Tárnoki Judit szerk.: Tisicum - A Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok Megyei Múzeumok Évkönyve 19. (2009)
Természettudomány és régészet - Alice M. Choyke - László Bartosiewicz - Telltale tools from a tell: Bone and antler manufacturing at Bronze Age Jászdózsa-Kápolnahalom, Hungary
Természettudomány és régészet Alice M. CHO YKE 1 and László BARTOSIEWICZ 2 Telltale tools from a tell: Bone and antler manufacturing at Bronze Age Jászdózsa-Kápolnahalom, Hungary Introduction Manufacturing of tools and ornaments from bone, antler and teeth in the territory of present-day Hungary continued from the Neolithic and Chalcolithic periods into the Bronze Age with little modification in manufacturing techniques. The principal tools used to produce these artifacts comprised flaked stone blades and abrasive stone surfaces although metal axes were regularly used to divide up the antler rack for producing individual tools. Finer metal cutting tools were probably also employed in the specialized production and decoration of certain, finely worked antler ornaments. Some types of worked osseous material continued from early periods, with their formal antecedents extending back into at least the late Neolithic. A number bone and antler tool types appear at the end of the Early Bronze Age Nagyrév culture and continue to be made well into the Late Bronze Age. Other types had shorter production lives and appeared and disappeared throughout the chronological sequence. Finally, in terms of raw material selection and production techniques, regional differences technological style have started to become evident following three decades of research in this specialized area of study. 3 Social complexity increased during the Bronze Age, a social change inter-twined with improved communication possibilities as the horse was harnessed for long-distance trade in new commodities with bronze being the most prominent. Well-established territories seem to exist, probably organized into chiefdom type polities. Social networks based on family, clan, age group and social status must have ranged well beyond the confines of the household and individual settlement although these still would have Central European University, Medieval Studies Department, choyke@ceu.hu; Aguincum Museum (BTM), h13017cho@iif.hu Institute of Archaeological Sciences, Loránd Eötvös University, bartwicz@yahoo.com Thanks here are due to all the archaeologists, especially Marietta Csányi and the late Nona Stanczik, who took the authors of this paper under their collective wings and introduced them to the Bronze Age in Hungary and in particular to the crew of the memorable excavations at Tiszaug-Kéménytető. remained the basic units of reference for most individuals. Thus, two contradictory tendencies confront each other in this period - a need to maintain social stability within settlements and regional contexts in the face of a constant influxofnew, potentially destabilizing ideas appearingthrough the medium of movement of people outside narrow tribal boundaries for trade and other purposes. Material culture in this period, thus, reflects both an impulse to innovation and change over large regions as well as the need of individuals to have stability in their daily lives. People continuously need to negotiate close and immediate social interactions in the social environment of the household and settlement. Bone tools are objects associated with daily life and less often with representation. They and their modes of manufacture, therefore, tend to change very slowly over time. When change can be observed it may often signal profound social changes that reach into the intimate household sphere itself. Despite their potential for sensitively signally social changes, in Europe in general, objects made from osseous materials seem to be more or less neglected with the exception of probably high status, decorated horse bridle equipment. 4 Other than the first author of this paper, the only scholar working on bone objects in this period is Nöelle Provenzano, in particular her work on Terramare sites in Northern Italy. 5 In any case, few comparative materials have been published to provide a techno-cultural context for individual analyses. The tell settlement of Jászdózsa-Kápolnahalom The very large assemblage of worked Bronze Age osseous materials from the tell settlement of JászdózsaKápolnahalom, in the northern part of the Great Hungarian Plain, will be discussed in light of what data has been accumulated. The Middle Bronze Age tell settlement of Jászdózsa-Kápolnahalom is located in the north of the Great Hungarian Plain (Latitude: 47.6 N, Longitude: 20.0 E), near an ecotone between the plain and the Mátra mountains, rising 4 BOKONYI Sándor 1953, F0LTINY, Stephen 1965, HUTTEL, HansGeorg 1981, MOZSOLICS Amália 1962. 5 PROVENZANO, Nöelle 1997. 621-628; unpublished dissertation 2001. 357
