Astaloş, Ciprian (szerk.): Satu Mare. Studii şi comunicări. Seria arheologie 28/1. (2012)

Gergely Bóka: Changes int he Settlement History of the Late Bronze and Iron Age Körös Region Hydrology, Reliefs and Settlements

Changes in the Settlement History of the Late Bronze and Iron Age Körös Region Hydrology, Reliefs and Settlements

Gergely Bóka

Keywords: settlement history, Late Bronze Age - Iron Age, climatic changes, reliefs, hydrology

1. Introduction

Settlement historical transformations that took place in the Körös Region and the Békés- Csanád alluvial fan in the Late Bronze and Iron ages have already been highlighted in more archaeological studies.1 Those marginal zones - particularly the flood-free loess ridges/interfluves of unstable water balance in the Great Hungarian Plain (Békés-Csanád alluvial fan) - that had either not been populated or had scarcely been inhabited in former prehistoric ages were annexed’ in that 800-year-long period (1200-400 BC) by the Gáva and the Vekerzug (and then La Téne) cultures. This tendency might have been stimulated by a complex transformation concerning the lifestyle, economy and environment.2 Deforestations, which provided - according to pollen analyses likewise - material for constructions of hillforts and fuel for the bronze production implemented by inhabitant cultures of the Carpathian Basin (Urnfield, Kyjatice, Lausitz, and Gáva cultures) at the end of the Late Bronze Age (HB2-HB3, 9-8th centuries BC), might have been a major cause of these irreversible processes. Soil erosion induced by the cutting down of forests in the highlands and lowlands, the reduction of evaporation surface, the increase of river flow rates, and the climate period characterized by a decline in the temperature and a decrease of precipitation that can be dated to the transition period between the Late Bronze and Iron Age concluded a surplus of both the surface and subsurface waters in lower areas of the Great Hungarian Plain; whereas the once flood-free, higher lands were likewise covered or reduced by inundations.3 As a consequence of the diminishment of quondam residential and economic areas, higher reliefs (loess terraces) of the Körös region and the Békés-Csanád alluvial fan started to be populated at the end of the Late Bronze Age and the Early/Middle Iron Age.

2. Climatic Changes in Europe at the end of the Late Bronze Age and in the Early Iron Age

The „Homeric minimum”, „Hallstatt disaster”, early Sub-Atlantic climatic deterioration, Little Ice Age. Researchers dealing with the subjects of prehistoric climate and environmental history use numerous terms for the climatic period taking place in the 9-8th centuries BC, and is characterized by the tendencies of significant precipitation and intensive cooling, which can be detected throughout the European continent. On the basis of the pollen analyses conducted on samples taken from marshes and fens, the climatic deterioration can be dated to the period between 900/850-750/700 cal BC: Engbertsdijksvenen (Netherland) I.=862 cal BC; VII.=784 cal BC; XIV.=815 cal BC4, Pancavská Louka (Czech Republic) = 858 cal BC5, Holzmaar (Germany) = 800 cal BC6, Draved mose (Denmark) = 848 cal BC7, Abbeyknockmoy (UK) = 750 cal BC, Moogen (UK) = 750 cal BC, Bolton fell moss (UK) = 900 cal BC, Walton moss (UK) = 860 cal BC8. A combined investigation involving paleobotanical data and malacofaunal composition and climate model deriving from the analysis accomplished on the Bátorliget Marshland indicate a cooler and wetter climatic period, which could have resulted in 1-2 °C decrease in the temperature during the summer months9, Glacier analyses accomplished in the French Alps, the

1 Gyucha 2001, 123-126; V. Szabó 2004, 149-151; Bóka 2008.

2 Bóka 2008, 159.

3 Bóka 2008, 159-160.

4 Kilian et al. 1995; Mauquoy et al. 2004; Barber et al. 2004.

5 Mauquoy et al. 2004.

6 Barber et al. 2004.

7 Kilian et al. 1995.

8 Barber et al. 2004.

9 Sümegi 2004, 327.

Satu Mare - Studii şi Comunicări, nr. XXVIII / 1, 2012 (23-33)