Zalai Múzeum 14. Müller Róbert 60 éves (Zalaegerszeg, 2005)

Gyulai Ferenc: Archaebotanikai kutatások a Balaton környékén

Archaeobotanikai kutatások a Balaton környékén 275 növényföldrajzi kézikönyve. [I] Budapest 1964; [II] Budapest 1966; [III] Budapest 1968; [IV] Budapest 1970; [V] Budapest 1973; [VI] Budapest 1980; [VII] Budapest 1985. SOÓ-KÁRPÁTI 1968 Soó R. - Kárpáti Z.: Növényhatározó I-И. Budapest 1968. The environment of Lake Balaton is one of the oldest cultivated areas of the Carpathian-Basin. According to archaeobotanical finds, farming has been continous here since the Neolithic. The picture drawn is the result of the last one hundred years archaeobotanical research. The majority of finds are plant remains such as seeds and crops, the remainder being impressions. It was Miklós Füzes (Frech') (1931-1997) who, as a member of The Balaton Museum, collected all the botanical data from the archaeological sites of Zala County from 1959 until his death. In the mid 1980's the author and his students began assessement of archaeobotanical remains. The 42 archaeological sites around Lake Balaton represent different archaeological periods from the Neolithic to the end of the late Middle Ages. The majority of the sites are dated to the Neolithic and Roman periods although the late Migration period is also relatively well represented. The sites yielded 169 botanical species, which is a considerably high number. Unfortunately, the older publications do not always provide accurate information on the number of seeds/crops of a particular species from the sites. Where such data was available, some 194 000 seeds were assessed. However, the distribution of the seeds/crops between the periods is not equal: 96% belong to the late Migration Period, 2% to the Bronze Age and 2% to other periods. The earliest archaeobotanical finds from the Balaton area can be dated to the early Neolithic. Starcevo ceramic finds and the figurine of Kéthely exhibited impressions of emmer seeds and remains of cereal winnowing. The middle Neolithic period is conVANDOR 1986 Vándor L.: Régészeti kutatások a Kis-Balaton térségében. Zalaegerszeg 1986. ZÓLYOMI 1980 Zólyomi, В.: Landwirtschaftliche Kultur und Wandlung der Vegetation im Holozan am Balaton. Phytocoenologia 7 (1980) 121-126. sidered to be rich in terms of seeds and crops. The finds of the Transdanubian Linear Pottery Culture (Alsópáhok-Kátyánalja dűlő, Balatonszárszó-Gönye dűlő, Balatonszentgyörgy, Fenékpuszta-Vámház, Hegyesd-Ágói dűlő, Keszthely-Zsidi út, KéfhelySziget, Tapolca-Plébániakert, Zánka-Vasútállomás) show close relations with the Western and Eastern cultural zones. The majority of the information on botanical remains derives from impressions in pottery and daub and the number of actual seeds is very low. In spite of that, the identification of plant remains provides a picture of a farming community harvesting einkorn and emmer. Moreover, developed varieties of seeds which have higher genetic stage also appeared in small number, such as club wheat, maybe spelta, millet and pulses could also be recognised. The increased number of cereal-furrow weeds is also indicative of the growing importance of farming. Imprints of matting and reed stem indicate that people also used plants from their immediate natural environment. In spite of the small number of plant remains it can be suggested that farming that emerged in the Neolithic was also practiced in the late Copper Age, although not as intensively (Fenékpuszta). The Bronze Age is characterised by a general increase in the number of cultivated plants (Balatonboglár-Szárszó, Szigliget-Szabadság street, Balatonmagyaród-Hídvégpuszta) and it is considered that this tendency is also evident around Balaton. During the Iron Age the most characteristic cereals that had been cultivated since the Neolithic, were einkorn and emmer, such as at Keszthely-Dobogó, Keszthely-Vadaskert and Balatonszéplak. In the Archaeobotanical researches around Lake Balaton