Viola T. Dobosi: Paleolithic Man in the Által-ér Valley (Tata, 1999)

Age and made most of the hunting-gathering way of life. The reconstruction of the life of people living in this period is realised by the analysis of excavated finds, experiments and the study of aboriginal communities living today. Due to the almost inexhaustible richness of the phenomena to be investigated, the study of the Ice Age is the study of several specialised disciplines. Preceding immediately the geological present, the number of fossilised evidence is also greater and more varied than those of the more ancient period, therefore its reconstruction can be more successful than those of the most remote phases of geological history. Climate, organic and inorganic environment, Man himself in his physical reality and the culture created can be studied only after minute studies, the establishment of the age of different events etc. The totality of spiritual and material goods created by Man (and his ancestors) in the Ice Age is referred to by archaeologists as the Palaeolithic period (palaeo = ancient, lithic = made of stone). The characteristic features of the period are: •$• its full extent is dated to the preceding geological period (Pleistocene) "v* it is the longest period in human history *$• the hunting-gathering way of life expropriated, but did not change natural resources •$• the most important tools were made of stone by knapping. The investigation of the Ice Age differs from other, younger periods of archaeological research. Just because of the scarcity of archaeological data it must rely more on the results of other sciences and even a laconic, poor reconstruction of the former rich reality can be only accomplished by close scientific collaboration. 13