Madaras László – Szabó László – Tálas László szerk.: Tisicum - A Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok Megyei Múzeumok Évkönyve 8. (1993)
Kertész Róbert: Adatok a Nagyalföld mezolitikumához
of burins which are made also mostly on flakes. As for blades characteristic is the predominance of non-manufactured or half-made pieces. The following retouch types were used: pearl retouch, fan-shaped retouch and backing. Flaking involved the use of alternate retouch, too. The most important tools among blades are the geometric microliths. The presence of trapeze among geometric microliths is an important point in the determination of the chronological position of the site. 22 On the basis of the presence of this „young" element, according to our opinion the site belongs to the Younger Mesolithic, flourishing at the very end of the Boreal Period and the beginning of the Atlantic Period, that is at the turn of the 7th and 6th millenia B.C. Analogies With a few exceptions at present it is impossible to connect the authentic Mesolithic find assemblages of Hungary with chronological horizons within the period. It is especially difficult to interpret the finds came to light from researches carried out in the first half of the century. 23 The often contradictory data of the field surveys and excavations make extremely hard or even impossible to reconstruct the conditions of finding. Moreover, the material of these surveys and excavations stored in the museums consists of atypical pieces and those characteristic types of implements which would make possible a more exact cultural and chronological determination, are usually absent. As a result of researhes made in the second half of the century certain settlements belonging to the older phase of the Hungarian Mesolithic are already published 24 yet from the younger phase of the Mesolithic only some data have been published. The lithic industries of the following sites in the Transdanubia and in the Great Plain can be connected with the Jászberény II industry. The Kaposhomok site is situated in County Somogy, in a narrow sand hill emerging from the flood-plain of the river Kapos. 25 In the find assemblage collected at the surface besides the points of various types, retouched and denticulated blades, there are certain scrapers, obliquely truncated and backed blades which are present also at Jászberény II. As for geometric microliths the trapeze is present at both sites, but crescent which is present at Jászberény II is absent at Kaposhomok. The raw materials of the Kaposhomok tools are several types of flint and chert, only one tool was made of obsidian. The site Tarpa-Márki tanya is situated in the NE margin of the Great Hungarian Plain, near the southern piedmont area of the Carpathian Range, at the bank of the brook Szipa. The site is well-known in the literature for a long time. 26 Two excavations were made there the material of which is only partly published. The results of the first campaign are known only in the form of a short report and on the basis of its publication the material of the second campaign contains several general types without chronological value. The stratigraphy of the site is also problematic. The material found at the site, which most probably represents the remains of several prehistoric cultures from the Middle Paleolithic till the Early Neolithic, appeared to be mixed up, therefore the separation of the finds belonging to different periods was possible onty with the aid of the typological method. A chronological connection between Tarpa and Jászberény II is highly possible on the basis of the presence of trapezes at both sites — provided the Tarpa trapezes belong really to the Mesolithic. At Tarpa the majority of Mesolithic tools was made of pebbles of fluvial origin. The frequency ratio of obsidian does not reach 2 per cent. The settlement features (spots) at a Late Mesolithic site, Jászberény I, are in the Zagyva Basin, on a former island of the flood-plain of the Ancient Zagyva, in the vicinity of the site Jászberény II. The finds of the Jászberény I settlement collected at the surface are already published 29 and the industry has an identificated stratigraphy. 30 Like at Jászberény II, the technology applied at Jászberény I can be characterized by the predominance of flake manufacturing. At both sites among various types of scrapers the ones made on flakes are predominant. Among the various flake scraper types of Jászberény II, in addition to general types, circular scrapers and scrapers with arched and pointed working edge are present. As for their frequency, scrapers are followed by burins at both sites, the majority of them is also made on flakes. Jászberény I contains, like Jászberény II, only a few retouched blades, though it is noteworthy that at Jászberény I the group of flaked blades is more diversified than at the site Jászberény II. Obliquely truncated blades are present in the assemblages at both sites but as for blades those with intact edges and half-made (transversally and obliquely struck off) blades occur in greatest number at both sites. As for geometric microliths, trapeze and crescent appear at both sites, triangles, however, are present only at Jászberény I. There are numerous similarities as regards the application of retouch types 89
