B. Papp szerk.: Studia Botanica Hungarica 36. 2005 (Budapest, 2005)

Medzihradszky, Zsófia: Holocene vegetation history and human activity in the Kis-Balaton area, Western Hungary

ments are grouped in the surroundings of the town of Keszthely, or further south, at Balatonhídvég. Towards the end of the Middle Neolithic Period the number of localities decreases, and the settlement intensity apparently becomes smaller in the Kis-Balaton area. In the Late Neolithic, during the period I

—II of Lengyel culture (49004500/4400 BC) numerous localities occur again. Most of the settlements are small, but densely cover the area in a network fashion, the more significant of them settled at the important points of strategic and commercial junctions. The crossing point at Balatonhídvég was used by the settlers as well as probably the crossing possibility at Fenékpuszta. In the Early Copper Age (4500/4400-4000 BC) the area is sparsely settled, but the crossing point at Hídvég appears to be prominently important, shown by the big fortress system excavated here. During the Middle Copper Age (4000-3600/3500) the number of localities increases in the region, in some places, as in the case of Zalavár-Basasziget, the presence of long-lasting settlement is evident. Large numbers of grinding stones, storage pottery were excavated, referring to the importance of crop cultivation. At around the middle of the 4th millennium, at the beginning of the Late Copper Age the material culture has begun to be unified in the Carpathian Basin, the Baden Culture countermarks the last 300 years of this millennium. The settlements are single layered, short lived and cover the dry areas in a dense network. The settlements of the Early Bronze Age (2700/2500-1900/1800 BC) are insufficiently known, these usually cover large areas; since the density of population was low, probably only a few families lived in one particular area for a longer period of time. The sculptures of animals (sheep, cows and pigs), characteristic of this period, are evidence of the importance of animal husbandry; the storage pits, granary pottery and antler hoes are the same as those of the crop cultivation. In the Middle Bronze Age (1900/1800-1400/1300 BC) the villages are of varying size, and the network is more dense in the southern part of the basin. From the localities stays, fish-scale, mussel and mollusc remains were excavated in a large amounts, and several storage pits refer to continuous and important crop cultivation. In the Metal Ages the human impact changes qualitatively, since there was a growing need for material goods, the growing population needed more food and expanded arable lands; the use of new and larger areas was made easier with metal tools and weapons.