Janus Pannonius Múzeum Évkönyve 26 (1981) (Pécs, 1982)

Régészet - Ecsedy István: A kelet-magyarországi rézkor fejlődésének fontosabb tényezői

92 ECSEDY ISTVÄN ponent in addition to the intruders and the local population judging from the appearance of these new forms which may well represent the impact of the rearranged contacts with the neighborhood. These aspects must be stressed at the outset if we survey the emergence of the Cotofeni and Baden Cultures and the appearance of the Pit-Grave kurgans in Eastern Hungary. It is well known that the Cotofeni - Baden typology cannot be deduced from the traditions of the former cultures of the area although the hiatus between the Bodrogkeresztur and Baden cultures is chronologically filled by the material of Salcu^a IV - Cheile Turzii - Herculane III - Hunyadi halom type which contains some elements resembling to the Baden forms. The Cernavoda III material of the next phase of development can be regarded obviously as the very beginning of the Late Copper Age containing the most characteristic motifs and forms of the Early Baden (Boleráz) and Early Cotofeni cultures. The search for the origin of the distinguishing features of the Cotofeni and Baden cultures leads us to the problem of emergence of the Cernavoda III Culture.

40 The Cernavoda III material is typologically connected with the earlier Cernavoda I phase. The Cernavoda I Culture emerged on the territories affected by the Srednii S tog II infiltration from the very beginning (Suvorovo, Braili^a, Casimcea). The beginning of the Cernavoda I Culture is synchronous with the appearence of the „Cucuteni C" pottery and with the emergence of the Early Usatovo Culture.

4

! We agree with P. Roman who supposes that the Cernavoda I material emerged as the main component of a new ethnic group in the West-Pontic area.

42 He suggests that the population of steppe origin gradually increased on the former Gumelnita territory although in the material culture the growing influence of the elements of Helladic origin is reflected.

43 This thesis has been demonstrated by the finds of the Renie II, Cernavoda III and Celei sites.

44 A flourishing metallurgy of local origin characterizes the Cucuteni AB - В phases, the Bodrogkeresztur Culture and later the Hunyadi halom group in the period synchronous with the Cernavoda I development. There cannot be suggested a break in the cultural tradition and ethnic continuity on the areas of these cultures in the period preceding the very end of the Hunyadi halom phase, i. e. the end of the Cucuteni В phase.

56 An abrupt change in Eastern Hungary at the end of the Middle Copper Age is reflected by the following phenomenons: a. The disappearance of the characteristic Bodrogkeresztur - Hunyadi halom pottery. b. The discontinuity of the Middle Copper Age metallurgy (copper axe-adzes, flat axes, daggers and gold - pendants discs). с The appearance of the Cernavoda III. sites. As we have seen, the Cernavoda III Culture developed at the Lower - Danube on the ethnic basis consisting of the Cernavoda I Culture and the contacts with the territory of the Ezero Culture played an important role in the formation of its potterytypology. The Cernavoda III Culture appeared in its fully developed form and without any local predecessors on the Eeast-Hungarian Plain in the period when it also spread to the West along the Danube (this later influence resulted in the formation of the characteristic Boleráz typology in Transdanubia and Slovakia) .57-58 The changes taking place in Eastern Hungary following the Bodrogkeresztur Culture can be labelled as „cultural break". We cannot find any important features of the Middle Copper Age surviving during the Late Copper Age and this fact seems to indicate a very rapid ethnic transformation. Still, only without careful qualification can be interpreted this fact as the evidence of intrusion of a new population speaking a different language in the whole Carpathian Basin. The „Badenisierung" of this area has proved a cultural change of great complexity affecting a huge territory in the Late Copper Age. Although ethnic movements and transmigrations may obviously have happened during this period, they cannot easily be established due to the cultural transformation proceeding synchronously. On the other hand it seems clear that the Baden - Cotofeni population or any significant component of it cannot be regarded for immigrant. As far as the area East of the Tisza river is concerned, it is clearly established that new nomadic groups of Lower Danube and steppe origin appeared after the Bodrogkeresztur Culture and the Hunyadi halom phase59-60 The earliest sites of the Late Copper Age in Eastern Hungary yielded a Cernavoda III - type pottery. This fact certainly does not imply however the responsibility of the Cernavoda III population alone for the „tabula rasa" following the Middle Copper Age. It is the factor inducing the movement of the Cernavoda III Culture, i. e. the intrusion of the PitGrave groups we have to take into consideration from this respect.

61 It seems likely that the territory of Eastern Hungary East of the Tisza river was a peculiar area during the Baden period. The settlement-remains from this period are small in extension consisting of a single, very poor cultural layer which indicates that the way of life was different from that one represented by the Transdanubian and Slovakian settlements. The survival of the Bodrogkeresztur population in the Late Copper Age cannot be demonstrated although this type of settlement resemb-