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

excavations entitled Kavics ösvény (Pebble path). A few month later László Vértes died. The elaboration of the finds took several years, the monograph on the site was published in English by 1990. The site belongs to the few Hungarian Palaeolithic localities that yielded not only a rich archaeological assemblage but also ample scientific evidence. Part of the finds, observations and phenomena help us to reconstruct the living and the inorganic environment of the Early Man who used to live here. This is the task of the natural science experts. The finds related to human activities are elaborated by the archaeologists. Concerning the students of the inorganic environment, representatives of numerous branches of science worked on the site. Geomorphologists studied one of the most spectacular formations of the ice age, i.e., river terraces. The Által-ér, a small stream in our days, used to form its present valley during the thousands of years with considerable work and on the foot-hill slopes, the traces of terraces, these huge steps in the soil can be followed easily. At the beginning of the excavations when the extent of the village was half of its current size the geomorphological formations could be still followed clearly. The new streets and buildings disturbed and covered these forms of the soil surface. The walls of the quarry exposed by mining were studied by geologists. The material (calcareous tuff, lime silt, loess, sand etc.) and the position of the layers (settled horizontally, vertically, standing on their place of formation or reworked), the structure and composition (grain size, mineral content) and its chemical-physical properties conditions during the formation of the sediments can be deduced. Sediments deposited by the spring, brought by the river or transferred by the wind will be different. The sediments formed in cool and dry, or mild and humid environment will have different characteristics. Investigation of the quarry wall, the survey of the site environs served notable examples on the adaptation capabilities of the groups of Early Men. The level of the current quarry, better to say, the step of ground/terrace on which the calcareous tuff sedimented, used to be some half million years ago the lowest point of the relief. The precipitation infiltrating the cracks of the Gerecse limestones broke on the surface in a row of springs at the feet of the foothill slopes. Part of the tepid karstic water evaporated on reaching the surface and the soluted minerals were sedimented on the vegetation. The walls, dams sedimented at the margin of the spring cones gradually formed the environs of the spring to a small basin, so-called tetarata. If the water feeding the spring run dry for some reason - e.g., a small movement of the earth stopped the way of the water - than the basins dried out and offered, with their high, vertical walls, ideal places for settlement. Groups of Early 22