Balogh Zoltán (szerk.): Neograd 2018 - A Dornyay Béla Múzeum Évkönyve 41. (Salgótarján, 2018)
Péntek Attila-Zandler Krisztián: Evidence of middle palaeolithic south from Vanyarc (Nógrád county, Northern Hungary)
A DORNYAY BÉLA MÚZEUM ÉVKÖNYVE XLI. KÖTET (2018) RÉGÉSZET EVIDENCE OF MIDDLE PALAEOLITHIC SOUTH FROM VANYARC (NÓGRÁD COUNTY, NORTHERN HUNGARY) ATTILA PÉNTEK - KRISZTIÁN ZANDLER Independent researcher, Kistarcsa -Dornyay Béla Museum, Salgótarján “Any road followed precisely to its end leads precisely nowhere. Climb the mountain just a little bit to test that it’s a mountain. From the top of the mountain, you cannot see the mountain.” —Bene Gesserit proverb, from Frank Herbert’s Dune Abstract Since 2001 intensive field surveys have been carried out in the environment of Vanyarc. During these field surveys basically differed Middle Paleolithic finds were collected comparing with the Hungarian Middle Paleolithic assemblages had been published earlier. Between 2003 and 2007 excavations were carried out by A. Markó (Hungarian National Museum). These excavations strengthened the specific character of this “Vanyarc-type” industry. Some further sites with smaller assemblages have been localized at the area south from Vanyarc in the recent years. The aim of this paper is to review shortly these assemblages resembling the “Vanyarc-type” characteristics. Keywords: Cserhát Mountains, felsitic porphyry, „Vanyarc-type” industry 1. A brief geographical and geological description of the environment The village is situated in the Central Cserhát Mountains, at the area of the Ecskend Hills. More than the half of the surface of this region is flat plateau-face of 200-320 meters medium height. The average relief, the difference between the highest and lowest elevations in the area is rather moderate, about 70 m/km2. The direction of the slopes is generally south-westerly. The water network is double-faced. Some streamlets belong to the narrow catchment area of the Galga River. However, the majority belong to the catchment area of the Herédi streamlet, which is a right tributary of the Zagyva River. The asymmetric valleys are very characteristics, the southwest-faced slopes are usually steeper than northeast-facing slopes. This contrast has been caused partly by geologic structure, partly by erosional (e.g. periglacial) processes1. The three sites (V19-1, V19-2, V21), which will be reviewed below, are situated southeast from the Gutai-hegy (337,8 meters above sea level), on the southeastern end of an about 6 kilometres long hill comb. This hill comb is straddled by the Nógrád 1 DÖVÉNYI2010: 687-689; LÁNG 1967: 54,274 220
