Agria 39. (Az Egri Múzeum Évkönyve - Annales Musei Agriensis, 2003)

Domboróczki László: Radiokarbon adatok Heves megye újkőkori régészeti lelőhelyeiről

linear designs on a mass scale happened at the same time as the spreading of the new type of Szatmár finds in the northern Alföld. Examining this extension one possibility is that the Partium Körös group spread,

153 alternatively it is equally possible that the spread of the Szatmár-type material went directly northwards from Szolnok. In the previous section we mentioned the sites running from Kőtelek to the recently discovered site at Tiszaszőlős-Domaháza-puszta which could also have marked a band (which for the time is 35km in length) of mixed material sites likely therefore to be transitional. Körös and Szatmár sites can also be found here. Tiszaszőlős-Aszópart, Kőtelek and Kisköre-Gát are all located in this band, Tiszavalk and Tiszacsege lie near the border whilst Ujtikos and Polgár are situated somewhat further north. If it turns out, in a similar manner the Körös and Szatmár, sites spread all the way along the banks of the Tisza, then it is not so much the degree to which they spread which is important as the fact that it was the Tisza itself which was playing the determining role. It is striking that the earliest mixed finds (the earliest Szatmár) were for the most part found on the banks of the Tisza,

154 Kőtelek, Tiszacsege, Tiszavalk and Rétközberencs also all being examples. If the sites at Gubakút and Mocsolyás really belong to the latter phase of the Szatmár Group

155 then it may perhaps be useful to break the extent of the Szatmártype finds down into two spatial phases as well. The banks of the Tisza should perhaps be considered separately from those areas lying somewhat further from the Tisza, because it may indeed be that the two regions where extension took place belong to two different phases. If the earliest mixed material sites really did develop on the banks of the Tisza, then those moving away would understandably have taken the Szatmár-type material with them. In this case one needs to account for why the movement from the Tisza happened in the first place, or to be more precise why, and why at that time in particular. For the time being of course we do not have a reassuring explanation. That the Körös Culture generally moved northwards in stages is not itself sufficient proof. Neither are we capable of explaining why the Szatmár material only covers the northern part of the Alföld. It may be that we don't in fact need to account for a movement away. The gradual settlement of the Tisza region could have meant that the areas lying more distant became target areas only gradually.

156 The migration not only meant a move away from the great river Tisza and its flood plains to lowlying areas free of flooding, but to more fertile grounds capable of bringing serious changes in their means of subsistence and by definition their eating habits. The enormous quantities of shellfish and snail shells one finds at the Körös sites would not have been available on the banks of the smaller streams.

157 Instead of shells, snails and fish one finds a greater proportion of domesticated animals in the Szatmár Group material. This is something which continues to be characteristic for the whole of the ALP period.

158 The most important change in the way lives were lived would appear to have been in the way food was 153 See P. Raczky's theory mentioned above: footnote 105. 154 KALICZ Nándor 1995. 25., ill. 2a/2. 155 KALICZ Nándor-KOÓS Judit 2000a. 69. 156 We know Körös-type ceramics have been found in Rovno: PAVÚK, Juraj 1994. ill. 1/12. 157 It is of course true that smaller snails and concentrations of shellfish have been found here amongst the finds, showing that they were eaten in the later Szatmár period as well. Interestingly the largest quantities of snail remains were found in the earliest pit (no. 135) at Gubakút. 158 VÖRÖS István 1994. 177-178. 40