Múzeumi Füzetek Csongrád 2. (Csongrád, 1999.)

V. SZABÓ Gábor: A bronzkor Csongrád megyében (Történeti vázlat a készülő régészeti állandó kiállítás kapcsán)

The Rákóczifalva group is considered to be the Middle Tisza region version of the Tumulus culture saturated by Vatya and Füzesabony elements (KOVÁCS 1981, 93-94). Its largest assemblage known from the territory of county Csongrád was found in the site Mindszent-Óvoda (TROGMAYER 1985, 9-11). Judging from the metal finds the graves found here were dated to period Reinecke BB2. Urns similar to the ones from Mindszent appear in the vicinity of Szentes and also in Csongrád-Felgyö (TROGMAYER 1992, 351-356). Elements of form and decoration of grave-vessels show that potters were close to the craftsmen who made the decorated urns and Swedish helmet shaped bowls of the Csanytelek cemetery used in the Koszider period. The traditional date of the forming of the group is the end of the Koszider period, the beginning of the Late Bronze Age, period BB2 (TROGMAYER 1975, 155; KOVÁCS 1981, 93-94; TROGMAYER 1985, 5-6; BONA 1992, 35). The representatives of this culture in all probability still existed at the beginning of period BC, although we can not convincingly prove it, because most of the finds of the period differ only slightly. That is why we are unable to divide small series at our disposal. On the territory of our county the finds of the Rákóczi falva group were unearthed only in cemeteries, we do not know its settlements and the variety of the ceramic material. Having at our disposal only this amount of material we can not at the moment resolve the problem how this group was related from territorial and genetic point of view to the synchronous Tumulus culture finds. The most probable is the suggestion that the line of the Tisza could have been the border between the two versions of the Tumulus culture, despite of the fact that at certain areas the assemblages appear on both banks of the river, at the territory of each other. So, for example, the Rákóczifalva finds were found in CsongrádFelgyö, on the right bank, and the graves of the Tápé group in HódmezövásárhelyBarattyos, on the left bank. If we, on the basis of our incomplete data collected up to this moment, try to reconstruct the events of the beginning of the Late Bronze Age on the territory of Csongrád county, we get the following picture: In the course of the Koszider period the migration and settling of small communities representing the Tumulus culture start in the vicinity of the Maros mouth and by the Tisza (Kömpöc, Szeged-Bogárzó, Szentes-Nagyhegy). After the cease of tell cultures the use of some of their cemeteries continue (Kiskundorozsma), but new ones are opened too (Tápé). Slowly they occupy the whole region. At the same time another culture (Rákóczifalva group) appears, the representatives of which may involve elements of the earlier autochtonic population that changed its culture, and may have been organized by the Tumulus people. We suggest that their appearance in the region is not a result of a migration, but comes from a tendency in which the Tumulus elements arriving earlier (SzentesNagyhegy) and the representatives of tell cultures living or moving here (Csanytelek) amalgamate in some way and form a culture with a new image. We do not know much about the post-life of two local groups of the Tumulus culture represented by the cemeteries found in Tápé and Mindszent-Óvoda. However, we can be sure that the new pottery style spread in the periods Reinecke BD and HAI take a lot from the Rákóczifalva type ceramic tradition considering especially the flutes, polished surfaces and chanelled nipples, characteristic for the decorative art of the tell cultures.