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

Öcsöd-Kováshalom (P. Raczky)

ÖCSÖD-KOVASHALOM Schematized anthropomorphic figurine with incised decoration. Classical Tisza culture. H: 4.4 cm [40] turn supports the suggestion that the economic prosperity of Tisza settlements can be traced to an economy based on cattle breeding, with cattle acting as the mobile resource exchanged for prestige items from faraway regions (SHERRATT 1982, 13-21). The 'discovery' of the secondary use of animals, probably the result of a longer process, must have been equally important (BÖKÖNYI 1971, 643; 1985, 71). It has recently been proposed on the basis of the sieves that the Linear Pottery populations of Central Europe practised some sort of dairying (BOGUCKI 1984,15-30); the Öcsöd sieves probably served a similar purpose. There is only indirect evidence for grain cultivation since the analysis of flotation samples taken from pits and various occupation deposits is still in progress (RASSON 1985, 1-6). Beehive-shaped storage pits, burnt in their interior, and the largesize storage bins suggest a fairly efficient grain cultivation producing a considerable surplus. However, our knowledge of these matters is still rather sketchy (HARTYÁNYI et al. 1968, 9-11; HARTYÁNYI-MÁTHÉ 1979, 97-114; JARMAN et al. 1982,179-184). The intensification of the economy accompanying the settlement concentration of the Tisza culture implies a radical transformation as compared to earlier periods (KOSSE 1979, 132-138; MAKKAY 1982,104-163) that can be traced to internal socio-economic factors and to external geographic and ecologic factors, as well as to their interaction with external cultural influences, with the underlying implication that one cannot single out one or two factors from any historical 'model' in order to explain the succesful subsistence strategies of the Tisza culture, in which, similarly to multivariate functions, an ordered set of numerous - as yet unknown - coordinates (factors) played an important role. When reconstructing the economy of the Öcsöd settlement and also of the Tisza culUpper part oi a stylized human figure. Classical Tisza culture. H: 2.8 cm [41] ture, the same set of problems are encountered as, for example, in a similar study of the Vinca culture. The similarity of historical processes leading from a semi-sedentary way of life to an intensive economy with permanent settlements in the Tisza region, the Balkans and Central Europe can be incorporated into a general evolutionary perspective (CHAPMAN 1981, 84-116; SHERRATT 1983, 33-36; KAISER-VOYTEK 1983, 330-353; TRINGHAM et al. 1985, 425-444; STARLINC 1985, 41-57). The exploration of deeper socio-economic interrelations and local trends in terms of 'space, time and polity' (RENFREW 1984, 30-53) has only just begun in Central and South-East Europe. The external contacts of the Öcsöd settlements are most amply illustrated by the wide range of lithics that indicate 'trade relations' with Transdanubia, the Northern Mountain Range and also with areas beyond the Northern Carpathian Range. At the same time, the large amount of recovered lithics suggest well-established and permanent, rather than casual channels of acquisition. This is generally true of other Late Neolithic sites of the Tisza region (KACZANOWSKA 1985, 124-130). Contact with the Aegean is illustrated by ornaments polished from Spondylus and other marine shells. Other commodities, such as bitumen and haematite was procured from Transylvania, while marble was acquired from some southern source, indicating an extensive trade and communications network. This flourishing trade, marking also the beginning of the Late Neolithic in the Tisza region, can also be observed in the Balkans (KOSSE 1979, 134-136; CHAPMAN 1981, 52-83; SHERRATT 1982; KAISER-VOYTEK 1983, 346-348). The intensification of cultural contacts played an important role in the development of Balkanic cultures and the communications network undoubtedly had a decisive influence on the emergence of 81