Tálas László szerk.: The late neolithic of the Tisza region (1987)
Öcsöd-Kováshalom (P. Raczky)
P. RACZKY Fragment of a knob-headed schematized figurine with incised decoration and a plastic ribbon round its neck. Early Tisza culture. H: 4.2 cm [42] neighbouring and basically identical culture provinces in South-East Europe. Another indication of the cultural contacts of the Öcsöd settlement are the import vessel sherds recovered from various levels that include a Transdanubian Sopot II— Bicske II type fragment recovered from the upper occupation layer (phase B). Fragments ornamented with stabs bordered by parallelly incised lines suggest contact with the Vinca, Bucovat or Iclod groups. Painted sherds of the Petresti culture have also come to light. Most significant among the import vessels, however, are three rim sherds from a bowl made of very fine clay and Upper torso of a human figurine or an anthropomorphic handle of a lid with triangular forehead, perhaps representing a mask. Classical Tisza culture. H: 6.4 cm [44] 82 H: 3.7 cm [43] which, in contrast to local pottery, has a homogenous yellow core. These fragments are all covered with a fine white slip both on the inside and on the outside that was subsequently painted with black lustrous paint. Painting was applied before firing and thus differs markedly from local techniques. Its execution can best be compared to Dimini B 3 a 3 type wares (RACZKY 1985,107). The import sherds recovered at Öcsöd too support the range of cultural contacts outlined in the foregoing. The internal development and chronological position of the Öcsöd settlement can best be defined in the light of its external contacts. The two main layers distinguished at Öcsöd represent two distinct periods (phases A and B) that can be correlated with the early, formative phase (I) and the developed, classical phase (II) of the Tisza culture. The chronology of the phase A is best defined by the presence of bitumen-coated pottery and by the fact that the contemporaneous, incipient layers of the tells and tell-like settlements to the south of the Körös rivers all yielded Bükk, Esztár, Zseliz and Vinca imports that date these layers to the close of the Vinca B., and the beginning of the Vinca B 2 period. Phase B can be correlated with the developed Tisza culture; the presence of Sopot-Bicske II type imports and the occurrence of Tisza sherds at Bicske implies that this phase can be synchronised with the Becsehely-Se-Luzianky-Brezovljani-Bicske II horizon that precedes the classical Lengyel culture (i. e. Vinca C) and thus falls into Vinca B 2 . The above definitely suggest that the Tisza culture had not appeared synchronously over the Great Hungarian Plain: it first appeared south of the Körös rivers and only began its gradual northward expansion after some time, and also that the emergence of the Tisza culture preceded the Lengyel culture of Transdanubia and Western Slovakia (RACZKY 1985, 106-108). The finds from Öcsöd indicate that the settlement was abandoned at the beginning of phase II of the Tisza culture (that can be equated with Vinca C) when the Tisza culture dis-
