Garam Éva szerk.: Between East and West - History of the peoples living in hungarian lands (Guide to the Archaeological Exhibition of the Hungarian National Museum; Budapest, 2005)

HALL 1 - The Palaeolithic and the Mesolithic (400,000-6000 B.C.) (Viola T. Dobosi)

various tools, set off from Africa to colonise the inhabitable world. They were met by the Ice Age in Eurasia. The repeated glaciations in the Earth's history were caused by several factors. Most important among these were the alterations in the Earth's orbit around the Sun. The strong solar radiation affecting the Earth, the distribution of solar heat, the shifts in the wind systems bringing precipitation or, conversely, spells of aridity were also influenced by mountain formation. In the coldest millennia of the Ice Age, when the ice-sheet advanced as far as southern Poland, the Carpathian Basin was an arid loess steppe with sparse vegetation. During the warm periods, however, the climate was similar to the present one or perhaps even milder. The climatic changes saw the appearance and spread of plant and animal species adapting to the transformed environment; some animals, such as mammoth, became entirely extinct, while others, such as reindeer, migrated to new regions according to the rhythmic climatic fluctuations and the ensuing environmental changes. The main stages of this process are shown in Fig. 8. The most important palaeoanthropological finds from Hungary represent three main phases in human evolution, which broadly corresponds to the periodisation based on archaeological finds. (1) The earliest hominid communities (Homo erectus) migrated to the Carpathian Basin in the Early or Lower Palaeolithic. The type find of this period is the hand-axe. This period is represented by the 350-400 thousand years old Vértesszőlős settlement. Displayed as part of the exhibition is the occipital bone found at the site and the reconstruction of the head and face of one of the early hominids, christened Sámuel by the excavation workers. (2) The age of Neanderthal man (Palaeoanthropus, Homo sapiens neanderthalensis) is known as the Middle Palaeolithic. The different archaeological assemblages from the many sites known from this period possibly reflect an ethnic, cultural and perhaps linguistic di- 19 versity. In addition to the survival of older traditions, a number of innovations can be observed among these communities. The most characteristic artefact of the period is the scraper used for leatherworking, an everyday tool probably used by women. Remains of Neanderthal man have been unearthed in the Subalyuk Cave. In Hungary, the finds from this period can be dated between 100-35,000 B.C. (3) The first groups of the "fossil" ancestors of modern man (Neoanthropus, Homo sapiens fossilis) had probably encountered scattered remnants of Neanderthal man in the Carpathian Basin. The archaeological label given to the final 25-30 thousand years of the Ice Age is the Late or Upper Palaeolithic. Its type find is the slender blade. The child burial from the Balla Cave represents the modern humans of the Ice Age. In Hungary, this period can be assigned to 35-12,000 B.C. 3. THE LOWER PALAEOLITHIC VÉRTESSZŐLŐS The first occupants of the Carpathian Basin were hominids, who can be regarded as the ancestors of modem man. These hominid groups arrived to this region sometime around the middle of the second (Mindel) glaciation, about 350-400 thousand years ago. They chose their campsite with great ingenuity in the Vértesszőlős area, characterised by limetuff basins and warm springs. This attractive region, with its varied vegetation, rich in game and water, prompted this small community to create long-term campsites at the meeting point of the hilly region (Vértes and Gerecse Mountains) and the plainland, the mixed forests of pine and deciduous trees and the open, grassy steppeland. The habitation itself was a dried-up limetuff basin with a diameter of 10-12 m and high, almost vertical walls. The basin was a natural fonnation - its selection as a place suitable for settlement reflects an awareness of its advan-