mesolithic-Preneolithic Vlasac „B" components and with the hybrid ,,AB" forms. They represent an even more characteristic microevolutionary tendency in the Neolithic of Lepenski Vir. Secondly, there are new immigrant components the parallels of which can be found among the skeletal finds of Nea Nikomedeia (Angel, 1973), Devetaska, Kasanlak, Karanovo, Jassa tepe (Boev, 1972) and Anza (Nemeskéri, Lengyel, 1977). The presence of southern immigrants may be in connection with the increased proportion of the Mediterranean type. Thus the Neolithic population waves first reaching the Carpathian Basin also consisted of new immigrant components besides Preneolithic populations from the vicinity of Dedrap. Moreover, the earlier autochthonous inhabitants in the south periphery of the Carpathian Basin may have been dirfted toward the basin by the repeated southern migrations. West of the Danube the Lánycsók find of the Starcevo culture (Zoffmann, 1978a) proves the survival of the gene pool of the earlier Derdap population in the Carpathian Basin. The immigrant Early Neolithic finds can be correlated with the Early Neolithic populations spreading from south on the base of several morphological trends. One of them is the gracilization, i. e. Preneolithic and Early Neolithic populations took the place of more archaic, more robust populations as they drew northwards. The other trend is the microcephalization, i. e. the decrease of the general measurements of the skull. Both tendencies are in connection with the third one, the feminization of the sexualization. All these trends had firm basis south of the Carpathian Basin as early as the beginning of the Mesolithic. Thus the Early Neolithic populations appeared not as total strangers but as the continuation of the above mentioned morphological trends. The migration to the north of the Körös group and the preceding preneolithic and Late Mesolithic populations was due to the step by step warming of the climate, while the cooling after the climate optimum in the latest period of the Early Neolithic gave rise to the formation of the Danubian I. (AVK = Alföld Linear Pottery) culture (Kalicz, Makkay, 1966, 1977, Korek, 1967, 1970). Only two certain findspots of the AVK skeletons are known. In Mezőcsát-Seedling nursey findspot a skeleton of Vlasac ,,B — AB" character ware unearthed (Szathmáry, in print -b), while in Berettyószentmárton-Morotva fragmentary gracile skeletons were dug up (Szathmáry, 1979b). These finds do not present a basis for the consideration of the developing of Linear Pottery population. It seems more expedient to analyse the Linear Pottery finds together with the skeletons of their later, i. e. Middle Neolithic groups. However, the separation archaeologically is rather difficult as the archaeological material characteristic of 53
