H. Bathó Edit – Kertész Róbert – Tolnay Gábor – Vadász István szerk.: Tisicum - A Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok Megyei Múzeumok Évkönyve 11. (1999)

(Theories, Critiques And A Model: Why did the expansion of the Körös-Starcevo Culture Stop in the Centre of the Carpathian Basin?)

RÓBERT KERTÉSZ-PÁL SÜMEGI THEORIES, CRITIQUES AND A MODEL: WHY DID THE EXPANSION OF THE KÖRÖS-STARCEVO CULTURE STOP IN THE CENTRE OF THE CARPATHIAN BASIN? The northern boundary of the Körös-Starcevo distribution lay in the central areas of the Carpathian Basin. Since there is no marked geomorphological boundary in this region, such as a mountain or a river, and since there was a gap in the archaeological record concerning the Mesolithic in this area, various archaeological and scientific interpretations have been advanced for why the northern boundary of the Körös—Starcevo distribution lay in this area. Somé researchers assumed an association between the laté Pleistocene drainage network and the distribution of the Körös culture. At the same time, the northern boundary of the Körös distribution cannot be evén linked to the hypothetical, Upper Pleniglacial course of the palaeo-Tisza since sites of the Körös culture appear somé 60 km north of this line. The assumed bordér river - which, as a matter of fact, preserves the traces of a 20,000 years old river activity — thus lay well to the south (Fig. 1). It seems to us that a very complex interaction evolved between the Mesolithic and the Neolithic groups in the central areas of the Carpathian Basin, and between their environment. Only a geoarchaeological model is suitable for presenting the neolithization of the region, considering the interaction between the humán factors (socio-economic levél, technical levél) and the environment (Fig. 2). If climate, bedrock, soil and the evolution of environmental mosaics are viewed jointly in the context of the Körös-Starcevo production economy, we find that these förmed a limiting boundary in the Carpathian Basin which in essence determined the northern distribution of this culture. This Central European-Balkanic agroecological barrier (abbreviated as CEB AEB) determined the northward distribution of Balkanic type neolithization in the Early Neolithic of the Carpathian Basin (Fig. 3). The CEB AEB had a decisive influence on the northward advance of the Körös-Starcevo culture and its earliest production economy in the Carpathian Basin. The Early Neolithic communities, coming from a Mediterranean cultural and economic background, found themselves in an ecological trap on the periphery of the Balkanic climatic and environmental influence - and as a result, their advance in the Carpathian Basin slowed down and eventually halted along the CEB AEB. 23