Madaras László – Tálas László – Szabó László szerk.: Tisicum - A Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok Megyei Múzeumok Évkönyve 9. (1996)

Róbert Kertész: A New Site of the Northern Hungarian Plain Mesolithic Industry in the Jászság Area (Jászberény IV) (Az észak-alföldi mezolit ipar újabb lelőhelye a Jászságban — Jászberény IV)

graphic surveys. The finds collected earlier are already published.

20 During the continuation of the field surveys new typical finds were collected which corroborated our previous determination and made possible an even more detailed analysis. Below we publish the topographic data of the site Jászberény IV as well as the combined find assemblage of surface collections. The Environment of the Site The non-homogeneous relief of the Jászság, an area connected to the piedmont structure of Mátra Mts., had been created by tectonic movements took place during the Quaternary.

21 This process which took place with spatial and chronological differentiations resulted in zones within the Jászság the geomorphological conditions of which are fundamentally different from each other (Fig. 1). In accordance with these, also different ecological zones had been developed within the geographical region, which during certain phases of the Stone Age had a decisive influence on settlement conditions.

22 Differences in the settlement situations of glacial and postglacial hunter-gatherers demonstrate well the influences of different micromorphological units, of different ecological zones as well as of paleohydrographic processes. Upper Palaeolithic and Epipalaeolithic sites of the Jászság are located in two areas: on the Pleistocene alluvial fans (the Jászfelsőszentgyörgy, Pusztamonostor and Szentlőrinckáta area), and on the Pleistocene surfaces which rise above the Holocene surfaces of the alluvial plain (Jászberény and the environs of Jászkisér) (Fig. 2).

23 However, Mesolithic sites are concentrated without exception in the central part of the Jászság (region of Jászberény, Jászjákóhalma, Jásztelek and Jánoshida), within a characteristic ecological niche, in the End Pleistocene

—Early Holocene subsidence basin, on the flood-plain islands of the End Pleistocene

—Early 19 Making use of this opportunity, here, too, we should like 20 Kertész 1995 21 Sümeghy 1944, 146—159 22 Kertész 1994, 24—26; 1995, 16 23 Kertész 1989—1992 24 Kertész 1991, 33; 1993, 84—86; 1994, 26—27. 40; 1994 12—13. 16—18; 1994a, 17—18. 28. 46—47. 56 25 Kertész 1995, 16; 1996, 17; Kertész et al. 1994, 8. 10; Holocene Ancient Zagyva and along the lower banks of the ancient meanders (Fig. 2).

24 The two important rivers of the region, the Zagyva and Tarna, met in the Jászság subsidence basin. These rivers of N—S direction coming out from the Northern Mountain Range and diverging over the surface of the subsidence area which had been silted up by the beginning of the Boreal period, created a whole labyrinth of dead channels and ox-bow lakes, a characteristic swamp area. The result was an environment more rich in water than the drier regions encircling the local basin providing more favourable conditions for vegetation and fauna thus attracting also Mesolithic groups leading a hunter-gatherer way of life. The increased sustaining capacity of this special ecological niche is well reflected by the considerable number of Mesolithic sites (nearly 100 ones) (Fig. 3). In addition to fluvial conditions it is very important that along the rivers of N—S direction, running down from the Northern Mountain Range through the Jászság, the more humid, cooler climate was favourable for the development of closed forests. Thus the flora and fauna elements of the oak forests of the Northern Mountain Range could reach the central part of the Great Hungarian Plain through these ecological corridors. The water supply of the region was uneven because of the decrease of precipitation during the summer half-year. As a consequence in the growth seasons decreases in water level were frequent which were favourable for temporary human settlement and provided conditions for establishing seasonal (summer) hunters' camps. Therefore the environment of the Mesolithic sites in the Jászság can be considered as a peculiar biotope. Though the microregion is situated in the Great Hungarian Plain, still its water supply, its vegetation and fauna, because of the orientation of its rivers and its overall character was that of the Northern Mountain Range environment, different therefore from those dry alluvial fans which had encircled the central part of the subsidence from outside, as well as from their steppe—forest-steppe neighbourhood.

25 express our many thanks Gy. Kerékgyártó for his kind efforts. i, 9—13; 1995, 18—19; 1995a, 66—67; Kertész et al. 1994, 10. Э94а, 17 31