Paluch Tibor: Egy középső neolitikus lelőhely a kultúrák határvidékén. A Móra Ferenc Múzeum Évkönyve: Monographia Archeologica 2. (Szeged, 2011)

Maroslele-Pana: A Middle Neolithic Site at the Frontier of Cultures

PALUCH Tibor • MAROSLELE-PANA: EG Y KÖZÉPSŐ NEOLITIKUS LELŐHEL Y A KULTÚRÁK HA TÁR VIDÉKÉN 77 altars have predecessors outside the study area; these finds have analogies only in the Neolithic of the Balkans: Gradesnitza (NIKOLOV 1974, Fig. 4, 6, 9; NIKOLOV 1984, Fig. 18), Gornea (LAZAROVICI-DRA$OVEAN 1991, Fig. 5), LiubcovaOrnita (LUCA 1998, Fig. 42, 13), Grivac (BOGDANOVIC 2006, PI. 8, 1), Resnik (BOGDANOVIC 2006, PI. 8, 2-5), Muzlja, Krsticeva humka (MARINKOVIC 2006, PI. 6, 5). Triangle-shaped altars appeared in the Starcevo lib and I lib periods. The closest analogies for the Pana archaeological assemblage were identified at the Vinca A2-A3 sites south of the Maros River, in present-day Serbia and Romania, in the last phase of the early ALP and in classical ALP materials (PALUCH 2009; PALUCH 2010). The active phase of occupation at this site is thus dated after the large-scale changes in the early Middle Neolithic. By that time the evolution that had led to the appearance of the Linear Pottery Cultures of the Carpathian Basin (that is, ALP and TLP) and the early Vinca culture, had been completed. The transition between the Early and Middle Neolithic of the Balkans serves as a chronological starting point for the Linear Pottery Cultures, that is, the Vinca A-Ciumesti-Piscolt-Dude§ti I-Karanovo III-Zlatarski-Protokakanj (Kakanj)-Danilo I stratum (CSENGERI 2003, 43). The evolution of the Middle Neolithic was not homogeneous in the Tisza region. The spread of the linear pottery cultures is considered the main tendency in this period. People of the ALP expanded their territories from the northern edges of the Great Plain to the south, gradually supplanting or merging with the population of the Körös settlements in the middle Tisza region. At the same time, a group of the Vinca population was moving to the north from the region of present-day Vojvodina, penetrating the Körös territories from the south (RACZKY 1982,15-16). This process was the root of ethnic changes as well. Research has proven the gradual expansion of the linear pottery cultures in the Tisza region and Transdanubia, from the north to the south (RACZKY 1988, 29). Whether linear pottery elements pre-dated the Szakáihát culture south of the Körös region, nevertheless, is ambiguous. According to some views, the ALP culture became prevalent in the Great Plain in the early Vinca period (MAKKAY 1982, 29); others suppose that only the classic form of the ALP spread in the southern areas of the Körös culture in the Vinca A era (HORVÁTH 1989, 21). Import finds of the classic ALP are frequent from Vinca settlements south of the Maros. These finds do not signify separate ALP assemblages; Vinca culture is predominant in the whole area at a number of archaeological sites (MAKKAY 1982, 52). Six Vinca sites are known between the Maros River and the present Hungarian-Serbian border (TROGMAYER 1977, 54; TROGMAYER 1980, 301; HORVÁTH 1996, 129; HORVÁTH 2006, 211), of which two have been excavated: Oszentiván VIII and Tiszasziget-Agyagbánya. Vinca sites in the area of present-day Hungary all date to the earliest phase of the cultural complex (MAKKAY 2003,43). Based on the whole archaeological assemblage - including the 1963 finds of Ottó Trogmayer - the following relative chronology can be established for Maroslele-Pana. The initial phase of the active occupation at the site is signified by the finds discovered in pit 4, dated to the proto-Vinca 1 period (MAKKAY 1990, 113). No material dated to an earlier era was found, either during the excavations or while field walking. The latest occupation phase of the site is represented by an ALP 2 vessel that bears certain Szakáihát characteristics (Fig. 117. 3), the biconical Vinca A3 bowls with plait-like channeled decoration, and the cover lid decorated with furrow-stitch ornaments. Consequently, the end of the site's occupation is dated to the end of ALP 2, which means the first phase of the Szakáihát period (SZÉNÁSZKY 1979, 76; SZÉNÁSZKY 1988, 15; HERTELENDI-HORVÁTH 1992, 864; HORVÁTH 1994, 105). The Szakáihát culture was a product of the impacts the ALP and the Vinca complexes had on each other in the northern Banat region and in the Maros valley (HORVÁTH 1989, 22; SZÉNÁSZKY 1983, 246). There is no evidence that the ALP appeared north of the Maros earlier than in its classical phase. Taking into consideration the relative chronologies for this period established by other scholars, the following cross-dating can be formulated for the Maroslele-Pana site: an earlier occupational phase is determined by a proto-Vinca 1-Vinca A

1-A2-Starcevo IIIB-Spiraloid A -ALP 1-TLP 1-Réhely I stratum, while a proto-Vinca 2-Vinca A2-A3-Starcevo IVA-B-Spiraloid B-ALP 2-Szakálhát-Esztár-Bükk 1-Tiszadob II-Bucovat I-Banat culture I A- Barca III-Kopcany IX-Réhely II stratum indicates a later phase. There are two clearly distinct phases of occupation; the assemblage, however, gives the impression of a continuum. So far, the 1963 material has been interpreted unequivocally; the 2008 excavation results, however, make a new approach necessary, re-discussing the developments before the transition between the Early and Middle Neolithic in the Maros region. Absolute chronology The radiocarbon results, based on five samples, dated the appearance of the ALP finds north of the Maros River to the ALP 2 period. Five date results are consistent; one of them was calibrated to 5070-5050 BC (1-sigma). The four uniform dates point to the early Keszthely group, that is, the developing phase of early linear pottery groups (OROSS-BÁNFFY 2009, 177). Flomborn finds start to surface in this period in the area of present-day Germany. This is presumably the 53

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h century BC, maybe its first half. The I-sigma range of Poz-28644 is later than the Vinca A period, which means it must be Vinca B. This overlaps chronologically with the classical or late Keszthely group and the Zeliezovce group in Transdanubia. None of the five dating results falls beyond the 53

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h century BC (5320-5210 cal BC). The 2-sigma range extends as far as 5050 cal BC which is not surprising. Even with rounding, the chance that the actual date is before 5190 cal BC is 76.7% within the 2-sigma range. It is not necessary to eliminate the late (Vinca B) date from the sample; the remaining four dates, completely consistent, are calibrated to 5310-5220 cal BC (1-sigma), and calculating with a 2-sigma range their dating extends as far as the 51

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t century BC. Even in the latter case the chance that the actual dating is not later than 5200 BC is 93.7%. A NEW CHRONOLOGY OF THE MAROSSZÖG REGION Through the analysis of the archaeological finds it is clear that the site was in use in the Vinca A1-A3 period, that is, 5300 BC. The parallels reveal a peculiar picture: the geographically closest Vinca A sites to which the remains may be connected are Tiszasziget-Agyagbánya and Ószentiván VIII, located south of the Maros. In a wider geographical range the site of Majdan (in the area of the village of Kloke, 14 km southwest Smederevska Palanka, Serbia) is comparable to Maroslele. The area was habited in the late phase of the Starcevo culture and in the early period of the Vinca culture (KATUN

AR 1988, 81). These areas, located south of the Maros, are considered part of Vinca territory. According to the generally acknowledged view, there are no Vinca sites north of the Maros River. This assumption is contradicted by a number of studies on the period that suggest a