Astaloş, Ciprian (szerk.): Satu Mare. Studii şi comunicări. Seria arheologie 28/1. (2012)
Gergely Bóka: Changes int he Settlement History of the Late Bronze and Iron Age Körös Region Hydrology, Reliefs and Settlements
Gergely Bóka Jura Mountains and the Swiss Plateau - analyzing the extensions, fossil soils and dendrochronological features of the wooden remains of the Aletsch, Gorner and Grindelwald glaciers - indicate a maximum extension between 1000 and 600 BC, while a minimum extension between 400 BC and 400 AD10 11. Water levels in the region would change correspondingly with the Holocene glacier fluctuations. Owing to systematic lithostratigraphic analyses, elevated water level was observed in two short episodes 1050- 1000 cal BC and 950-900 cal BC, as well as in two longer periods of time, between 1550 and 1150 cal BC, and between 800 and 400 cal BC“. On the basis of sedimentation analyses fulfilled in the Lake Jues (Germany), a significant change took place in that area around 2750 cal BC, which concluded a deforestation tendency and the increase of water level12. Samples from geoarchaeological drillings and radiocarbon dates of trenches conducted in the southern bank of the Lake Balaton, the Tapolca Basin and the Nagy-berek Marshland, collectively indicated that the lakes water surface level and extension culminated at the end of the Late Bronze Age and in the Early Iron Age13. According to analyses on Greenland ice and bores accomplished in the northern Atlantic Ocean, little ice ages followed each other cyclically, at ca. 1470-year intervals in the Holocene (1400, 2800, 4200, etc. cal BP). In the case of both little ice ages assigned to 8100 and 2800 cal BP, dates coincide with the decline of solar activity entailing colder and wetter weather character in Europe14. Bore samples taken in the eastern forest-steppe zone also refer to weather conditions characterized by colder temperature and more precipitation in 850 cal BC15; correspondingly to areas west of the Carpathian Basin: the so-called Urnfield climate optimum terminated in Moravia and the surrounding territories under HB3, and we can reckon with cold and wet weather already partly in HB3 period and in the HC phase16. We can positively ascertain upon the abovementioned results of multidisciplinary researches that such climatic changes happened at the end of the Late Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age, which made an impact throughout Europe, and consequently the Carpathian Basin. 3. Connections between Reliefs and Settlements The area we involved in the investigation coincided with the territory concerned by the research Archaeological Topography of Békés county (3798.5 km2). It can be divided to two regions, partly the Mezőség - or Békés-Csanád alluvial fan - and the Körös region. These two lands are fundamentally different in terms of geomorphological character. Within the study area we can observe various phenomena of the Quaternary period, which indicate different heights above sea level and reliefs (Fig. 1): Fluvial sediment (floodplain sediment): Silt and clay are represented significantly in its material. In the case of larger rivers (e.g. the Körös rivers) we distinguish between the floodplains of Early Holocene high (fQhl) and New Holocene shallow (fQh2). The first type of floodplains is not or rarely inundated by recent floods, only in the case of exceedingly high water levels. Inside basins (e.g. the internal Great Hungarian Plain, Körös region), bottomlands surrounded by alluvial fans develop in the floodplain. The enclosing reliefs are composed by silt, clay and rarely sand17. Lacustrine sediment: horizontally bedded sediment of fine grains is deposited in the internal portion of lakes (clay: lQh2a and silt: lQh2al), whereas alongshore sand and pebbles can likewise occur18. Marsh sediment: this type of sediment is characterized by different organic matter content, which can be clay, silt, peat, muck soil and mould. The marsh sediments on the surface are generally of New Holocene age (bQh2to)19. 10 Holzhäuser 2005. 11 Holzhäuser 2005, 796. 12 Zolitschka et al. 2003, 90-92. 13 Sümegi et al. 2007, 250-251; Sümegi/ Jakab 2007a, 77; Kiss/ Kulcsár 2007, 115-116. 14 Geel et al. 1999, 335-336. 15 Dirksen et al. 2005. 16 Bouzek 1999. 17 Kaiser/ Gyalog 1996, 57-58. 18 Kaiser/ Gyalog 1996, 59. 19 Kaiser/ Gyalog 1996, 59. 24
