Ede HERTELENDl
1, Éva SVINGOR
1, Pál RACZKY
2\
Ferenc HORVÁTH
2, István FUTÓ
1, László BARTOSIEWICZ
2, Mihály MOLNÁR
4RADIOCARBON CHRONOLOGY OF THE NEOLITHIC AND
This study is aimed at eliminating this paucity of absolute chronological data for the Car
pathian Basin.
The tell settlements in the Great Hungarian Plain are characterised by consecutive lay
ers of habitation built on top of each other forming vertical stratigraphies. The diachronic interpretation of these stratified "cultures", defined mostly on the basis of ceramic styles (relative i. e. typochronological method), has intensified and has been supported by radio
carbon dates (HERTELENDI et al. 1995, 239-245). Little is known, however, of the length of occupation, the "life spans" of individual tell settlements and their precise chronological relationships with each other. Understanding the chronological relation
ships within groups of settlements will ultimately permit a better understanding of settle
ment distributions and wider social organizations of the populations who inhabited this region of Hungary. Information on lifespans of individual settlements can potentially also shed light on patterns of land use at the end of the Neolithic.
Methods
We collected all relevant radiocarbon dates of the Great Hungarian Plain from the lit
erature and made new measurements. We tabulated the dates by cultural entities, and calibrated them using the computer programs of STUIVER and REIMER (1993, 1-25.), respectively. We calibrated the radiocarbon dates from the same culture as a set of related dates and calculated the cumulative probability density functions with selected quartiles and interquartile ranges (AITCHISON et al., 1991, 108-116). We plotted the composite probability distribution of calendric ages of related dates from each culture and estimated the duration of cultures using 68.3 % confidence intervals. Probability distributions of dates for different cultures have different shapes, depending mostly on the numbers of archaeological sites and the dates from each site. For determination of time span of tell settlements we used dating results from archeological sites: Berettyóújfalu - Herpály (37 samples), Hódmezővásárhely - Gorzsa-Cukortanya (20 samples), Öcsöd - Kováshalom (14 samples), Polgár - Csöszhalom (76 samples) The latter, stratified tell is also associ
ated with a single-layer, horizontal settlement, Polgár 6, whose dates are also discussed in this study.
Archaeologically, the sites under discussion here represent different relative chrono
logical intervals. Berettyóújfalu - Herpály (6 typochronological levels) and Hód
mezővásárhely - Gorzsa-Cukortanya (4 typochronological levels) represent the most complete relative chronological, "cultural" continuum, spanning between the beginning of the Late Neolithic Period to the Copper Age. As is shown by the stylistic distribution of ceramic materials, the tell site of Polgár Csőszhalom can be sub-divided into three main phases within the same interval. Of these, the horizontal settlement adjacent to the tell seems to be related to the earlier Late Neolithic strata. Occupation at the shorter lived, and apparently early Late Neolithic tell of Öcsöd - Kováshalom (2 levels) also came to an end before the wake of the Neolithic Period in the Great Hungarian Plain.
Results
We devided the Neolithic cultures from Eastern Hungary into nine general groups.
Radiocarbon dates available for this study were classified within their respective groups in Table 1. Using more than 300 calibrated radiocarbon dates from the Great Hungarian Plain, we constructed a series of cumulative probability densitograms (Fig. 1). These show the absolute chronological boundaries and duration of the nine cultural groups.
o2
Table 1
Chronology of Neolithic Cultures in Hungary Phase (1er)
cal ВС
Culture or cultural group
Confidence interval (la) cal ВС
Early 5860-5310
Körös 5950-5400
Early 5860-5310
Late Körös (Protovinĉa) 5770-5230
Middle 5330-4940
Vinĉa-Tordos. 5390-4960
Middle 5330-4940
Middle Alföld Linear Pottery (classical)
5330-4940 Middle
5330-4940
Late Alföld Linear Pottery (Tiszadob)
5330-5000 Middle
5330-4940
Szakáihát - Esztár - Bükk 5260-4880
Late 4970-4380
Transitional formation phase of the Tisza culture
5120-4710 Late \
4970-4380
Tisza - Herpály - Csőszhalom 4860-4490 Late
4970-4380
Prototiszapolgár 4570-4270
Early Copper Age 4410-3760
Our investigations shed light on several archaeological events:
1. The Neolithic period in Hungary began at the tum of the Iх -6 millennia ВС, and ended at the end of the 5 millennium ВС. We estimate the entire range of the Neolithic in Hungary io be 1500 yr. However, no radiocarbon dates are known for the earliest Neo
lithic in Hungary, therefore this period may date as early as the 7 millennium ВС, and may have persisted 2000 yr.
2. Présem data suggest that Neolithic cultures, previously regarded as sequential, often overlap. This is clearly expressed in the Middle Neolithic Alföld Linear Pottery cultures and its groups. These findings agree with archaeological studies, which also suggest overlapping groups on the basis of ceramic material from the Middle Neolithic.
Fig. 1. Smoothed cumulative probability density functions of Neolithic cultures in Hungary. Vertical distance between the dotted lines gives 1er confidence interval.
64
3. The most probable time scale for the Early Neolithic ranges between 5860 and 5310 ВС. The Middle Neolithic most probably occurred between 5330 and 4940 ВС, and the Late Neolithic between 4970 and 4380 ВС (Fig. 2). The estimated 250-300 yr dura
tion of Late Neolithic tell settlements obtained by typological comparisons is also con
firmed by our new radiocarbon data. The newly measured 14C dates representing the end of the Late Neolithic agree with the previously established dates of the Early Copper Age (BOGNÁR-KUTZIÁN 1985, 293-298.).
Fig. 2. Diagrammatic representation of the three phases of the Neolithic period.
4. The life span of tell settlements are shown on Fig. 3., Fig. 4. and in Table 2. The estimated average time span of investigated four tell settlements in Eastern Hungary is 285 years. The time span of the oldest tell settlement, Öcsöd - Kováshalom is not over
lapping with the other settlements. Complete overlapping exists between Hódmezővásár
hely - Gorzsa-Cukortanya and Polgár - Csőszhalom. The youngest tell settlement is Berettyóújfalu - Herpály whose time span overlaps with the two previous ones.
Table 2
Time spans of typochronological levels of four tell settlements in Eastern Hungary Tell settlement Confidence interval ( l a )
cal ВС
Time span (la) [years]
Öcsöd - Kováshalom 5110-4830 280
Hódmezővásárhely - Gor
zsa-Cukortanya
4850-4550 300
Polgár Csőszhalom 4840-4560 280
Berettyóújfalu - Herpály 4730-4450 280
5. Comparisons between the radiocarbon dates and stratigraphies of the four tell sites from the Great Hungarian Plain show that, at the present level, the use of 14C measure
ments has proved to be very limited in fine-tuning stratigraphie and typochronological phases. The error margins of these measurements pose a natural obstacle, which does not make 15-20 year distinctions between construction phases possible, as would be the case
with dendrochronology, for example in the lakeshore pile dwellings of the Alpine Fore
land (Table 3).
Table 3
Summarized radiocarbon dates of the strata at the four tell sites studied Tell settlement Noof1 4C
data
Confidence inter
val (68.3%) cal ВС
Time span (68.6%) [years]
Öcsöd - Kováshalom 14 5110-4830 280
level 1 7 5181-4931 250
level 2 7 5020-4782 238
Hódmezővásárhely -Gorzsa-Cukortanya 20 4850-4550 300
Polgár Csőszhalom 76 4840-4560 280
level 3 16 4905-4646 259
level 2 6 4843-4692 151
level 1 54 4795-4530 265
Berettyóújfalu - Herpály 37 4730-4450 280
level 9 4822-4560 262
level 8 14 4749-4495 254
level 7 10 4747-4371 376
level 6 5 4644-4428 216
level 5 5 4601-4386 215
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the National Scientific Research Foundation of Hungary (OTKA Grant No. T 18179). We gratefully acknowledge the technical assistance pro
vided by Ms. Magdolna Mogyorósi.
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Fig. 3. Smoothed cumulative probability density functions of the typochronological levels of tell settlements.
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Öcsöd - Kováshalom 5110-4830
Hódmezővásárhely-Gorzsa 4850-4550
Tisza polgá r-Csószhalom 4840-4560
Berettyóújfalu-Herpály 4730-4450
calBC
Fig. 4. The life span of the four major tell settlements in Eastern Hungary.