Achaeometrical Research in Hungary II., 1988

PROSPECTING and DATING - Ede HERTELENDI - Éva SVINGOR - Pál RACZKY - Ferenc HORVÁTH - István FUTÓ - László BARTOSIEWICZ - Mihály MOLNÁR: Radicarbon chronology of the Neolithic and time span of tell settlements in eastern Hungary based on calibrated radiocarbon dates

3. The most probable time scale for the Early Neolithic ranges between 5860 and 5310 ВС. The Middle Neolithic most probably occurred between 5330 and 4940 ВС, and the Late Neolithic between 4970 and 4380 ВС (Fig. 2). The estimated 250-300 yr duration of Late Neolithic tell settlements obtained by typological comparisons is also confirmed by our new radiocarbon data. The newly measured 14

C dates representing the end of the Late Neolithic agree with the previously established dates of the Early Copper Age (BOGNÁR-KUTZIÁN 1985, 293-298.). Fig. 2. Diagrammatic representation of the three phases of the Neolithic period. 4. The life span of tell settlements are shown on Fig. 3., Fig. 4. and in Table 2. The estimated average time span of investigated four tell settlements in Eastern Hungary is 285 years. The time span of the oldest tell settlement, Öcsöd - Kováshalom is not overlapping with the other settlements. Complete overlapping exists between Hódmezővásárhely - Gorzsa-Cukortanya and Polgár - Csőszhalom. The youngest tell settlement is Berettyóújfalu - Herpály whose time span overlaps with the two previous ones. Table 2 Time spans of typochronological levels of four tell settlements in Eastern Hungary Tell settlement Confidence interval (la) cal ВС Time span (la) [years] Öcsöd - Kováshalom 5110-4830 280 Hódmezővásárhely - Gorzsa-Cukortanya 4850-4550 300 Polgár Csőszhalom 4840-4560 280 Berettyóújfalu - Herpály 4730-4450 280 5. Comparisons between the radiocarbon dates and stratigraphies of the four tell sites from the Great Hungarian Plain show that, at the present level, the use of 14

C measurements has proved to be very limited in fine-tuning stratigraphie and typochronological phases. The error margins of these measurements pose a natural obstacle, which does not make 15-20 year distinctions between construction phases possible, as would be the case 65