Tálas László szerk.: The late neolithic of the Tisza region (1987)

Öcsöd-Kováshalom (P. Raczky)

ÖCSÖD-KOVASHALOM ly compared to similar figures from South-East Europe (KRAMER 1982, 155-170). This issue has been discussed at somewhat greater length since it was the excavations at Öcsöd that for the first time offered a reliable basis for population estimates based on archaeological observations. Earlier attempts - e. g. for Szegvár-Tűzköves - were based on indirect data (MAKKAY 1982, 132-133). The settlement form observed at Öcsöd - house clusters enclosed by a fence on the tell-like mound complemented by a single-layer horizontal settlement - differs markedly from the small settlements of the Alföld Linear Pottery comprising one or two houses (MAKKAY 1982a, 157-166; SHERRATT 1983, 33-36). The most conspicuous change is nonetheless the perceptible decrease in the number of Tisza sites as compared to the number of Middle Neolithic sites and the apparent growth of settlement size, as well as the appearance of tells and tell-like settlements, often enclosed by a ditch or a fence (RACZKY 1985, 103-106; KALICZ 1985,127-138). It has been proposed that this concentration was stimulated by external influences, mostly from Western Asia (MAKKAY 1982, 111-163; HORVÁTH-TROGMAYER 1985, 35). However, transformations in settlement patterns and a population concentration can also be demonstrated during the development of the Central European Linear Pottery implying that the causes underlying these changes should be primarily sought in local socio-economic conditions (STARLING 1985, 41-57). The analysis of changes in the settlement patterns and structures of the South-East European Late Neolithic likewise suggests transformations in the socioeconomic sphere that are often also reflected by changes in the material culture (KAISER-VOYTEK 1983, 324-353; TRINGHAM 1984, 1-21; TRINGHAM et al.1985, 442-444). It follows from the general theory of socio-cultural systems that if the number of components constituting a given system reaches a certain quantitative threshold, the positive and negative feedbacks of the automatisms of the system can, in optimal cases, give rise to an internal qualitative transformation that, in turn, can trigger off a structural differentiation and functional specialisation; this growing complexity then tends to generate larger coherent units within the organisation. The analogous implication is that if the population size of a certain culture and the number of its settlements reaches a certain threshold, a concentration of population and settlement leading to a higher degree of specialisation is perhaps generated (SEGRAVES 1982, 289-297). Applied to the Tisza culture, the general dynamics of societal complexity imply deeper internal motivations for the Tisza settlement concentration. Obviously, an internal rearrangement of this kind is only generated within a given culture if a new internal and external 'communications network' is established. The sudden emergence of a fairly complex exchange network can be perceived at the beginning of the Tisza period, reflected by the appearance and relative abundance of prestige items from faraway regions in the Great Hungarian Plain (SHERRATT 1982,17-20). The higher degree of specialisation within the Tisza culture can also be linked to this complex process. In spite of a uniform settlement concentration in the Tisza culture, a variability in the size and occupation patterns of individual sites can nonetheless also be observed that reflect some sort of differentiation as compared to the small, rather homogenous settlements of the Alföld Linear Pottery. This should not, however, be perceived as merely the result of a general differentational process or as a phenomenon determined by internal cultural factors, but rather as a reflection of Quadrangular vessel with holes for suspension. Early Tisza culture. H: 6.5 cm [10] Footed vessel with incised circular pattern. Early Tisza culture. H: 13 cm [11] Vessel with incised multiple lozenges in combination with small circles and vertical warts. Early Tisza culture. H: 12.8 cm [12] 69