Gecse Annabella et al. (szerk.): Tisicum - A Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok Megyei Múzeumok Évkönyve 18. (Szolnok, 2009)
Régészet - Csányi Marietta–Raczky Pál–Tárnoki Judit: Előzetes jelentés a rézkori bodrogkeresztúri kultúra Rákóczifalva–Bagi-földön feltárt temetőjéről
Tisicum XVIII. cemetery as well. This fits the clear patterns established by recent analyses within the context of high Copper Age cemeteries, especially at Tiszapolgár—Basatanya. Radiocarbon measurements of nine graves, representing the Bodrogkeresztúr culture in the cemetery excavated at Rákóczifalva, were carried out in the laboratory of the Vienna Environmental Research Accelerator (VERA; Table VI.). The series of dates thus obtained form an evidently harmonic, unambiguous system (Figure 8.). Moreover, radiocarbon samples were selected in order to evenly represent the cemetery's spatial distribution. Therefore, the summary of nine dates would probably also outline the chronological position of the cemetery. According to these measurements, the selected group of nine graves may be dated to 4334— 4075 cal BC (Figure 9.). Using the same data it may be concluded that the cemetery was in use for 56 to 199 years. The mean value of this interval is 127 years (Figure 10.). Meanwhile, plotting the nine dated graves over the cemetery’s plan, a clear historical picture may be outlined concerning the internal chronology of burial in the cemetery. Graves 21, 23, 24, 41 and 59, that belong to the western group, seem to be consistently earlier than Graves 1, 4, 8 and 63 dated from the eastern group (Figure 8.). This makes it very likely that burials spread from west toward east. When the four and five graves representing each spatial group are pooled and calibrated separately, the resulting time intervals are 4333-4237 cal BC (west, Figure 11.) and 4228-4046 cal BC (east, Figure 12.) respectively. These dates clearly illustrate a diachronic spatial trend in cemetery use. The absolute chronological boundaries (4334-4075 cal BC) thus established for the Bodrogkeresztúr culture cemetery excavated at Rákóczifalva—Bagi föld look rather surprising against the backdrop of both previous chronological data and our current ideas of relative chronology. Since 1955, a sequential developmental model of the Tiszapolgár—Bodrogkeresztúr—Baden cultural units has formed a generally accepted interpretive framework. On the basis of radiocarbon data, the lives of the Tiszapolgár and Bodrogkeresztúr cultures were estimated at 4500-4000 cal BC and 4000-3600 cal BC respectively. In other words, on the basis of the radiocarbon dates presented here, the Bodrogkeresztúr culture cemetery excavated at Rákóczifalva seems to be partially parallel with the Tiszapolgár culture. In light of these dates it seems possible that the two cultures were in contact both in a chronological and geographical sense, that is, their respective developments were parallel. The 4500-4000 cal BC time interval obtained for the Tiszapolgár culture is of particular interest in light of the consonant dates obtained by an ongoing US-Hungarian project. Early assemblages of grave goods observed in other Bodrogkeresztúr culture cemeteries as well as peculiar grave goods from so-called transitional burials (e. g. at the cemeteries of Tiszapolgár—Basatanya, Tiszavalk-Tetes, Magyarhomorog-Kónyadomb, Magyartés, etc.) support the hypothesis of spatial contact as well as contemporaneity, rather than sequential relation between the Tiszapolgár and Bodrogkeresztúr cultural units. These parallels raise the necessity of reconsidering the historical interpretation of the Copper Age in the Tisza region. Instead of the previously accepted unilinear model, a development of adjacent cultural units, representing different forms of evolution should be outlined on a multivariate basis. (Translated by László Bartosiewicz) 34
