Garam Éva szerk.: Between East and West - History of the peoples living in hungarian lands (Guide to the Archaeological Exhibition of the Hungarian National Museum; Budapest, 2005)

HALL 2 - The Neolithic and the Copper Age (6000-2800 B.C.) (Nándor Kalicz, Pál Raczky)

22. The tell settlement and the excavated trenches at Berettyóújfalu-Herpály. Neolithic, 4700^400 B.C. 34 and sheep, although cattle, pig and dog were also kept (Figs 20-21). These five species remained the most typical domestic animals throughout the Neolithic and the Copper Age, even if their proportion varied from period to period; only at the close of the Copper Age was a new species, domestic horse introduced to the Carpathian Basin. Horse played a vital role in the economy of the local Bronze Age cultures. The processing of domesticated and wild animals - meat drying, smoking and tanning - was done around or inside the houses. The most tangible evidence for these activities is the abundance of animal bones found on settlements. Animal bones also served as raw material for a variety of bone and antler tools. Animals were principally kept for their meat, but their secondary exploitation too can be noted from a fairly early date. There is archaeological evidence for wool processing, as well as for milking, i.e. for making dairy products such as cheese and the like by fermentation. The strainers, spindle whorls and loomweights found near household activity areas, the latter often in a small heap, are the remains of these activities. Archaeological evidence of weaving has been recovered from an Early Neolithic house at Tiszajenő. 3. SETTLEMENTS AND HOUSES IN THE NEOLITHIC AND THE COPPER AGE The construction of Neolithic and Copper Age houses meant a major labour investment in view of the construction techniques employed at the time. Individual families relied on help from other members of their community when building a house. Wood, branches and twigs, reed, clay and various other materials for fixing and binding went into the making of a building - these structures were made from a diverse range of natural materials. Houses were built around a framework of wooden post and had walls of wattling daubed with clay; these structures were best suited to the climate of the Carpathian Basin during this period. In the Copper Age, when the climate turned wetter (around the mid-5th millennium B.C.), log houses became more common