Vadas Ferenc (szerk.): A Szekszárdi Béri Balogh Ádám Múzeum Évkönyve 13. (Szekszárd, 1986)

Pál Raczky: The cultural and chronological relations of the Tisza Region during the Middle and the Late Neolithic, as reflected by the excavations at Öcsöd-Kováshalom

Hungarian Plain to the appearance of tells. This would then conform to the general rhythm of the local Neolithic development in eastern Hungary. The relative chronology of the late Middle Neolithic and early Late Neolithic can be more precisely circumscribed on the basis of the import wares found during recent excavations at various sites. The beginnings of the tell settlements in the southern part of the Great Hungarian Plain are defined by the Bükk and Zseliz imports recovered from the lower layers at Vésztő and Szeghalom [Personal information from Katalin Hegedűs; Bakay (1971) PL III: 1-2]. The beginning and the chronological position of the Öcsöd tell is among others indicated by an import sherd of the Middle Neolithic Esztár group from the Berettyó region (Fig. 15:1). This chronology is further supported by the bitumen covered wares reported from Szécsény, Békásmegyer, Eger, Borsod found in late Bükk, Zseliz, Szilmeg contexts. The numerous Vinca imports and imitations unearthed at Ocsöd (Fig. 15: 13-21; Fig. 6:2) and Battonya [Goldman (1984) 63-64] indicate that these tell settlements can be assigned to Vinca B

2 period, which in Transdanubia was marked by the latest Zseliz and Sopot II-Bicske phases [Kalicz (1984)]. The upper layer of Öcsöd, representing the fully evolved, but early phase of the Tisza culture, yielded greyish, carefully polished sherds with crusted (pastose) red painting characteristic of the later phase of the Sopot II-Bicske culture. These were found in the Great Hungarian Plain for the first time. The sherds are from a biconical flask with knobs on its carination line (Fig. 15:11). The vessel form and its ornamentation are matched by the vessel recovered from a grave at Bicske in 1974 [Makkay (1975) Fig. 17] further parallels can be quoted from the BecsehelySé-Luzianky-Brezovliani complex. These assemblages are generally dated to the turn of Vinca B

2-C, and mark the emergence of the Lengyel culture in Transdanubia and Western Slovakia [Kalicz (1984)]. This connection is further supported by the Tisza-type sherds found in assemblages of Bicske [Makkay (1975) Fig. 27-29]. The chronological implication of these finds is that the evolution of the Tisza culture and the tell settlements in the Great Hungarian Plain preceded the emergence of the Lengyel culture in Transdanubia. One possible route of contacts between the Tisza and Lengyel cultures is outlined by the sites at Szolnok, Alattyán and Aszód, roughly along the Zagyva river [Raczky (1982-c) 20].Both the lower and upper layer at Öcsöd yielded some Petresji type sherds (Fig. 15:9-10), which indicate connections with Transylvania, even though their exact chronological position has not yet been clarified. The most important chronologically diagnostic sherds recovered at Öcsöd were found in the lower layer: 3 rim fragments from a bowl. Their fabric is altogether different from local wares, with a very fine temper fired to a bright orange colour. The sherds were covered with a thin, carefully polished slip outside, and a thick matte white slip on the inside. Their analogues can be found in the B 3a3 ware of the Dimini culture, as defined by Wace and Thompson [Wace-Thompson (1912) 16], and support the correlation of the Szakáihát culture with the Dimini IIIOtzaki I phase [Makkay (1969) 29-30; Makkay (1976) 275-277; Kalicz-Makkay (1977) 108-110; Makkay (1984) 50-52]. It was formerly suggested that the Tisza culture, together with the Vinca-Ploönik period, should be equated with the Rachmani period [Milojcic (1949) 70-81, Dimitrijevic (1968) 121-122; Garasanin (1968) 321-324]. However, this suggestion must be rejected on the basis of the red slipped and red burnished wares of Aegean origin found recently in a Bodrogkeresztur 107