Tárnoki Judit szerk.: Tisicum - A Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok Megyei Múzeumok Évkönyve 19. (2009)

Természettudomány és régészet - Sümegi Pál - Ember és környezet kapcsolata a középső-bronzkorban: az őskori gazdasági tér fejlődése egy bronzkori teli geoarcheológiai és környezettörténeti feldolgozása nyomán

Természettudomány és régészet | Pál SÜMEGI Human communities and their environment during middle bronze age: a model of the evolution of the prehistoric economic space based on the geoarcheological and environmental historical analyses of a bronze age tell Abstract Besides the investigation of the local environmental factors and the geoarcheological modeling of the economic space around the tell complex, there was a possibility to compare the paleoecological findings gained for the Kenderföld site with those from other Bronze Age tell settlement sites in Hungary. As we have previously mentioned, another Middle Bronze Age tell settlement (Ásotthalom) existed as well in the vicinity of our studied tell complex on the loessy island of Polgár. The geomorphological setting and natural endowments of this site are completely the same as the ones encountered in Kenderföld. As shown by the results of geological probe corings, highly segregated, loess-covered lag-surfaces occupied the areas south and east of the Ásotthalom tell complex. Here the lower-lying backswamp areas studded with infilled Pleistocene paleochannels must have also experienced temporary inundation when floods turned the settlement site into a system of islands, just like in the case of Kenderföld. This island-like feature was even more accentuated by the presence of a double crescent-shaped moat system surrounding the central core of the settlements and charging waters into the Tisza valley during the floods. Furthermore, highly similar economic strategies can be assumed for the numerous Middle Bronze Age tell settlement sites found on Pleistocene lag surfaces, fossil alluvial fans in the Tisza and Sajó valleys, as well other parts of the Great Hungarian Plains. On the one hand, this may refer to an intensive communication and exchange of experiences as well as an intercommunal integration between the communities of the tell complexes. On the other hand, similar cultural and economic exploitation practices might have emerged as a result of the need for adaptation to similar environmental conditions as well. Then there comes the question of a strong link between the tells and the former river valleys like those of the river Tisza or Danube. These watercourses must have meant an important water supply, plus the meadows were ideal for stock farming. The elevated high bluffs and fossil natural levees offered protection, while the gallery forests of the floodplain served as important wood resources. However, these valleys must have had additional roles which could have influenced the settlement strategies of these communities. Like the rivers themselves, plus the roads running on the floodplain of creeks must have been used for transportation, exchanging goods and information. At the same time, despite the numerous similarities in the economies, there are certain clearly observable differences between the tell settlements, and the more distant background areas. There seems to be an increase in the versatility of the vegetation around the Bronze Age settlements, including the tell settlements, compared to the background areas, as a result of the newly appearing plant species connected to crop cultivation and stock farming. This factor is a univocal evidence for the central role of the tell settlements in the economies of the surrounding areas. One of the most intriguing question related to the Bronze Age tell settlements is the possible presence of a hierarchical system. Whether or not the individual tells were at the same level of hierarchy or certain settlements managed to gain higher position in this social ladder? The presence of a hierarchical system among the Bronze Age tell settlements would assume a high degree of spatial and social integration, which embeds the notion of statehood as well and might mean the initial steps in establishing a state or kingdom. It has been formerly postulated that the series of fortified Bronze Age tell settlements occupying the area of the Alluvial Fan Complex of the Northern Great Hungarian Plains, displaying similar social, economic characteristics, must be the outcome of a central will forced upon these communities by a tell community standing at a higher social level. Tell complexes with a similar type of crescent-shaped or circular moat defense systems as the one of Kenderföld, located next to a riverbed of a river or brook and connected to the representatives of the Hatvan Culture are observable in several places along the foothills of the Northern Mid-Mountains. What's more the settlements of the Hatvan Culture individually encircled by moats and wattle and daub fences seem to form a real fortress system stretching from the east to the west on the Alluvial Fan Complex of the Northern Great Hungarian Plains at the interface of woodlands and forest steppes, corresponding to the areas of the mid-mountains and the lowlands. This fortress system of the Hatvan Culture, whose representatives generally settled onto the alluvial plains of rivers and creeks, but also managed to infiltrate into the areas of the Northern Mid-Mountains via the valleys of its watercourses, does not form a uniform zone or belt, but rather represents a highly dissected system, constructed in a way which fully takes into account the morphology and 479 I