Tálas László szerk.: The late neolithic of the Tisza region (1987)
Foreword (L. Tálas)
FOREWORD On the initiative of the Archaeological Institute of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, the Directorate of the Szolnok County Museums and the Directorate of the Csongrád County Museums organised an international archaeological conference in September 1987 on the Neolithic of South-East Europe and its Near Eastern connections, a subject that has since long been in the limelight of archaeological interest, proving the lasting fascination of this theme. However, new finds and findings can but rarely be incorporated into a coherent synthesis owing to their wealth and abundance, and to the rapid accumulation of data and the often protracted appearance of preliminary reports and final publications; and thus each forum providing opportunities for an informal exchange of ideas and personal discussions is more than welcome. The cities of Szolnok and Szeged have now offered to act as hosts to an international conference. It is quite fitting that this conference should be held in these cities for they both lie in the northernmost region — the Great Hungarian Plain — that still came under the cultural influence of the Balkans and the Aegean, and thus formed one of the distant 'provinces' of the South-East European Neolithic, a phenomenon that by and large determined its cultural development. It has also been possible to mount an exhibition with the hope of presenting a picture as full as possible of the present state of Neolithic research in Hungary — or rather, in the Great Hungarian Plain. This exhibition presents the finds from five major excavations: Hódmezővásárhely-Gorzsa, Szegvár-Tűzköves, Öcsöd-Kováshalom, Vésztő-Mágor and Berettyóújfalu-Herpály, arranged into thematic units, with the secret hope of easing their way into the mainstream of archaeological research. We also thought that an exhibition of this kind would provide a suitable backdrop to the archaeological conference itself. While organising the exhibition the idea of preparing a brief but nonetheless comprehensive guide for general visitors and specialists alike was concieved, but one that would contain a description of these sites and a history of their investigation, complemented with as many illustrations as possible, rather than simply an unimaginitive catalogue of the finds, and thus offer a more profound insight into recent results of Late Neolithic research in the Tisza region. In the meantime, however, this planned guide grew into a collection of smaller studies surveying the wider regional context and cultural setting of the Late Neolithic in this area. We sincerely hope that this guide will fulfill its role and contribute to a better awareness of our cultural heritage from the Neolithic. We must finally acknowledge with gratitude the generous help and cooperation from the Ministry of Culture and Education, the Archaeological Institute of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, the Department of Archaeological Studies of the Eötvös Loránd University, the Hungarian National Museum, the Damjanich János Museum of Szolnok and the County Council and Municipal Council of Szolnok. [L TÁLAS] 7
