Gyöngyössy Márton (szerk.): Perspectives on the Past. Major Excavations in County Pest (Szentendre, 2008)
(6100-4500 ВС) (2700/2500-800 ВС) (4500-2700 ВС) ©wing to the deterioration of the climate and the onset of a cooler, moister period, there was a shift to stockbreeding from arable farming, especially in the more easterly regions of Hungary, explaining the appearance of smaller, more briefly occupied settlements compared to the villages of the preceding period. A change can be noted in the burial rite too, marked by the appearance of large cemeteries separate from the settlements. The period’s greatest innovation was undoubtedly the use of copper, a new raw material, used not only for making delightful ornaments, but also for various weapons such as axes and adzes, especially from the Middle Copper Age onward. Our knowledge of the Copper Age in this region has been greatly enriched by the large-scale excavations conducted over the past few years. Important find assemblages shedding new light on the lifeways, subsistence, religious beliefs and art of the communities living here have been uncovered on a number of settlements, most of which can be assigned to the period’s middle and late phase. The Transdanubian part and the areas north of Vác on the opposite bank of the River Danube were settled by the Ludanice group, while the areas south of Vác by the Bodrogkeresztúr culture of the Great Hungarian Plain. Smaller groups of the Stroke Ornamented Pottery culture too settled in County Pest around the close of the Middle Copper Age. A definite tendency towards uniformisation can be noted in the Late Copper Age, when the Baden (Pécel) culture occupied the greater part of the Carpathian Basin and the adjacent regions. The settlement at Abony and its unusual sacrificial pits represents the heritage of the formative Baden phase, known as the Proto-Boleráz period. A yet unparalleled fortified settlement of the early Baden phase (Boleráz period) has been uncovered near Vác. The settlement excavated at Budaörs can be assigned to the classical Baden period; its importance lies in the sunken houses with ovens found here, for few buildings of the culture are known. Cattle played an important role in the economy of the Baden period. They were not simply farm animals kept for their meat, but were also used for drawing carts and wagons, small clay models of which have been brought to light at Budakalász and Szigetszentmárton. The ever-growing number of ritual cattle burials is another reflection of the importance of this animal species. The female figurine from Vác, probably part of the paraphernalia of religious ceremonies and rites, sheds light on religious beliefs. 1 1 Klára Kővári 1. Dipper from the settlement at Budaörs 2. Decorated vessel of the Early Copper Age Tiszapolgár culture from Abony 3. Oven with stone foundation in a house of the Baden culture at Budaörs 4. Pedestailed bowl of the Ludanice culture from Biatorbágy 5. Bone tool from the Zöld Cave at Budakalász The Copper Age (4500-2700 BC)
