Vadas Ferenc (szerk.): A Szekszárdi Béri Balogh Ádám Múzeum Évkönyve 13. (Szekszárd, 1986)

Pál Raczky: The cultural and chronological relations of the Tisza Region during the Middle and the Late Neolithic, as reflected by the excavations at Öcsöd-Kováshalom

[Korek (1973); Hegedűs (1977) 155-156]. In some of these graves remains of a wooden coffin and some sort of woven shroud were observed. This generally practised funerary custom is novel in the Neolithic of Hungary, and has no antecedents in the Early or Middle Neolithic. This funerary practice could also be observed in the upper layer at Öcsöd, and consequently, an ethnic continuity can probably also be assumed between the two layers. The continuity between the settlement pattern and the funerary practice is in sharp contrast to the discontinuity of the pottery assemblages from the respective layers. The conclusions offered by Öcsöd, coupled with the observations from Vésztő, Szeghalom, Battonya and Szegvár is that the first tell settlements in the southern part of the Great Hungarian Plain can be dated to the later phase of the Szakáihát culture: the settlement patterns and the economy of this period survived into, and were continued in the succeeding Tisza period. In other words, the change in the settlement pattern and the burial custom does not coincide with the changes in pottery forms and ornamentation. It would appear that the appearance of tells and the accompanying economic activities should be regarded as more diagnostic in identifying a historical change than the stylistic changes in the pottery. Consequently, it is not the appearance of the textile ornamented pottery which signals a change in the Neolithic of the Great Hungarian Plain The excavations at Öcsöd indicate that the later phase of the Sazkálhát culture saw the emergence of a new socio-cultural unit, characterised by a new settlement pattern, a new economy and a new burial practice, which can in turn probably be associated with the arrival of new ethnic groups. On the other hand, the pottery still preserved the former, Middle Neolithic, Szakáihát elements, even though the appearance of new wares reflected this change to a certain extent. The distribution of the settlements in the southern part of the Great Hungarian Plain indicates close connections with the Banat and Transylvania. The Balcan cultural affinity is demonstrated in the Öcsöd material by a masked male figurine (Fig. 8). The occurrence of bitumen-covered pottery at the close of the Middle Neolithic in the Berettyó region of South-Eastern Hungary, in the later Herpály territory, and in Northern Hungary, indicates the operation of influences over a wider area. The appearance of the ochre-paint burials can likewise be assigned to this period, and the occurence of graves in an early Lengyel context at Aszód [Kalicz-Kalicz-Schreiber (1984) 314] can also be interpreted as a sign of the historical change affecting the entire Tisza region. The observations made at Öcsöd can apparently be generalised for the entire Tisza area: the emergence of the Tisza-Herpály-Csőszhalom complex was stimulated by immigrations of various ethnic groups from the south during the later phase of the local Middle Neolithic cultures. The appearance of the new settlement pattern and burial practice can be linked to the newcomers. The starting point of this migration was probably the Banat, specifically the BucovaJ; complex, which shows features essentially similar to the younger Szakáihát and early Tisza period [Lazarovici (1979) 226-228; Lazarovici (1984) 141-161]. We can now re-evaluate the beginnings and the nature of the Tisza-Herpály-Csőszhalom complex, previously defined on the stylistic traits of the pottery. It would be more correct to link the beginning of the Late Neolithic in the Great 106