Madaras László – Szabó László – Tálas László szerk.: Tisicum - A Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok Megyei Múzeumok Évkönyve 8. (1993)

T. Dobosi Viola: Jászfelsőszentgyörgy-Szunyogos, felsőpaleolit telep

Pusztamonostor, Stanczik found several prehistoric (from the Neolithic till the La Tene Age) localities, first of all those following the bank of the Székes brooklet which connects Jászfelsőszentgyörgy with Pusztamonostor. We do not find Szunyogos in Stanczlk's register of localities and probably several other localities, registered by Kerékgyártó, also are absent. There are (at least) two explanations of this contradiction. 1. The locality Szunyogos Is situated at about a 7 ms' height above its environment that is considering the circumstances of the Great Plain it is a topographically conspicuous phenomenon. Stanczik collected chipped stone implements from several places therefore we must not accuse her of missing finds made of raw material of non-local origin (that is colourful lithic finds on a light-coloured sand) if they were really there. Similarly, it is improbable that during her thorough surveys she had missed this very dune. Yet she did not find the Paleolithic locality. A possible explanation is that soil cultivation had become so intensive in the area just in the period which had passed after the field survey that it reached and hurt (destroyed) the Paleolithic level only then. The disarrangement of the upper soil level bound by vegetation resulted in the quick erosion of the upper soil even without human interference. After the disarrangement of humus a replacement of loose sandy loess could begin already by a slight movement of the air. This fact, namely, that the Jászfelsőszentgyörgy Upper Paleolithic locality had got into a position to be identified during field surveys at all only during the last few years emphasizes our increasing responsibility, the pace which archeological localities are becoming endangered at is quicker than the pace of topographic surveys. 2. The ridge of the hill, consequently also the locality itself, is far from the fresh water at a two kilometers' distance at least, therefore according to the old routine of field surveys (i.e. settlement can be found only near water) Stanczik did not make surveys in this area. Unfortunately these questions remain unanswered. However, there are localities in the map which are in areas being farther from fresh water, a fact which contradicts the above mentioned hypothesis. If this be the case the discovery of the Paleolithic locality is due to the simple fact that Gyula Kerékgyártó is an amateur resercher, that is he had no preconceived ideas as regards the topographical place of archeological sites to be expected. Both the topographical position of Jászfelsőszentgyörgy and the curcumstances which the Mesolithic localities near Jászberény were discovered under (see Róbert Kertész's paper in this volume) call attention to a fact very important from the viewpoint of the research of prehistory which is especially relevant for field archeologists. The surface rearrangements of the Late Pleistocene - Early Holocene period had changed the geomorphology and hydrology of the different regions such a great extent that we have to make surveys - everywhere (Makkay 1989, 15-16). The localities of certain periods could get at a considerable distance from fresh water, through as for the Jászfelsőszentgyörgy-Szunyogos locality there are several facts which refer to the nearness of an ancient river channel. This new locality may encourage us to search for Paleolithic localities in those areas where we, following our theories, have not looked for them so far, namely on Late Pleistocene surfaces covered by either loess or by other sediments. We hope to find Paleolithic localities also first of all — in the terraces along the Tisza (the "fair" colour of the river is due to loess!), — on the loess plateaus of the Érmellék and Bihar, — along the Körös rivers (Makkay 1989, 20), — or in the Jászság The absence of Gravettian localities in the Transdanubia which is otherwise an ideal ground for Gravettian population seems therefore due only to insufficiencies of reserch. The history of the research of this locality is short. After the identification of the locality we made a short test excavation at the site between the loth and 21st of September, 1990. The excavation at JászfelsőszentgyörgySzunyogos was a good opportunity for us to check another survey spot of Gyula Kerékgyártó. This locality is registered by him as Pusztamonostor-Táborhegy, yet during its identification in the map it proved to be a site called Szentlőrinckáta-Bata where we opened four trial trenches. The locality is near the border between the counties Pest and Heves and also between the villages Szentlőrinckáta and Pusztamonostor: it is already in Pest county, some 500 ms to the SE from the highway. Here Kerékgyártó collected manufactured fragments several times. The excavation was unsuccessful, we did not find the Paleolithic locality. We think that further 44