Selmeczi László szerk.: Szolnok Megyei Múzeumi Évkönyv (1982-83)

M. R. Csányi: Finds of the Nagyrév Culture in the Middle Tisza Region

M. R. Csányi: FINDS OF THE NAGYRÉV CULTURE IN THE MIDDLE TISZA REGION As our knowledge of the Early Bronze Age of Transdanubia and the environs of Budapest increases, it is necessary to reevaluate the history of this period in the areas lying along the middle reach of the Tisza. Even if we limit our research of the Nagyrév culture and make use of available new data, there is a disconcerting lack of evidence for a fresh reconstruction of chronology and history. This is all the more surprising since the Nagyrév-Zsidó halom and large number of tell sites are located in the area along the middle-reach of the Tisza, including the territory bordered by the Tisza and Körös rivers, the Tiszazug.

1 The thick Nagyrév layers of Tószeg-Laposhalom and the site at Zsidóhalom have yielded the largest material of this culture. Ferenc Tompa only published representative material which would corroborate his chronological framework.

2 Only a few characteristic types were included in a summary by Pál Patay.

3 Thus the majority of the finds made in the course of the early excavations at Tószeg and Nagyrév-Zsidóhalom are still unpublished.

4 Only the material which came to light during the excavations conducted by Lajos Márton between 1876-1907 was published scientifically and was thus put into the mainstream of prehistoric research.

5 The material unearthed during the excavations between 1973-74 is now under evaluation.

6 The inner chronology and regional diversity of the Nagyrév-culture was outlined by István Bona is a study published in 1963 which he based on grave assemblages already known.~> No find assemblages have been published since then. In the absence of adequate material for comporative studies, the evaluation of more recent finds is practically impossible. It is our aim to give a new impetus to the research of this period by publishing certain find assemblages. The archaeological collection of the museum at Szolnok has in the past twenty years been enlarged by finds which can be assigned to the Nagyrév culture.9 Apart from grave assemblages unearthed in the course of rescue excavations, the circumstances in which several finds were made in various parts of the county are uncertain. Even though this reduces their source valve, their publication is nevertheless essential since some of these stray finds were made at already known cemeteries (or settlements) of the Nagyrév culture and thus our knowledge of the site in question is complemented. Finds which shed new light on the settlement patterns of this culture are equally valuable. Thus we shall take authentic find assemblages as a starting point in the presentation and evaluation of these finds. In mapping the spots where these were found, we can define the northern and eastern boundaries of the distribution area-of the Nagyrév culture. (PI. 21) Szapárfalu near Fegyvernek, marks the most north-eastern spot on the distribution map.

25 The area lying north of this point was occupied by the people of the Hatvan culture a fact already ascertained by previous prehistoric research.

26 It is, however, still unclear whether these cultures (i.e. the Nagyrév and Hatvan cultures) developed along parallel lines. Nagyrév-type finds do not occur independently in the Great Hungarian Plain north of the Szolnok-Fegyvernek boundary. In the course of rescue excavations conducted at Alattyán in 1973, a refuse pit revealed the fragment of a jug which can be assigned to the late phase of the Nagyrév culture as well as some Hatvan finds dating to the early phase of this culture.^ The contemporaneity of the two cultures was first proved by a Nagyrév-type jug found in a refuse pit al the Tápiószele-Tűzköves settlement of the Hatvan culture.

2

** This jug is a characteristic type of the later phase of the Nagyrév culture. The sherds which were found together with the jug cannot be definitely assigned to either the early or late phase of the Hatvan culture. However, the stratigraphical position of the refuse pit is of some aid in this respect, since it can be associated with the lower layer of the tell settlement,

24 and thus the material it yielded cannot date to the latest phase of the Hatvan culture. It is therefore fairly probable that the appearance of the Nagyrév culture preceded that of the Hatvan culture. But we do not know who the northern and eastern neighbours were during the early phase of the Nagyrév culture. An encrusted vessel unearthed in the Szolnok-Szőlősihalom cemetery (Ökörhalom phase) led Nándor Kalicz to suggest that the Nyírség group survived until the appearance of the Nagyrév culture,^ and thus outlived the Makó-type finds. The distribution of settlements, however, indicates that the people of the Nyírség group could not stop the expansion of the Nagyrév culture.

51 The solution to this problem lies in the elucidation of the regional and chronological relationship between the peoples who initiated the start of Bronze Age development; however, there is hardly any evidence at our disposal as regards the middle Tisza region.

32 Direct evidence suggests that the late phase of the Nagyrévculture was partly contemporaneous with the early Hatvan period. It would nevertheless appear that the Nagyrév culture did not cease at beginning of the later phase of the Hatvan culture occupied the former territory of the Nagyrév culture. The unpublished finds from county Szolnok to be described in the following can be dated to various phases of the Nagyrév culture. The earliest finds are vessels from SzolnokSzőlősihalom, Tószeg-Ökörhalom, and the nine grave assemblages from Rákóczifalva. On the basis of these authentic graves-the impotance of which lies not only in the funeral deposits unearthed in them, but also in their authencity-our picture of the burial rites of the Nagyrév culture can be somewhat modified. But before the analysis of the rites observed in various graves, the map of the cemetery should also be briefly discussed. The graves in the approximately 1000 m

2 area excavated were arrenged along an oval line about 25-30 m in diameter

; their distance apart being 7 m on average. This accounts for the fact that only a few graves were found over a relatively large area, although it is possible that later (Late Bronze Age, Gepidic, Avar, and Conquest period) graves destroyed some of the Early Bronze Age graves. The position of these graves, however, cannot be attributed to chance alone. To confirm this one would need the testimonies of other contemporary cemeteries which, however, is rendered difficult by the fact that most of the available evidence comes from the environs of Budapest where finds which can be assigned to the early phase of the Nagyrév culture do not occur independently (Csepel group of the Beaker people). Smaller groups of graves were observed in cemeteries at Tököl, Budakalász, Alsónémedi and Békásmegyer,

33 but there were no traces of a circle-like formation tgpilar to that at Rákóczifalva. Unfortunately our knowledge $fthe early phase of the 61