Tálas László szerk.: The late neolithic of the Tisza region (1987)

The Late Neolithic of the Tisza region: A survey of recent archaeological research (N. Kalicz and P. Raczky)

A SURVEY OF RECENT ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCH The most characteristic settlement form of the Herpály culture appears to have been the tell and tell-like sites. The tells or tell-like mounds generally lie along well-definiable points of the local drainage network, on islets or small peninsulas almost completely surrounded by water. The settlements of this culture are situated at a distance of a few kilometres from each other, forming an almost regular network (MAKKAY 1957, 32; KAUCZ-RACZKY 1984, 85). These tells are surrounded by smaller and larger single-layer settlements, occupied for briefer periods of time, that are separated from the central settlement by a watercourse (Berettyószentmárton and Zsáka). The size of the tells varies and they are mostly elongated or oval in form. The Herpály tell, for example, measures approximately 80 x 40 metres, but there are both smaller and larger tells. Their occupation deposits often accumulated to 3 metres. Most Herpály tells, however, are relatively small and appear to have been the most densely occupied sites of the Late Neolithic in Hungary. The basal area of these tells is small, rarely exceeding 0.5 ha, a feature that distinguishes them from the Tisza tells. No large-size tells or tell-like settlement mounds have yet been reported from the Herpály distribution territory. The other major difference with the Tisza culture is that there are at least twice as many tells over a smaller area in proportion to the Tisza culture (KAUCZ-RACZKY 1984, 91-96; KALICZ 1985,131). Csőszhalom-type sites are without exception found along major watercourses. The few known sites yielded evidence for the presence of all three settlement forms: tells, tell-like mounds and, more often than not, single-layer, horizontal settlements. Most impressive among these is the tell settlement at the eponymous site of Tiszapolgár-Csőszhalom. This mound resembles a flattened cone in form and its layers accumulated to three and a half metres. The investigated area of this site exposed 5 successive occupation levels (KUTZIÁN 1958, 16). An intricate network of smaller waterways had originally surrounded the tell. The Csőszhalom mound is the most thickly stratified tell presently known from the northern part of the Great Hungarian Plain, whose levels could be assigned to various phases of the same culture. The Csőszhalom mound is, at the same time, the northernmost tell in Europe. The occupation deposits of Bodrogzsadány-Templomdomb did not reach such an impressive height, even though the nature of the settlement features indicated a tell-like site (KUTZIÁN 1959, 26-27; BOCNÁR-KUTZIÁN 1970, 130-131). The presence of the tell settlement form is also indicative of the influence, or even possible presence, of the Herpály culture in the Upper Tisza region since the northern part of the Tisza distribution territory (north of the Körös valleys) is uniformly characterised by singlelayer horizontal sites suggesting that the tells or tell-like settlement mounds of the Csőszhalom group can only be derived from the corresponding settlement forms of the Herpály culture. The internal organisation of the Late Neolithic settlements of the Tisza region shall now be surveyed. What must be noted in this respect is that the three distinct settlement forms of the Late Neolithic described in the above often occur side by side, often complementing each other and forming one complex settlement structure as, for example, at Szegvár-Tűzköves, Lebő-Alsó and Felső, Hódmezővásárhely-Kökénydomb and Dévaványa-Sártó (KOREK 1961, 9-26; SHERRATT 1983, 33-36 and Fig. 7), where the tell-like settlement centre lay within a singlelayer settlement. Several sites of the Tisza culture yielded evidence for the presence of fortification ditches or fences, either protecting the entire settlement or only some parts of it. The form and dimensions of these fortifications and fences show considerable vaFragments of face pots. Hódmezővásárhely—Kökénydomb. Tisza culture. H. 4.9 cm, 4.6 cm, 10.1 cm [6-7-8] 17