2006 field season summary

With generous support from the National Science Foundation (NSF-0105851), the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Florida State University, and Ohio State University, the Körös Regional Archaeological Project (KRAP) continued to study the socioeconomic and behavioral changes that reshaped the prehistoric farming societies of the Great Hungarian Plain during the Late Neolithic-Early Copper Age transition. In 2006, we offered our fifth NSF Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU-sites) summer field school from our base in Vésztó. We continued excavating Blocks 4 and 5 at Körösladány- Bikeri (K-14) , and also opened two new excavation blocks at that Early Copper Age settlement, which is located adjacent to Vészto-Bikeri [V-20], west of the modern town of Vészto (see Figure 1). Dr. Apostolos Sarris and Nikos Papadopoulos of the Laboratory of Geophysical- Satellite Remote Sensing & Archeo-environment of the Institute for Mediterranean Studies/ Foundation of Research and Technology, Hellas (F.O.R.T.H.), Rethymno, Crete joined us and carried out geophysical surveys at Okány-Futás (Okány 16), another Early Copper Age site found 10 km SE of the Körösladány-Bikeri and Vészto-Bikeri site (Figure 2), and at the Vészto-Mágor (Vészto-15) tell site, which lies 2 km NNE of K-14 and V-20, and includes stratified deposits from the Middle Neolithic, Late Neolithic, Early Copper Age, Middle Copper Age, and Early/Middle Bronze Age periods (Figure 3). Field school students and KRAP graduate assistants helped with the magnetic surveys in the area surrounding the Vészto-Mágor tell and at Okány 16. We also collected and analyzed artifacts from a controlled pedestrian surface survey at Okány 16, but collection conditions were poor due to the weeds and heavy crop cover at the site. The 2006 field school included undergraduate students from eight different colleges and universities. Graduate students from Florida State, Ohio State, SUNY-Buffalo, and the University of Wyoming also particpated. Hungarian volunteers Gábor Bácsmegi, Éva Szegedi, Letti Tószegi, Csaba Gál, and Moni Fehér were part of our research team. Ms. Dóri Kékkegyi (Múnkacsy Mihály Múzeum, Békéscsaba) assisted with the excavations and served as the project illustrator. Several archeologists and specialists visited us during the summer of 2006, including Dr. Alice Choyke, Aquincum Museum and Central European University, Budapest, Dr. László Bartosiewicz, ELTE, Budapest, Zsuzsanna Kovacs, ELTE, Budapest, and former KRAP GTA Paul Duffy, University of Michigan. We also had a visit from Mr. Gyüri Tószögi, Békéscsaba, editor of the Körös Horgász (fish magazine). KRAP students and staff also visited Szeged and met with Dr. Ferenc Horváth and Dr. Katalin Vályi of József Attila University and their student Ottó Fogas. A complete list of project participants is available elsewhere on the website.

Once again, we want to thank the people of Vésztó, especially the mayor, Mr. János Kaszai, and Mrs. Marika Csóti, Miss Mónika Csóti and Mr. Róli Csóti for their continued support.

Geophysical Research

Dr. Apostolos Sarris and Nikos Papadopoulos used two fluxgate gradiometers to record subsurface magnetic anomalies surrounding the Vésztó Magor. They identified a series of curved features and a rectangular anomaly that enclosed the tell (see Figure 3). The large rectangular ditch seems to be associated with the Medieval monastery that was built on top of the prehistoric tell (http://www.qsl.net/hg8sds/magor/intro.html). The curved features may represent three ditches that were associated with the prehistoric occupations. Possible palisades and gateways also were identified during the magnetic surveys at Vésztó Mágor.

At Okány 16, three rectangular structures were identified during the geophysical survey (see Figure 2).While these structures seem to be located in the center of the Early Copper Age settlement, no trench features were identified in the magnetic survey grids. The density of artifacts on the surface of Okány 16 is not as high as the densities recorded at Vésztó-Bikeri and Körösladány-Bikeri (Figure 5), but similar types of Early Copper Age Tiszapolgár ceramics were recovered at all three sites. While Vésztó-Bikeri and Körösladány-Bikeri were surrounded by palisades and ditches, this was not the case at Okány 16. It seems to represent a different type of Tiszapolgár settlement. Investigations at Körösladány-Bikeri Our fieldwork at Körösladány-Bikeri revealed Copper Age circular anomalies and other features similar to those identified at Vésztó-Bikeri. However, some of the features from Körösladány-Bikeri date to the Late Bronze Age (3500-2800 BP), the Iron Age (Sarmatian Period, 2nd to 4th century AD), and the Árpádian period (end of the 1st millennium AD). Soil chemistry survey at Körösladáy-Bikeri recorded a pattern that is similar to the results from Vésztó-Bikeri and fits the model for agricultural settlements where residents deposited their trash in “ring middens” at the perimeter of their site. However, the pattern is not as sharp at Körösladáy-Bikeri as it was at Vésztó-Bikeri. At V-20 we found evidence that houses and palisades were taken down, posts were removed, and trenches, postholes, and pit features were filled in and mounded over when the site was abandoned. Some posts and timbers from Vésztó-Bikeri may have been removed for use at Körösladáy-Bikeri. Our earlier investigations showed that there were two Early Copper Age occupation phases at Körösladáy-Bikeri. A small circular settlement was constructed during the first phase. Several large bell-shaped storage/refuse pits were located inside of a circular palisade and a deep outer ring ditch, but we have not identified the remains of any structures associated with this first occupation. The palisade was taken down, the enclosing ditches were filled in, and the pits were covered by a cultural deposit that may have undergone some pedoturbation. On top of this “anthrosol” or “paleosol” layer, a second, larger, circular settlement was established surrounded by a ring ditch (we have not found a palisade that is associated with the later occupation phase). Bell-shaped storage/refuse pits were also present in the interior of this later K-14 settlement, but we have not been able to identify any house structures. In 2005, we found two infant burials lying on top of the “paleosol” in Excavation Block 4. In 2006, we continued our excavations in an expanded Block 4. A narrow trench oriented NE-SW was exposed along with more pits associated with both of the occupation phases (see Figure 6). It is not clear if the trench (which was found below the “paleosol”) is associated with a structure that was built during the initial occupation phase. The deep bell-shaped pits contained many artifacts, and a variety of faunal remains, including wild and domesticated mammals, fish, birds, turtles, and amphibians (suggesting that the pits were filled-in during the warmer months of the year). A bell-shaped pit at the southern edge of Block 6 was the only feature found in that 6x7 m block. This pit was associated with the second occupation phase. In excavation Block 7, a segment of the inner palisade and ditch was exposed, along with a large pit and a cistern or well that was over 2 m deep (Fiugre 8). The well had been filled in with artifacts and faunal remains after it was emptied. The deep pit in Block 8 at Vésztó-Bikeri was nearly same size as this well, and may have served a similar function. The sediments at the bottom of the well in Block 7 were oxidized in places where some burned daub and charcoal were thrown into the well when in was filled in. Excavation Block 5 at K-14 also was expanded in 2006. We had excavated a small 3 m wide segment of the narrow (0.4m wide) inner palisade trench in 2005, and we were able to define 7 additional meters of the palisade ditch below the “paleosol” in the extension, but we were able to excavate only 3 more meters of the ditch during our 6 ½ week field season. Outside the inner palisade ditch, another infant burial was discovered lying on top of the “paleosol” (Figure 9). Like the infant burials in Block 4, the child was not placed in a grave or pit. Three meters south of the inner palisade ditch, the northern edge of the large middle ditch was exposed (Figure 10). In 2006, we were able to excavate a 3 m segment of this 3.8m wide and 2.2 m deep trapezoidal ditch. The middle ditch was filled in and covered over by the “paleosol” layer. It seems to have been excavated during the initial occupation phase at K-14.

The magnetometry surveys indicated that the diameter of the middle ditch was 50 m, while the smaller outer ditch had a diameter of 70 m. In 2005 we found that this outermost ditch was 2.0–2.3m wide and 1.6m deep, the same depth as the outer ditch at Vésztó-Bikeri, but a little wider. The outer ditch was trapezoidal, with a flat bottom that was excavated in terrace-like steps about 1.3m long. The effort needed to excavate these large, deep ditches and palisade trenches seems to have been beyond the capabilities of the inhabitants of K-14 and V-20. We have not found any evidence of violent deaths or attacks on these Tiszapolgár settlements, but the people seemed compelled to construct elaborate defensive works around both of these adjacent sites, and may have had to recruit people from nearby settlements to help with their excavations.

We were surprised to find palisades and ditches surrounding Vésztó-Bikeri and Körösladány- Bikeri. The pattern that Sarris defined at Okány 16, with a few houses and pits located on a small rise without any enclosing fortifications, was what we expected to find at these dispersed Tiszapolgár settlements. If the Early Copper Age dispersal from tells like Vésztó Magor and large nucleated Late Neolithic sites was associated with increased mobility, why did the Tiszapolgár herder-farmers invest so much time and effort digging wells and constructing palisades and ditches around their sites?

The large wattle-and-daub “long-house” structures at Vésztó-Bikeri were substantial, but they did not have internal hearths or ovens, and were not divided into separate rooms like Late Neolithic domestic structures. So far, we have not been able to locate any of the houses at Körösladány- Bikeri. It would seem that domestic structures at K-14 were less substantial than the houses at V-20, but we do not yet have any details about how they were constructed and organized. We believe that these two fortified ECA sites were occupied in sequence, but that the internal organization of the two settlements changed. At the earlier Vésztó-Bikeri site, we see a centralized pattern where longhouses were surrounded by an inner ring of pits, kilns, and cooking features, and an outer ring just inside the palisade where animals were kept and trash was discarded. At Körösladány-Bikeri houses and features are less centralized. Smaller structures may have been intermixed with the pits, and may have been built out near the “ring midden” where the animals were kept. At both sites, we found evidence that houses and palisades were taken down, posts were removed, and trenches, postholes, and pit features were filled in and mounded over when the sites were abandoned. Some of the structures at Vésztó-Bikeri seem to have been intentionally burned when they were taken down, while others were not (we have not yet found any evidence for intentional burning of structures at Körösladány-Bikeri and geophysical investigations suggest that there was less “thermal activity” at that site). This leveling and mounding over of abandoned structures and features is reminiscent of tell-building during the Middle and Late Neolithic, but instead of building on top of abandoned structures and features, Copper Age people built next to them.

We still do not know why Late Neolithic populations abandoned their large nucleated settlements and dispersed across the plain. It appears that each household at the large Late Neolithic sites moved to a new location and established a separate settlement (hence the seven-fold increase in site numbers from the Late Neolithic to Early Copper Age). The earliest of the small Early Copper Age settlements seem to have been occupied by longhouse-centered households or lineages. Later in the Copper Age, longhouses were replaced with smaller nuclear family houses. These changes in settlement organization may be an expression of the general trend toward specialization and economic intensification in SE Europe and the Near East during the LN-ECA transition. However, while in the Near East competition between households led to social differentiation and ranking, on the Great Hungarian Plain the Copper Age settlements continued to function as independent, integrated segments of prehistoric tribal societies.