Achaeometrical Research in Hungary II., 1988

ENVIRONMENT - Pál SÜMEGI - Ede HERTELENDI - Enikő MAGYARI - Mihály MOLNÁR: Evolution of the environment in the Carpatian basin during the last 30,000 BP years and its effects on the ancient habits of the different cultures

ments (e.g. Pomatias rivulare, Discus perspective). These mixed communities have no modern analogues. The final stage in the transition from coniferous to deciduous forest, a typical mixed Quercetum type of forest, formed and persisted until the first anthropogenic activity affected the woodland at 5500-6000 cal ВС. Between 8000-7000 BP the structure of woodland altered, with a great reduction in the diversity of the woodland. Charcoal concentrations increased to a maximum, soil inwash material and a number of landsnail individuals were found in the layers of lake sediments in the southern and south-eastern as well as eastern regions of the Carpathian Basin. These changes are usually associated with anthropogenic activity. The results are consistent with archaeological data indicative of a development of the Starcevo-Körös culture (KUTZIÁN, 1947; KALICZ 1993: 86-87; KALICZ-MAKKAY, 1977: 23; MAKKAY, 1982: 15; TROGMAYER, 1964: 69-71). In accordance with radiocarbon data, the intensive human activity first appeared between 6000-7000 BP, as is attested by the evidence of clearance burning and soil erosion that developed in the northern part of the Great Hungarian Plain and Northern Mountain Range. The Neolithisation process slowed down in the central portion of the Carpathian Basin. It seems that the environment and climate change line, which had formed already during Late Pleistocene in central section of the Great Hungarian Plain, existed again during the Early Holocene period. The environment change line slowed the spread of Early Neolithic peoples, whose experience in cultivation was mainly relevant to Mediterranean climates. This line limited the keeping of Mediterranean-type domestic stock and the cultivation of Mediterranean cereals. The boundary of a Mediterranean type economy formed in the central part of the Great Hungarian Plain. Thereafter, a long adaptive process of Early Neolithic communities started in this central part of the plain. The Neolithisation process with the clearance burning and soil erosion spread from the southern to the northern section of the Carpathian Basin after a change in culture had taken place (Fig.4). References Bacsó, N. (1960): Magyarország éghajlata. (Climate of Hungary.) Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest, 302 p. (in Hungarian) Bonan, G.B. (1992): Soil temperature as an ecological factor in boreal forests, pp. 126144. In: SHUGART, H.H. & LEEMANS, R. & BONAN, G.B. eds. A Systems Analysis of the Global Boreal Forest. Cambridge University Press, London, p. 543. Borsy Z. & Csongor É. & Lóki J. & Sárkány S. & Szabó I. (1982): A futóhomok mozgásainak periódusai az Alföld ÉK részében. (Periods of wind-blown sand movements in the NE parts of the Alföld region. Acta Geographica Debrecina, 20. pp. 5-16. (in Hungarian with English sumamry) Borsy Z. & Csongor É. & Lóki J. & Szabó I. (1985): Recent results in the radiocarbon dating of wind-blown sand movements in the Tisza-Bodrog Interfluve. Acta Geographica Debrecina, 24. pp. 35-50. Braun M. & Sümegi P. & Szűcs L. & Szöőr Gy. (1993): A kállósemjéni Nagy-Mohos láp fejlődéstörténete (Lápképződés emberi hatásra és az ösláp hipotézis). (The History and Development of the Nagy-Mohos fen at Kállósemjén (NE HunU!8