Agria 39. (Az Egri Múzeum Évkönyve - Annales Musei Agriensis, 2003)
Domboróczki László: Radiokarbon adatok Heves megye újkőkori régészeti lelőhelyeiről
Dating the ALP Period Research Overview and Critical Observations Radiocarbon dating did not really feature in archaeological debates in Hungary in the decades immediately after the Second World War. 43 The results of the first С 14 measurements only started becoming available during the 1960s, mainly as a result of the activities of laboratories in Berlin. Even so, by the 1980s the number of dated sites in Hungary had barely increased and dating was restricted to only one or two measurements. Initially those dates which questioned the traditional chronology (based on stratigraphical and typological comparisons) were treated with great scepticism. It was only from the beginning of the 1980s, by which time the debates going on at international level had started to quieten down that the long chronology marked out in calendar dates was finally acknowledged in Hungary, albeit with one or two notable exceptions. 44 From the final years of the decade the chronological correlations were refined with the help of those summaries taking the absolute chronology as their basis. 45 An attempt at providing calendar datings for the Alföld Linear Pottery had already been made in 1977 by N. Kalicz and J. Makkay when, based on a decade of research, they published the ALP site survey. This defined the regional types as well as their typological and chronological relationships. Despite the existence of several published radiocarbon datings, the authors did not place much importance on them, choosing to use them only for reference purposes. 46 The reluctant reception of С 14 datings has meant that N. Kalicz and J. Makkay's monograph continues to provide the basis for most chronologies. Despite the fact that the authors have since changed their opinions on the question of the Szatmár Group most of their conclusions continue to be valid, the work itself still being considered the standard work. 47 Later changes also occurred in the periodisation of the ALP period, prompted by the most recent views on the origins of the ALP. 48 During the 1990s it became clear that the dating of individual ALP fragments was by no means reliable. 49 This partly contributed, during the middle of the decade, to the search for more reliable sources for absolute dating. It was only from the beginning of the 1990s, however, that real opportunities to produce chronological evaluations based on С 14 data opened up in Hungarian Neolithic studies. It was then that enough data was gathered, mainly thanks to the work of the laboratory in Debrecen, to provide a basis for serious academic analyses. It was the work of F. Horváth and E. Hertelendi which made the first serious attempt to produce a chronology for the Neolithic period in the Tisza region by bringing the traditional chronological phases into line with the radiocarbon dates. 50 43 AITKEN, Martin 1982. 31-35., RENFREW, Colin 1979. 338-369., RACZKY Pál 1988. 9-13. 44 MAKKAY János 1985., MAKKAY János 1989. 45 Literature: HERTELENDI Ede ET AL. 1995. 239. 46 KALICZ Nándor-MAKKAY János 1977. 110-111. 47 The Szatmár I. phase was rejected: KALICZ Nándor-MAKKAY János 1976. 22. Later, and partly related to this: KALICZ Nándor 1995. 54., footnote 55., MAKKAY János 1996. 37-38., footnote 13. 48 RACZKY Pál 1983. 187-190. The basis of the Szatmár Group's existence (the Szatmár II as well) was questioned by: RACZKY Pál 1986. 38-39., 1988. 28-30. 49 HORVÁTH László András 1994. 187-188. 50 HORVÁTH Ferenc 1991. 259-273., HORVÁTH Ferenc-HERTELENDI Ede 1994. 111-113. 21
