Alba Regia. Annales Musei Stephani Regis. – Alba Regia. Az István Király Múzeum Évkönyve. 16. 1975 – Szent István Király Múzeum közleményei: C sorozat (1978)

Tanulmányok – Abhandlungen - Makkay János: Excavations at Bicske. I, 1960. The Early Neolithic – The Earliest Linear Band Ceramic. p. 9–60.

W. Slovakian sites containing analogous or contemporary material(

25

). It is most likely, that only the following 4 sites have material which is in fact truly contemporary with the early material from Bicske. These sites are Bina, Hurbanovo, Borovce and perhaps Cataj. The very early dating of scattered material from Nitra to a separate phase of the earliest Linear Band pottery coming before the early LBP phases of Bicske and Bina is also in our opinion unwarranted. General characteristics like those mentioned by J. P a v ú к ( „einfache dickwandige Keramik archaischen Gepräges") are not enough to support such an early dating. Bicske and Bina themselves may be contemporary. On the other hand they may occupy slightly different chronological positions with a gap between them of perhaps one or two decades. If one subscribes to the idea that the origins of the earliest Linear Band potteries of Middle Europe are to be found in southern regions of Central Europe (i. e. regions which directly link the distribution territory of the Körös-Starcevo culture) then it is perhaps also arguable that Bicske as the more southerly site has a greater probability of being a little earlier. In any case these two sites are the only two representatives of both the very early phase of the Linear Band Pottery culture in the nortwestern part of the Carpathian Basin and the earliest Neolithic material of the region as well. In more southerly regions of Transdanubia this early LBP group does not represent the earliest Neolithic phase since in these places there are sites of the earlier Körös-Starcevo culture. It is also in this latter area where transitional sites from Körös-Starcevo to earliest LBP maybe found. A likely candidate for such a site is the site of Medina — Margitsziget in southeastern Transdanubia. The finds from the 1974 Medina excavations are as yet partly published(

26

). Therefore it is only certain, that artifacts uncovered during construction of a canal(

27

), surface finds collected in 1969(

28

), the wellknown painted pedestalled vessel found at the end of the last century in Hare —Nyanyapuszta(

29

), and finally our surface collection possibly from the same site on Harc —Ny anyapuszta (

30

) all belong to the Transdanubian variant of the western Körös-Starcevo culture. Although ten years ago these finds might have been classified as Linear Band ceramics, it is certain today, that they bear no cultural identity to the Bicske — Bina pottery or ceramics of later phases of the Transdanubian Linear Band pottery culture. Most importantly this Körös-Starcevo materi(25) O. c, Beograd, 1973, p. 274; Cf. ID., О. С. Sarajevo 1976, Pl. П. (26) N. KALICZ — J. MAKKAY, Medina — Margitsziget. RégFüz, XXVIII, 1975, pp. 15—16. — See also note 33. (27) N. KALICZ — J. MAKKAY, Südliche Einflüsse im frühen und mittleren Neolithikum Transdanubiens. Alba Regia, XII, 1971, (1972) Fig. 1, 1, 3—6. (28) Ibid., Fig. 2,1—9. (29) Ibid., Fig. 1,2 = Abb. 4, 8. (30) Ibid., Fig. 4, 11—14. al bears no contemporaneity to either Bicske —

Bina type material(

31

) or the later LBP types(

32

) found at Medina itself. It therefore seems possible to distinguish the following chronological subdivisions in the Neolithic material presently known from Medina — Margitsziget: I. There is a probable middle or late phase of the western Körös — Starôevo culture from the earliest Neolithic settlement at the site. This phase is only represented by finds found at the time of canal construction and scattered finds. II. After the end of the Transdanubian KörösStarcevo development (and probably after a short temporal gap) the site was reoccupied for a relatively short period by people having strong connections with the earliest Bicske people i. e. sharing types found in the Bicske material culture of the Earliest Transdanubian LBP culture. The temporal gap between these two settlement periods at Medina may be contemporary with the actual transition between Körös-Starcevo pottery types and the earliest Transdanubian LBP. III. The third Neolithic occupation period at Medina—Margitsziget probably followed after a short break. This following III. occupation period is represented by finds of the developed Transdanubian LBP culture. Earlier it appeared that these types had come from the earliest LBP of Transdanubia. Clearly this material comes from a territorial-typological group of the developed LBP culture of Transdanubia rather than a chronological phase of it. The pottery is a characteristic LBP from southern and southwestern Transdanubia, and was comtemporary with the Notenkopf and early Zseliz potteries during their whole development. 3. Chronological and cultural relationships to early Neolithic cultures of the north Balkans and the Great Hungarian Plain The site of Medina is of crucial importance to the understanding of the origin and chronological position of the earliest Bicske material, since at present, this is the only site in the whole territory of the earliest Transdanubian (Middle European) LBP culture, where remains from both the Körös-Starcevo culture and the earliest Transdanubian LBP culture can (31) N. KALICZ — J. MAKKAY, A dél-dunántúli neolithikum kutatásának fontosabb kérdései. (Important problems of the Neolithic in Soidhern Transdanubia.) Somogyi Múzeumok Közleményei, II, 1975, Pl. ХХШ, 1. (32) N. KALICZ—J. MAKKAY, О. С, 1972, Fig. 3, 1—9, 13. 29