A Móra Ferenc Múzeum Évkönyve, 1982/83-1. (Szeged, 1985)

Régészet - Hegedűs Katalin: The Settlement of the Neolithic Szakálhát-Group at Csanytelek–Újhalastó

already reached the Balkans and slightly later the Carpathian Basin already during the Körös—

Starèevo period.

65 The copper objects found in the Shanidar cave (Iraq),

66 in Cayönü Tepesi (Turkey),

67 Ali Kosh (Iran),

68 and Tell Ramad (Syria)

69 definitely prove that copper metallurgy first appeared in the area which was the homeland of the neolithic revolution, the transition from hunting to a food producing way of life, where the antecedents of later towns, sedentary village communities were to be found.

70 The next horizon of copper finds can be dated to the pottery manufacturing flowering cultures of the Neolithic, the most important sites being Tell es Sawwan

71 and Tell Yarim Tepe.

72 The copper artifacts from Çatal Hüyük,

73 Hacilar

74 and Beycesultan

75 dated to the 5th and 4th millennia B.C. evidence an advanced level of metallurgy. This brief summary does not aim at giving a detailed and comprehensive analysis of the metallurgical achievements of Western Asia. The objective of the above survey was to underline the primacy and priority of analogous phenomena in Western Asia and thereby the validity of the diffusionist model. The emergence of South-East European metallurgy was marked by similar stages as those in Western Asia. At first only small artifacts (awls, needles, hooks) and ornaments fashioned by cold hammering (beads, pendants, bracelets) made their appearance, later, on, with the development of smelting new types appear alongside earlier artifacts; copper ornaments also become more varied. The rich ore deposits of the Balkans, the Carpaths and the Alps accelerated the adaptation and the evolution of copper metallurgy.

76 The exploitation of these copper deposits with vertical shafts had already begun by the end of the Neolithic.

77 Developments in South-East Europe thus took essentially the same paths as in Western Asia, even though there is a basic difference between the two areas : 65 Horedt, K., Die ältesten neolitischen Kupferfunde Rumäniens. Jahresschrift für mitteldeutsche Vorgeschichte 60 (1976) 175—177. 68 Solecki, R. S., A copper Mineral Pendant from Northern Iraq. Antiquity 43 (1974) 311—314. 87 Cambel, H., The Southeast Anatolian Prehistoric Project and its Significance for Culture History. Belleten 38 (1974) 361—377. 68 Smith, C. S., Analyses of the Copper Bead from Ali Kosh. Appendix II, in Hole, F.

— Flannery, K. V.

—Neely, J. A., Prehistory and Human Ecology of the Deh Luran Plain. Mémoires of the Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan 1 (1969) 427—478. 89 Lanord, F.

—

Contenson, H., Une pendeloque en cuivre natif de Ramad. Paléorient 1 (1973) 109—115. 70 Oates, J., The Background and Development of Early Farming Communities in Mesopotamia and the Zagros. PPS 39 (1973) 147—181. 71 Native copper beads and a perforated knife were found in the Early Hassuna layers of the site. Al-A-Dami. K. H., Excavations at Tell-es-Sawwan. Sumer 24 (1968) 57—94. 72 On the basis of the slag and native copper remains found at Yarim Tepe and Tell Sotto, it must be presumed that the inhibitants of these settlements had a working knowledge of smelting techniques. 73 Mellaart, J., Çatal Hüyük. London (1967) 217—218. 74 Mellaart, J., Earliest Civilisations of the Near East. London (1965) 113. 75 Lloyd, S— Mellaart, J., Beycesultan I. London (1962). Metal objects by Stronach, D. В., ibid., 280—292. 78 The various phases in the evolution of copper metallurgy, the availability of local raw materials and a faulty measurement lead C. Renfrew to suggest that the Copper Age of the Balkans and Southeast Europe not only preceded the Copper Age of the Aegean, but that it was also the result of local, independent development. Renfrew, C, The Autonomy of the South-East European Copper Age. PPS 35 (1969) 12—39. 77 Simiç, V., Istorijski razvoj naseg rudarstva (The historical development of mining). Belgrade (1951) 248. 31