FOLIA QUATERNARIA 84, KRAKW 2016, 99122

PL ISSN 0015-573X

DOI: 10.4467/21995923FQ.16.004.5995

POLGR-BOSNYKDOMB, A LATE NEOLITHIC TELLLIKE SETTLEMENT ON POLGR ISLAND (NE HUNGARY).

PRELIMINARY RESULTS OF THE INVESTIGATIONS
Pl Raczky, Alexandra Anders
A u t h o r s a d d r e s s e s: Etvs Lornd University, Institute of Archaeological Sciences, 4/B
Mzeum krt, 1088 Budapest, Hungary, e-mail: raczky.pal@btk.elte.hu; anders.alexandra@btk.elte.hu
A b s t r a c t. In this study, we summarise the preliminary results of thirty years of investigations
at the Polgr-Bosnykdomb site. The significance of the site located on the one-time bank of the Tisza
River is that it lies no more than 5 km away from the well-known Polgr-Csszhalom settlement complex. One of our goals was to investigate the relation between the settlements in the Polgr Island
micro-region and to identify the similarities and differences between them. It is quite obvious that with
its estimated 70 hectares large extent, Polgr-Csszhalom was a dominant settlement complex in this
landscape during the earlier fifth millennium, while the Bosnykdomb settlement, represented an entirely
different scale with its 8 hectares and had a different role during this period. The AMS dates provide
convincing evidence that the two settlements had been occupied simultaneously during one period of
their lives. Despite their spatial proximity and chronological contemporaneity, the two settlements had
a differing structural layout. Although both had a prominent stratified settlement mound that was separated
from the single-layer settlement part by a ditch, the system of the ditches, their structure and, presumably,
their social use differed substantially. This would suggest that each community constructed its settlement
and architectural structures according to different spatial rules in the different locations of Polgr Island.
Despite the spatial differences, we could identify traces of similar community events on the settlement
mounds at Bosnykdomb and Csszhalom such as the recurring practice of house burning. Despite the
smaller excavated areas, we identified wholly different mortuary practices at Bosnykdomb, diverging
fundamentally from the funerary rites practiced at Csszhalom. The bones of the deceased were secondarily deposited into the ditch of the central mound. The various cultural features discussed in the above
indicate that the community responses of the groups settling and living in the Polgr area during the
Late Neolithic to the environmental challenges of the land around them were embodied by a set of distinctive cultural behaviours. Nevertheless, certain elements in the colourful diversity of material features
and their different levels outline the structure of a micro-regional network with Csszhalom in its centre
in the Upper Tisza region.
K e y w o r d s: Neolithic, tell-like and horizontal settlement complex, enclosure system, 14C dating,
Polgr Island, Great Hungarian Plain

Publikacja jest udostpniona na licencji Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 PL)

100

P. Raczky and A. Anders

INTRODUCTION
When we began the new investigations at Polgr-Csszhalom in 1989, one particular
question we sought to answer was the European cultural context and socio-economic
role of the Csszhalom settlement mound, the northernmost representative of the Balkanic Neolithic tells in the Tisza region (Bognr-Kutzin 1966: 268270; Makkay
1982: 64; Kalicz, Raczky 1987a: 17; Meier-Arendt 1991: 8283). The tell and the
palisaded enclosure embodied a synthesis of the Neolithic community structures of
Central Europe and South-East Europe in the Upper Tisza region (Raczky et al. 1994).
The salvage excavations preceding the construction of the M3 Motorway provided
incontestable evidence that there was an extensive horizontal settlement around the
Csszhalom tell encircled by an enclosure, whose joint area was estimated as 28 hectares according to the preliminary surveys (Raczky et al. 1997). A roughly 3.5 hectares
large area and some 7980 houses of the horizontal settlement were excavated between
1995 and 2004. It became clear that the tell was not used as a residential area by the
Csszhalom community in the strict sense of the word, but as a setting for community
and ritual activities, suggesting a duality in the Late Neolithic settlements spatiality
as well as a colourful diversity in one-time interactions, a blend of horizontal and
vertical relations on several levels (Raczky et al. 1997).
The widening research perspective led to inquiries on the broader and narrower
palaeoenvironmental embeddedness in a micro-regional context. In this respect, we
followed Andrew Sherratts lead, who in his archaeological studies on the Dvavnya
area introduced a refreshingly new approach in Hungary (Sherratt 1982). A similar
European scale characterised John Chapmans research agenda on settlement history
(Chapman 1989). The interdisciplinary surveys in the Gyomaendrd micro-region on
the Hungarian Plain conducted by the research team of the Archaeological Institute
of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences represented a similar, by now home-grown
research model (Bknyi 1992). The first comprehensive overview on prehistoric
man and his environment regarding the Polgr-Csszhalom site was prepared in this
spirit (Smegi et al. in Raczky et al. 2002: 838840 and Fig. 1), and strove to present
the Csszhalom settlement in its broader geographic setting.
The Upper Tisza Project, an Anglo-Hungarian collaborative research project
launched in 1990, conducted intensive topographic surveys across the area of the
so-called Polgr Block; the flood-free area around Csszhalom was treated as a natural ecologic unit (Chapman 1994, Fig. 2). The Late Neolithic tell settlement at
Bosnykdomb, lying south of Csszhalom (Fig. 1), was more closely investigated
during this research project (the site was earlier mistakenly dated to the Bronze
Age Kalicz 1968: 127) and its extent was assumed to have been 130 m by
60 m based on the surface scatter of pottery (Chapman 1994, 81). Following the
survey, the discovery of nine Late Neolithic single-layer settlements aside from the
two tells was described in the preliminary reports (Chapman 1994, Fig. 5), which
painted a broad, many-hued canvas of Late Neolithic settlement patterns in the
Polgr area and their palaeoenvironmental setting. The surveys conducted by the

Polgr-Bosnykdomb, a Late Neolithic tell-like settlement on Polgr Island

101
1

2
Fig. 1. 1 The microregion of the Polgr Island in the Upper Tisza Region with the sites 1: Polgr-Bosnykdomb, 2: Polgr-Csszhalom; 2 Polgr-Bosnykdomb. The topography of the tell-like settlement
enclosed by a ditch and the horizontal settlement. Reconstrution is based on magnetometer and field surveys
(After Raczky, Anders 2009a)

English researchers suggested that the Bosnykdomb settlement, discovered during

the survey of 1992, had been a contemporaneous neighbour of Csszhalom, lying
in the northern part of Polgr Island. The Bosnykdomb settlement itself lay on the
southern edge of Polgr Island, by the one-time Tisza floodplain (modern Kirly

102

P. Raczky and A. Anders

Fig. 2. Polgr-Bosnykdomb. 1 Magnetic map of the central tell-like part of the settlement complex
enclosed by a ditch (Tanagra Kft.) with the locations of the Trenches (I, III, V, VIIIX); 2 The burned
layer of the house debris with the remains of vessel; 3 Vessels found in the bourned house; 4 The
V-shaped cross section of the ditch enclosing the tell-like settlement in the Trench I; 5 Cross section of
the pit in Trench VII; 6 Posthole in Trench VII (14: after Raczky, Anders 2009a)

Polgr-Bosnykdomb, a Late Neolithic tell-like settlement on Polgr Island

103

Stream) (Chapman 1997: 153, Fig. 13.6b). It was only a matter of time before the
broader area of this flattish settlement mound was archaeologically investigated and
a magnetometer survey was conducted in order to gain an idea of the sites morphology and its relation to Csszhalom in 2001.
A similar regional research project was conducted in the southern part of the Hungarian Plain by the joint American-Hungarian Krs Regional Archaeological Project
(KRAP) from 1998, in the course of which the pattern of the settlement clusters around
the Late Neolithic tells could be reconstructed over a roughly 2000 km2 large area,
confirming Jnos Makkays hypothesis proposed in 1982 (Makkay 1982; Parkinson
2002, 2006). This reconstruction also enabled certain conclusions on the periods
economic and social relationships (Parkinson, Gyucha 2007). The advances briefly
reviewed here without any pretence at completeness raised important new points
which inspired us to reformulate our own research agenda, namely to focus on the
micro-regional scale and to employ a diachronic approach in our investigation of the
Polgr-Csszhalom settlement.
The systematic geomorphological survey of the roughly 6667 km2 large, loesscovered, flood-free area of Polgr Island (Smegi et al. 2005) offered an excellent
background, as did the reconstruction of the distinctive ecologic traits of this natural
habitat during the Late Neolithic. One important contribution to our work was the
reconstruction of the internal dynamics of the complex hydrological conditions of the
Tisza in the Polgr Island area (Timr et al. 2005).
Simultaneously, the various imprints of human impacts were studied at Sarlht,
lying north of Polgr Island, based on the data gathered during the Upper Tisza
project (Magyari et al. 2012), whereby the possible cultural and other relations of the
Csszhalom tell were geographically extended. The pollen record provided conclusive
evidence for extensive landscape alterations in consequence of enhanced pasturing and
mixed farming in the Late Neolithic.
Andrs Fzesis MA thesis focusing on the Neolithic settlement history of the Tiszacsege area lying south of Polgr Island based on the field surveys conducted between
2002 and 2004 marked another major research advance (Fzesi 2009). An MA thesis
(L. Hajd 2014) and a PhD dissertation (Kovcs 2013) also chose as their subject
the patterns in the distribution of Late Neolithic sites in the Upper Tisza region, their
geographic and environmental conditions, and their contacts. Gbor Mrkus undertook
the integration of the topographic data of the environment of Polgr Island into a single
database and the collation of the data with the information contained in earlier historical
maps (such as the First and Second Military Ordnance Surveys of the Austrian Empire).
During this work, he noted a mound, currently covered with a gallery forest, that lay in
the southern part of Polgr Island, south of Bosnykdomb, appearing on an old map. As it
turned out during its inspection, this mound, known as Polgr-Kgys-domb, was another
tell, whose lower Late Neolithic occupation levels were overlain by Early and Middle
Bronze Age layers (Raczky et al. 2014, Fig. 3: Site 28). The discovery of this new
tell meant that three tell settlements had been occupied simultaneously during the Late
Neolithic on the flood-free areas of Polgr Island as part of a community network.

104

P. Raczky and A. Anders

Fig. 3. Polgr-Bosnykdomb. 1 Detail of the cross section of Trench V (East side); 2 The burned layer
of house 2 (Feature 18)

Polgr-Bosnykdomb, a Late Neolithic tell-like settlement on Polgr Island

105

Gbor Mesterhzys PhD dissertation, currently in progress, represents an entirely

new dimension in the topographic research of the Polgr area: a complex GIS-based
analysis based on the archaeological data from prehistory to the Middle Ages, offering a longer chronological perspective (Institute of Archaeological Sciences, Etvs
Lornd University, 20122016 PhD programme).
Magdalena Moskal-del Hoyos reconstruction of the palaeoecological conditions
of Polgr Island from the evidence provided by the wood charcoal remains is another promising avenue of research (Moskal-del Hoyo 2013; see Moskal-del Hoyo,
Lityska-Zajc 2016). The assessment of the macrobotanical remains from PolgrCsszhalom and Polgr-Bosnykdomb shed new light on the relation of these Neolithic
communities to their environment and the dynamics of this relation. This research
initiative involved an exploration of various dimensions of the human-environmental
interaction in the Polgr area along the same lines as in the southerly part of the
Hungarian Plain, using similarly novel techniques (Gulys, Smegi 2011; Salisbury
et al. 2013). In sum, there has been a pronounced paradigm shift in archaeological
interpretative frameworks regarding the Late Neolithic of the Tisza region, as a result of which the reconstruction of the lives of prehistoric social groups is set in the
context of the interaction with the socio-ecological system. It has been persuasively
shown that the relationship between the biophysical setting and social aggregates is
essentially a complex, constantly shifting adaptive system. In archaeological case
studies, one approach to exploring this relationship is the dynamic model known as
adaptive cycle or panarchy after Holling (Holling & Gunderson 2002; Widlok
et al. 2012; Zimmermann 2012; Gronenborn et al. 2013). These new advances have
outlined new research frameworks for the study of Late Neolithic Polgr Island and
for the archaeological assessment of its settlements (during their approximate the life
span between 5000 and 4500/4400 cal BC).

RESEARCH HISTORY IN THE LAST FIFTEEN YEARS

2001: Field surveys and magnetometric survey
The field surveys were followed by a magnetometric survey in 2001 that focused on
the mound and its immediate environment within the study area. The results of these
investigations indicated that the entire settlement was located along a former branch
of the Tisza River and that it extended over an elongated area of about 96,000 m2 on
the bank of a stream called Kirly-r (Fig. 1.2). The small mound was marked by an
accumulation of no more than 1.31.5 m, measuring almost 150 m in diameter. In addition, the magnetic survey clearly showed traces of an oval ditch system around the
settlement mound, forming an enclosure of 7400 m2. Moreover, magnetic survey data
also indicated burnt settlement features of regular shapes, lying quite tightly next to
each other within the enclosure. In addition, sporadic scatters of burnt features were

106

P. Raczky and A. Anders

also identified in the surrounding horizontal settlement (Fig. 2). The simultaneous
intensive collections of pottery sherds suggested that the settlement had been most
densely populated during the Late Neolithic (i.e. between 5000 and 4600/4500 cal BC).
Soil borings at Bosnykdomb identified a habitation layer within the enclosure that
was approximately 150 cm thick. In this sense, the Bosnykdomb site may indeed be
considered a tell-like settlement (Raczky, Anders 2009a).
20072008: Excavations on the tell-like settlement and the ditch
Research at Polgr-Bosnykdomb continued in 2007 with the more precise archaeological identification of features beneath the surface. Magnetic anomalies outlined
an oblong feature in the centre of the enclosed mound where an excavation trench
measuring 11 m by 6 m was opened (Trench V). At an average depth of 40 cm, the
scattered debris originating from a ca. 8 m by 5 m house with slightly trapezoidal
ground plan became clearly visible (Fig. 2.2). This feature had been disturbed at several points by deep ploughing and various later intrusions. A heavily burnt external
oven with a rounded square ground plan was discovered in the houses south-western
corner. The firing plates of two hearths lying close to each other were discovered
in the buildings southern section. The level of the more-or-less burnt floor surface
could also be identified beneath the debris. The timber structure of the house excavated at Bosnykdomb was made up of posts measuring 1520 cm in diameter, dug
only 2535 cm below the floor surface. At the same time, 2025 cm thick robust
walls were built around this wooden structure. The wattle and daub house uncovered
at Bosnykdomb is smaller than the houses excavated on the central mound and
external settlement of Csszhalom, whose average length was 815 m, while their
width varied between 4 and 7 m (Raczky et al. 2007: 25, 48). The wooden structure
of the building also differed from the Csszhalom houses, which had been supported
by thicker timbers dug into far greater depths. These observations suggested that
a lighter version of the Late Neolithic wattle and daub house, possibly designated for
a shorter life span, was discovered at the Bosnykdomb site. The palaeoecological
analyses on Polgr Island have demonstrated that the intense land use of the Middle
and Late Neolithic led to the retreat of extensive forested areas by the periods end.
The riverine oak woodlands that provided the timber necessary for house constructions were supplanted by cultivated crops and various steppean plant associations
(Smegi et al. 2005: 156158), leading to a scarcity of timber and, simultaneously,
to a more frugal use of timber that became one of the periods hallmarks. The size
and the timber structure of the building uncovered at Bosnykdomb can best be likened to House 15 uncovered at Vszt-Bikeri, dated to the onset of the Tiszapolgr
culture (Gyucha et al. 2006: 1014, Figs 415). These architectural traits reflect an
increasing mobility during the transition from the Late Neolithic to the Early Copper
Age and a less intense occupation of settlements, a point already made in earlier
comprehensive studies on the periods settlement history (Parkinson 2006: 123156;
Parkinson, Gyucha 2007: 4968).

Polgr-Bosnykdomb, a Late Neolithic tell-like settlement on Polgr Island

107

Eleven in situ vessels were found (Fig. 2.3). Rough clay fragments from a squareshaped clay storage vessel whose lower part was plastered on twigs were also recovered.
The fragment of a perforated antler axe was probably also part of the ancient household.
Even without an in-depth analysis of the forms and decorative motifs of the vessels found
in the Bosnykdomb house, it is clear that their best parallels can be found among the
Late Neolithic assemblages from Hdmezvsrhely-Gorzsa and Berettyjfalu-Herply (Raczky, Anders 2009a). We sieved the entire fill of the house and its environs,

Fig. 4. Polgr-Bosnykdomb. Selected vessel types from house 2 in Trench V (Feature 18). 1 small cup
with knobbed decoration, 2 large vessel with knobbed decoration

108

P. Raczky and A. Anders

Fig. 5. Polgr-Bosnykdomb. Selected vessel types from house 2 in Trench V (Feature 18). 14 fragments
from amphora like vessels, 5 bottom fragment of a quadrangular vessel form

as a result of which we were able to recover an extraordinarily rich and varied assemblage of lithic implements that was analysed by Janusz K. Kozowski and Magorzata
Kaczanowska (Kozowski, Kaczanowska 2009; Kaczanowska, Kozowski 2015).
The north-eastern corner of another building was uncovered underneath this house,
which covered a 6 m by 2 m large area at a depth of 60 cm in the trenchs south-east
part (Fig. 3.2). The ca. 1015 cm thick debris layer yielded two intact vessels and the
fragments of two other large vessels (Figs 4, 5). The vessels had been subjected to
intense heat because one of the deep bowls had been strongly deformed by the high
temperature (Fig. 4.2).

Polgr-Bosnykdomb, a Late Neolithic tell-like settlement on Polgr Island

109

The 4 m by 6 m south-western section of the 11 m by 6 m trench opened at Bosnykdomb was excavated down to the virgin soil in 2008. We found a 5060 cm thick
Late Neolithic occupation layer under this house; several Late Neolithic pits had been
dug into this layer and the prehistoric humus layer (Fig. 3.1, Fig. 6). One of these seems
to have had a special ritual function (Feature 50), suggested, among others, by finds
of an incomplete human skeleton and a vessel decorated with human figures in relief.
Even though sporadic Middle Neolithic features such as pits and a grave were found
at the bottom of this tell-like settlement, these structures were not organic predecessors of the Late Neolithic occupation layers. The entire layer sequence of the trench,
including the uppermost humus layer, was 140150 cm thick, which corresponds to the
result of the earlier corings.

Fig. 6. Polgr-Bosnykdomb. Csszhalom-type painted vessel from Trench V (Feature 30)

110

P. Raczky and A. Anders

In 2007, two test trenches (Trench I: 2 m by 10 m, Trench III: 2 m by 12 m) were

opened in the northern and southern sections of the oval ditch identified on the geomagnetic survey maps in order to clarify the precise location and stratigraphic details
of the enclosure (Fig. 2.4). Both trenches indicated the presence of a 240 m deep
ditch with a V-shaped cross-section that was most likely dug at the time the settlement
was established. The lower section of the ditchs fill suggested a single earth-moving
operation (backfilling), while the upper section was infilled continuously as shown by
the inwashed and homogenised humus layer. At the same time, on the testimony of
the Late Neolithic finds recovered from it, the fill of the lower section occurred at the
end of this phase (Raczky, Anders 2009a).
We opened two other 1 m by 1 m soundings in 2007 (Trenches IV and VI) in the
area enclosed by the ditch in order to investigate the burnt buildings appearing on
the magnetograms and to clarify the layer sequence. We reached the virgin soil at
a depth of 150 cm in Trench IV and at a depth of 230 cm in Trench VI. Similarly to
the central trenches, we found burnt debris and levels indicating strongly burnt floors
or the burnt firing plate of ovens in the soundings.
2010: Excavation on the horizontal settlement
In 2010, we opened Trench VII measuring 2 m by 10 m on the horizontal settlement, east of the settlement section enclosed by the ditch, in a location where the
magnetometer survey indicated a major anomaly. Underneath the humus layer which
yielded considerably fewer finds that the corresponding layer in the inner areas we
found a Roman-period Sarmatian pit (3rd4th century AD) and a Late Neolithic pit
and post-hole (Fig. 2.5, Fig 7). The deepest point of the large Late Neolithic pit lay at
a depth of 160 cm. The biography of the pit could be reconstructed from its section:
it stood empty for some time after it had been dug, and then its slow infilling began,
indicated by the levels mixed with mussels, charcoal and burnt daub, which were followed by a homogenous red burnt layer rich in burnt daub fragments, suggesting that
the debris of an edifice that had caught fire near the pit had been dumped into it. The
Neolithic pits active life came to an end: the levels overlying this burnt layer reflect
humus formation interrupted by intrusions from later periods (Bronze Age, Sarmatian
period and Migration period). The presence of a building beside the pit was indicated
not only by the burnt daub fragments, but also by a roughly 150 cm long and 110 cm
deep post-hole in the pits wall (Fig. 2.6). Judging from its north-west to south-east
alignment, the post of a timber-framed buildings north-eastern corner had apparently
been dug into the pit. We have excavated a great many houses with a similar structure
on the horizontal settlement of nearby Csszhalom (Raczky et al. 2007: 26, 27).
2011: Excavation of the southern part of the ditch system
In 2011, we opened a 5 m by 12 m trench (Trench VIII) to investigate the southeastern part of the ditch system and a 1.5 m by 3 m trench (Trench IX) adjoining it
because the magnetometer survey suggested that the line of the ditch was interrupted

Polgr-Bosnykdomb, a Late Neolithic tell-like settlement on Polgr Island

111

Fig. 7. Polgr-Bosnykdomb. Selected decorated vessel types from the pit in Trench VII (Feature 55).
17 Tisza style vessel fragments, 8 Tisza style vessel fragment with incised decoration and white
incrustion, 9 Vina type vessel fragment with chanelled decoration

112

P. Raczky and A. Anders

Fig. 8. Polgr-Bosnykdomb. V-shaped cross section of the ditch enclosing the tell-like settlement in
Trench VIII (Feature 66)

by what had perhaps been an entrance. In addition to uncovering various prehistoric

features, we reached the level of the ditch at a depth of 80 cm (Fig. 8). At this point,
its width was 240330 cm, which then narrowed to 140150 cm at its floor. The wall
narrowed step-wise, its depth ranged between 80 and 130 cm. As it turned out, the
ditch was uninterrupted and continued without a break. The lack of an anomaly on the
magnetogram perhaps simply meant that there was less burnt debris in its fill along this
section. We recovered typical Late Neolithic pottery from the ditchs fill and unrelated
human bone fragments. We found a small shallow pit dug into the ditchs floor, which
yielded human skull fragments, pottery and burnt daub. The southern part of the ditch
was flanked by 1 m wide and 2 m long shallow basin-like depressions.

METHODS
During our research, we always strove to explore the site with many different and
preferably non-invasive techniques, and to extract as much information as possible
from the excavated areas. In order to achieve these goals, the initial field survey was
followed by a magnetometer survey and we opened our trenches and soundings in the
locations of the greatest anomalies. We cleared the trenches manually from the uppermost humus layer in 1 m by 1m or 2 m by 2 m squares, proceeding 20 cm downward

Polgr-Bosnykdomb, a Late Neolithic tell-like settlement on Polgr Island

113

at a time. The removed earth was dry-sieved through a 1.5 cm by 1.5 cm mesh. Owing
to this meticulous and rather time-consuming procedure, we were able to retrieve
a previously unimaginable amount of tiny animal bones and lithic tools, and we also
recorded the exact position of various artefact types and their distribution within and
outside a particular feature, offering a better understanding of archaeological taphonomy, assemblage formation and infilling processes.
We also collected archaeobotanical samples (see Moskal-del Hoyo, LityskaZajc 2016), we submitted samples taken from human and animal bones for radiocarbon measurements, and we also gathered micromorphological samples from the
ditchs southern side, whose assessment is currently in progress.

The settlements chronology

Relative chronology
Given its excellent location, the site was repeatedly occupied in various archaeological periods during the past millennia, as can be clearly seen in the section of Trench V
(Fig. 3.1). The sites first occupation is represented by a few pits and a burial of the
Alfld Linearbandkeramik. The pottery sherds represent the same typical mixture of
Bkk-Esztr-Szaklht stylistic elements as could be observed at Polgr-Ferenci ht,
a site dating from the same period (Raczky, Anders 2009b: 4043).
On the testimony of the field surveys and the layer sequences noted in the excavated
trenches, the sites most intense occupation can be dated to the earlier fifth millennium,
to the Late Neolithic. The periods settlement features pits, post-holes, ovens and
buildings were in part dug into the virgin soil and in part into each other, and the
80 cm thick occupation layer forming the tell-like settlements body accumulated at
this time. The pit section and post-hole uncovered on the horizontal settlement can also
be associated with this period, characterised by Csszhalom-type thin-walled vessels
decorated with yellow and red pastose painting (Fig. 6) and pottery ornamented with
incised textile patterns of the later Tisza phase (Fig. 7). These features and pottery
styles enable the synchronisation of this occupation phase with Polgr-Csszhalom
(Raczky et al. 2002: 841843).
Another building and the construction of the ditch can perhaps be dated to the final
phase of the Late Neolithic, characterised, among others, by the appearance of pointed,
perforated knobs on pottery (Raczky, Anders 2009a). In our first study presenting the interim results of the excavations at Polgr-Bosnykdomb, we believed that these features
and this ceramic ware could be linked to the so-called proto-Tiszapolgr period. Since
then we have realised that the use of this label is erroneous and misleading for several
reasons. Although the transitional proto-Tiszapolgr period had originally been defined
on the basis of the knobbed ware in the Late Neolithic Layer 5 at BerettyjfaluHerply,
this date was in essence generalised for the entire Tisza region (Kalicz, Raczky 1984,

114

P. Raczky and A. Anders

1987b), meaning that a homogeneous and unilinear trajectory was presumed regarding
the emergence of the Tiszapolgr culture across this broad area. The main methodological problem was that the ceramic ornamentation labelled the proto-Tiszapolgr style
did not appear simultaneously in time and space. The main emphasis was on the transition between the TiszaHerplyCsszhalom and the Tiszapolgr cultures, that is, the
temporal aspect played a decisive role. However, the many different ways and local
scales at which transformations took place in the TiszaHerplyCsszhalom cultural environment were not studied with appropriate emphasis. Csszhalom and Bosnykdomb,
two neighbouring tells on Polgr Island, offer an excellent example of this bias: while
the Bosnykdomb site was dated to the proto-Tiszapolgr period on stylistic grounds
(Raczky, Anders 2009a), the material from the neighbouring Csszhalom tell, which was
radiocarbon dated to the very same period, showed no trace of the Tiszapolgr ceramic
style with applied decoration (Raczky et al. 2007: 64). This should in itself warrant the
discardment of the term proto-Tiszapolgr from future archaeological usage, not least
because it reflects a reductionist point of view (Raczky et al. 2014: 331332). Ferenc
Horvth reached a similar conclusion (Horvth 2014), and the American-Hungarian
KRAP team too changed its terminology for the period in question (see the chronological
charts in Parkinson 2006, Fig. 4.4, and Parkinson et al. 2010, Fig. 3).
Absolute chronology
We have a total of seven AMS dates for the Bosnykdomb settlement, two made
on single animal bones, four on human bones and two on plant remains (Fig. 9,
Table 1). The measurements were made in the Vienna Environmental Research Accelerator (VERA) and the Pozna Radiocarbon Laboratory (Poz). The results were
calibrated with the OxCal v4.2.4 programme (Bronk Ramsey 2009) and the IntCal13
calibration curve (Reimer et al. 2013). We have two dates for the northern section
of the ditch (Trench I; 1: 46154500 cal BC, 2: 45804460 cal BC), and three for
its southern section (Trench VIII; 3: 45254405 cal BC, 4: 45454465 cal BC, 5:
45854465 cal BC). The date for one of the Late Neolithic pits containing a vessel
painted in the Csszhalom style (Feature 36) in Trench V falls into the same period
(6: 45554460 cal BC), as does the one for the pit dug into the floor of the ditch in
Trench VIII (7: 45454460 cal BC). It is noteworthy that the human and plant remains
(sample 4 and 7) gave a roughly similar date.
Most of our dates are for samples collected from the ditch. We uncovered roughly
two equal portions of the oval ditch identified by the magnetometer survey, one along
its northern, the other along its southern section (Trenches I and III), and we have
five dates for the two. Given that the fill of the two excavated portions was homogeneous, we believe that the backfilling had been the result of a single deliberate activity.
Fig. 9. Polgr-Bosnykdomb. 1: Schematic map of the settlement with the 14C sampling spots, 2: Sequence calibration of the AMS radiocarbon dates from the enclosure, 3: Sequence calibration of the AMS
radiocarbon dates from settlement

Polgr-Bosnykdomb, a Late Neolithic tell-like settlement on Polgr Island

115

116

P. Raczky and A. Anders

Table 1. Radiocarbon dates from Polgr-Bosnykdomb

Sample

Lab.-No.

Radiocarbon
age (BP)

Calibrated
date (1)

Sample
material
animal
bone
animal
bone
human
bone
human
bone

1.

VERA-4764

5725

35

46154500

2.

VERA-4765

5695

40

45804460

3.

Poz-47453

5640

35

45254405

4.

Poz-47455

5680

35

45454465

5.

Poz-76206

5700

40

45854465 Stipa sp.

63/885
(ditch)

6.

Poz-79716

5695

35

45554460 Cornus sp.

36/455
(pit)

7.

Poz-47454

5680

35

45454460

human
bone

Feature
4/102
(ditch)
4/103
(ditch)
63/896
(ditch)
63/884
(ditch)

75/935
(pit)

References
Raczky, Anders
2009a
Raczky, Anders
2009a
unpublished
unpublished
see Moskal-del
Hoyo and LityskaZajc 2016
see Moskal-del
Hoyo and LityskaZajc 2016
unpublished

In our model, we ordered the five dates into a single sequence: this model suggested
that the infilling of the ditch and the cessation of its use-life as a ditch had begun
around 45704500 cal BC (68% probability) and had ended around 45254455 cal BC
(68% probability) (Fig. 9.2). This interpretation is not contradicted by our observation
that there were differences between the find material recovered from the two sections:
while there were hardly any human remains among the pottery and animal bones from
the northern section, the southern section yielded some seventy human bone fragments,
suggesting that the infilling/deposition processes of this ditch section had involved other
types of activities. However, despite these differences, the archaeological record does not
indicate substantial chronological differences between the two excavated sections.
We only have indirect evidence for the date of the ditchs construction. Two interpretations can be proposed for the date for the pit dug into the ditchs floor. The first, that
there is no relation whatsoever between the two features, and that the pit and the ditch
had been dug independently of each other on two separate occasions. The second, which
seems more plausible to us, is that the pit with its unusual contents of human remains,
charcoal and daub was somehow related to the construction of the ditch. Whichever the
case, it must be borne in mind that the two events or activities had taken place at roughly
the same time since the two samples (nos 6 and 7) gave more or less identical dates.
In our next model, we ordered the seven available dates into a single sequence,
which yielded a date of 45554510 cal BC (68% probability) for the beginning of the
occupation of the Polgr-Bosnykdomb settlement and a date of 45254470 cal BC
(68% probability) for its abandonment (Fig. 9.3). A comparison with the dates for
Polgr-Csszhalom clearly indicates the contemporaneity of the two in the last phase
of the settlements occupation (Raczky et al. 2015: 4345).

Polgr-Bosnykdomb, a Late Neolithic tell-like settlement on Polgr Island

117

CONCLUSION
Previous archaeological and ecological research on various local areas of Polgr
Island resulted in a comprehensive synthesis that set the Late Neolithic settlements at
Polgr-Csszhalom and Polgr-Bosnykdomb in the broader context of social changes
and landscape dynamics. Viewed from this perspective, it is quite obvious that with
its newly estimated 65.8 hectares extent (Fzesi et al. 2016), Polgr-Csszhalom was
a dominant settlement complex in this landscape during the earlier fifth millennium,
while the Bosnykdomb settlement, lying no more than 5 km away, represented an
entirely different scale with its 6 hectares and had a different role during this period.
The AMS dates provide convincing evidence that the two settlements had been occupied simultaneously during one period of their lives.
Despite their spatial proximity and chronological contemporaneity, the two settlements had a differing structural layout. Although both had a prominent stratified settlement mound that was separated from the single-layer settlement part by a ditch, the
system of the ditches, their structure and, presumably, their social use differed substantially. The fact that the single ditch enclosing the Bosnykdomb mound was closed
towards the river would suggest that it had a symbolic, rather than a defensive purpose.
On the testimony of the current evidence, the Bosnykdomb ditch was not interrupted by
one or more entrances, while at Csszhalom, the entrances were created and maintained
for a long time in accordance with the cognitive rules of a distinctive cosmo-vision.
The single ditch at Bosnykdomb has its counterparts among the enclosure ditches of
the Neolithic settlements in the southerly areas of the Hungarian Plain, one of which has
been recently identified by magnetometer surveys at Szentpterszeg-Kovadomb (Raczky,
Anders 2014). This would suggest that each community constructed its settlement and
architectural structures according to different spatial rules in the different locations of
Polgr Island. In terms of architectural sociology, this also means that it is difficult to
establish correlations between the periods social groups and the different settlement
elements, or to identify consistent patterns over a larger area (Trebsche et al. 2010).
The ditch and palisade systems created alongside the construction of tells may
be considered three-dimensional symbolic structures that evidently survived Late
Neolithic tells. During the Early Copper Age Tiszapolgr culture, these fortifications
remained part of the environment of single-layer, horizontal settlements, as shown by
the examples of Tiszaug-Kisrtpart, Vszt-Bikeri and Krsladny-Bikeri (Gyucha
2015: 175187).
Despite the spatial differences, we could identify traces of similar community
events on the settlement mounds at Bosnykdomb and Csszhalom such as the recurring practice of house burning. It would appear that a similar scenario was followed
in these cases, with some of the furnishings left in their original location inside the
houses. As a result of intentional, organised house burning events, a wealth of organic
material and macrobotanical remains have been preserved on both Polgr tells, which
are not only material remnants of various activities and events, but also shed light on
certain dimensions of how humans had used the periods ecologic environment.

118

P. Raczky and A. Anders

In the case of Bosnykdomb and Csszhalom, we could also observe that ceramic
wares with elaborate decoration were part of the paraphernalia accompanying community events at the time the life of the central mounds began, which probably involved
complex feasting and ritual activities (Raczky et al. 2011). Later, the former rules
governing community events appear to have been relaxed or perhaps even discarded,
and the use of elegant fine wares appears to have declined and to have lost its role in
mediating symbolic messages through its decoration. In our interpretation, the spread
and increasingly frequent use of more coarsely-made pottery with applied decoration
accompanied changes in social behaviour at the close of the Late Neolithic and was
not merely the artefactual marker of a new period, the Early Copper Age Tiszapolgr
culture (Raczky, Anders 2008). The knobbed ware found in the burnt house of the
latest occupation level at Bosnykdomb thus marked the end of a social process in the
mid-fifth millennium BC, which appears to be bolstered by the AMS dates. Further
studies are necessary to determine whether the incised Tisza style pottery found on
the horizontal settlement at both Bosnykdomb and Csszhalom had likewise borne
imprints of regional, chronological and/or social dimensions.
Despite the smaller excavated areas, we identified wholly different mortuary practices at Bosnykdomb, diverging fundamentally from the funerary rites practiced
at Csszhalom. The bones of the deceased were secondarily deposited into the ditch
of the central mound, a practice also noted in other cultures of the European Neolithic, from Herxheim (Zeeb-Lanz et al. 2016) to Okolite (Mller-Scheessel et al.
2009). The unusual pit found in the central area of the Bosnykdomb settlement close
to a house structure, the human remains it contained and the fragments of the special
vessel covering them can be seen as a ritually structured deposit (odd deposit) in that
location (Garrow 2012).
The various cultural features discussed in the above indicate that the community
responses of the groups settling and living in the Polgr area during the Late Neolithic
to the environmental challenges of the land around them were embodied by a set of
distinctive cultural behaviours. Nevertheless, certain elements in the colourful diversity
of material features and their different levels outline the structure of a micro-regional
network with Csszhalom in its centre in the Upper Tisza region.
Acknowledgements. The Bosnykdomb project was funded by the National Cultural Fund of Hungary
(NKA Grant 101024). We are grateful to Zsuzsanna Siklsi for her comments on the assessment of the
radiocarbon dates. We are indebted to A. Andrs Kirly (AKA) for the preparation of the illustrations
(Figs 36).

REFERENCES
Bognr-Kutzin I., 1966. Das Neolithikum in Ungarn. Archaeologia Austriaca 40: 249280.
Bknyi S., 1992. (Ed.) Cultural and Landscape Changes in South-East Hungary I. Reports on the
Gyomaendrd Project. Archaeolingua, Budapest.
Bronk Ramsey Ch., 2009. Bayesian analysis of radiocarbon dates. Radiocarbon 51(1): 337360.

Polgr-Bosnykdomb, a Late Neolithic tell-like settlement on Polgr Island

119

Chapman J., 1989. The Early Balkan village. In: S. Bknyi (Ed.): Neolithic of Southeastern Europe
and its Near Eastern connections. Varia Archaeologica Hungarica 2, Hungarian Academy of Sciences,
Budapest: 3353.
Chapman J., 1994. Social power in the early farming communities of Eastern Hungary Perspectives
from the Upper Tisza region. Jsa Andrs Mzeum vknyve 36: 7999.
Chapman J., 1997. The origins of tells in Eastern Hungary. In: P. Topping (Ed.): Neolithic Landscapes.
Neolithic Studies Group Seminar Papers 2, Oxbow Monograph 86, Oxbow: 139187.
Fzesi A., 2009. A neolitikus teleplsszerkezet mikroregionlis vizsglata a Tisza mentn Polgr s
Tiszacsege kztt Mikroregionale Untersuchung des neolithischen Siedlungssystems entlang der
Thei zwischen Polgr and Tiszacsege. Tisicum 19: 377398.
Fzesi A., Mesterhzy G., Serlegi G., Mrkus G., Raczky P. 2016. Polgr-Csszhalom. Results of
the new multidisciplinary investigations of a Late Neolithic settlement in the Tisza region. Hungarian
Archaeology Online Autumn. http://files.archaeolingua.hu/2016O/Fuzesi_et_al_E16OSZ.pdf
Garrow D., 2012. Odd deposits and average practice. A critical history of the concept of structured
deposition. Archaeological Dialogues 19(2): 85115.
Gronenborn D., Strien H., Dietrich S., Sirocko F., 2013. Adaptive cycles and climate fluctuations:
a case study from Linear Pottery Culture in western Central Europe. Journal of Archaeological Science. doi: 10.1016/j.jas.2013.03.015
Gulys S., Smegi P., 2011. Farming and/or foraging? New environmental data to the life and economic
transformation of Late Neolithic tell communities (Tisza Culture) in SE Hungary. Journal of Archaeological Science 38: 33233339.
Gyucha A., 2015. Prehistoric village social dynamics: The Early Copper Age in the Krs Region. Prehistoric research in the Krs Region, Volume II. Archaeolingua Publishing House, Budapest.
Gyucha A., Bcsmegi G., Fogas O., Parkinson W. A., 2006. House constructions and settlement patterns on an Early Copper Age site in the Great Hungarian Plain. Communicationes Archaeologicae
Hungariae 2006, 528.
Hajd L., 2014. jabb ks neolitikus lelhelyek Borsod-Abaj-Zempln megyben Newly discovered
Late Neolithic archaeological sites in Borsod-Abaj-Zempln County, Hungary. Herman Ott Mzeum
vknyve 53: 67101.
Holling C. S., Gunderson L. H., 2002. Resilience and adaptive cycles. In: L. H. Gunderson and C. S.
Holling (Eds.): Panarchy: understanding transformations in human and natural systems.Island Press,
Washington D.C.: 2562.
Horvth F., 2014. Questions relating to the Proto-Tiszapolgr Period in South-Eastern Hungary. Main issues
and present state of research. In: W. Schier and F. Draovean (Eds.): The Neolithic and Eneolithic in
Southeast Europe. New approaches to dating and cultural Dynamics in the 6th to 4th Millennium BC.
Prhistorische Archologie in Sdosteuropa 28, Verlag Marie Leidorf, Rahden/Westf.: 319468.
Kaczanowska M., Kozowski J. K., 2015. Raw materials circulation, organization of production and
lithic technology in the Neolithic/Early Copper Age transition. In: S. Hansen, P. Raczky, A. Anders
and A. Reingruber (Eds.): Neolithic and Copper Age between the Carpathians and the Aegean Sea.
Chronologies and Technologies from the 6th to the 4th Millennium BCE. International Workshop
Budapest 2012. Archologie in Eurasien 31, Habelt Verlag, Bonn: 93104.
Kalicz N., 1968. Die Frhbronzezeit in Nordost-Ungarn. Akadmiai Kiad, Budapest.
Kalicz N., Raczky P., 1984. Preliminary Report on the 197782 excavations at the Neolithic and Bronze
Age Tell Settlement at Berettyjfalu-Herply. Part I: Neolithic. Acta Archaeologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 36: 85136.
Kalicz N., Raczky P., 1987a. The Late Neolithic of the Tisza Region: a survey of recent archaeological

120

P. Raczky and A. Anders

research. In: L. Tlas and P. Raczky (Eds.): The Late Neolithic of the Tisza Region. A survey of recent
excavations and their findings: Hdmezvsrhely-Gorzsa, Szegvr-Tzkves, csd-Kovshalom,
Vszt-Mgor, Berettyjfalu-Herply. Zenemkiad, BudapestSzolnok: 1130.
Kalicz N., Raczky N., 1987b. Berettyjfalu-Herply. A settlement of the Herply culture. In: L. Tlas
and P. Raczky (Eds.): The Late Neolithic of the Tisza Region. A survey of recent excavations and
their findings: Hdmezvsrhely-Gorzsa, Szegvr-Tzkves, csd-Kovshalom, Vszt-Mgor,
Berettyjfalu-Herply. Zenemkiad, BudapestSzolnok: 105125.
Kovcs K., 2013. A tiszai kultra teleplstrtnetnek, bels kronolgijnak s kapcsolatrendszereinek vizsglata szakkelet-Magyarorszgon The settlement pattern, chronology and cultural
relations of the Tisza Culture in Northeast Hungary. PhD thesis, Etvs Lornd University, Budapest.
http://doktori.btk.elte.hu/hist/kovacskatalin/diss.pdf
Kozowski J. K., Kaczanowska M., 2009. Polgr-Bosnykdomb Lithic assemblages. Archaeologiai
rtest 134: 2330.
Magyari E., Chapman J., Fairbairn, A. S., Francis M., de Guzman M., 2012. Neolithic human impact
on the landscapes of North-East Hungary inferred from pollen and settlement records. Vegetation History and Archaeobotany 21(4): 279302.
Makkay J., 1982. A magyarorszgi neolitikum kutatsnak j eredmnyei. Az idrend s a npi azonosts
krdsei. (New results in the research of the Hungarian Neolithic.) Akadmiai Kiad: Budapest.
Meier-Arendt W., 1991. Zu Tells und tellartigen Siedlungen im Sptneolithikum Ost-Ungarns, Siebenbrgens und des Banat: berlegungen zu Entstehung und Funktion. Banatica 11: 7785.
Moskal-del Hoyo M., 2013. Mid-Holocene forests from Eastern Hungary: new anthracological data.
Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 193: 7081.
Moskal-del Hoyo M., Lityska-Zjc M., 2016. Plant remains from the Late Neolithic settlement of
Polgr-Bosnykdomb. Folia Quaternaria 84: 8598.
Mller-Scheessel N., Schmitz J., Hofmann R., Kujundi-Vejzagi Z., Mller J., Rassmann K.
2009. Die Toten der sptneolithischen Tellsiedlung von Okolite / Bosnien-Herzegowina: Massaker,
Seuche oder Bestattungsbrauch? In: A. Zeeb-Lanz (Hrsg.), Krisen Kulturwandel Kontinuitten.
Zum Ende der Bandkeramik in Mitteleuropa. Beitrge der internationalen Tagung in Herxheim bei
Landau (Pfalz) vom 14.17.06.2007. Internationale Archologie. Arbeitsgemeinschat, Symposium,
Tagung, Kongress 10, Verlag Marie Leidorf, Rahden/Westf.: 327340.
Parkinson W. A., 2002. Integration, interaction, and tribal cycling: the transition to the Copper Age on the Great
Hungarian Plain. In: W. A. Parkinson (Ed.), The archaeology of tribal societies. Ann Arbor: 391438.
Parkinson W. A., 2006. 123156; The social organisation of Early Copper Age tribes on the Great Hungarian Plain. British Archaeological Reports International Series 1573. Oxford 2006.
Parkinson W. A., Gyucha A. 2007. A ks neolitikum-kora rzkor tmeneti idszaknak trsadalomszerkezeti
vltozsai az Alfldn. Rekonstrukcis ksrlet Die Vernderungen in der Gesellschaftsstruktur der
bergangsperiode vom Sptneolithikum zur frhen Kupferzeit in der Grossen Ungarischen Tiefebene.
Rekonstruktionsversuch. Archaeologiai rtest 132: 3781.
Parkinson W. A., Yerkes R. W., Gyucha A., Sarris A., Morris M., Sallisbury R. B., 2010. Early
Copper Age Settlements in the Krs Region of the Great Hungarian Plain. Journal of Field Archaeo
logy 35(2): 164183.
Raczky P., Anders A., 2008. Late Neolithic spatial differentiation at Polgr-Csszhalom, eastern Hungary. In: D. W. Bailey, A. Whittle and D. Hofmann (Eds.): Living Well Together? Settlement and
materiality in the Neolithic of south-east and central Europe. Oxbow, Oxford: 3553.
Raczky P., Anders A., 2009a. Rgszeti kutatsok egy ks neolitikus teleplsen Polgr-Bosnykdomb
(Elzetes jelents) Archaeological research at a Late Neolithic settlement Polgr-Bosnykdomb
(Preliminary report). Archaeologiai rtest 134: 521.

Polgr-Bosnykdomb, a Late Neolithic tell-like settlement on Polgr Island

121

Raczky P., Anders A., 2009b. Settlement history of the Middle Neolithic in the Polgr micro-region
(The development of the Alfld Linearband Pottery in the Upper Tisza Region, Hungary). In: J. K.
Kozowski (Ed.): Interactions between different models of neolithisation north of the Central European
agro-ecological barrier. Papers presented on the symposium organized by the EU project FEPRE. Prace
Komisji Prehistorii Karpat PAU 5, Krakw: 3150.
Raczky P., Anders A., 2014. Szentpterszeg-Kovadomb. Egy ks neolitikus lelhely tr-kpei Szentpterszeg-kovadomb. Image-scapes of a Late Neolithic settlement. In: A. Anders, Cs. Balogh and
A. Trk (Eds.): Avarok puszti. Rgszeti tanulmnyok Lrinczy Gbor 60. szletsnapjra Avarum
solitudines. Archaeological studies presented to Gbor Lrinczy on his sixtieth birthday. Opitz
Archaeologica 6, MTA BTK MT Kiadvnyok 2, Martin Opitz Kiad, Budapest: 2342.
Raczky P., Meier-Arendt W., Kurucz K., Hajd Zs., Szikora . 1994. Polgr-Csszhalom A Late
Neolithic settlement in the Upper Tisza Region and its cultural connections (Preliminary report) Egy
ks neolitikus lelhely kutatsa a Fels-Tisza-vidken s annak kulturlis sszefggsei. Jsa Andrs
Mzeum vknyve 36: 231240.
Raczky P., Anders A., Nagy, E., Kurucz K., Hajd Zs., Meier-Arendt W. 1997. Polgr-Csszhalom-dl.
jkkor vgi telep s srok a Kr. e. V. vezredbl Late Neolithic settlement and graves from the 5th millennium B.C. In: P. Raczky, T. Kovcs, and A. Anders (Eds.): Utak a mltba. Az M3-as autplya rgszeti
leletmentsei Paths into the Past. Rescue excavations on the M3 Motorway. Budapest: 3443, 168174.
Raczky P., Meier-Arendt W., Anders A., Hajd Zs., Nagy E., Kurucz K., Domborczki L., Sebk K.,
Smegi P., Magyari E., Sznt Zs., Gulys S., Dob K., Bcskay E., T. Bir K., Schwartz Ch.,
2002. Polgr-Csszhalom (19892000): summary of the Hungarian-German excavations on a Neolithic
settlement in eastern Hungary. In: R. Aslan, St. Blum, G. Kastl, F. Schweitzer and D. Thumm (Eds.):
Mauerschau. Festschrift Manfred Korfman Band 2, Remshalden-Grunbach: 833860.
Raczky P., Anders A., Sebk K., 2007. jkkori hz ksrleti rekonstrukcija Polgr-Csszhalom
teleplsrl Experimental reconstruction of a Neolithic house at the Polgr-Csszhalom settlement. srgszeti Levelek 7: 2449.
Raczky P., Anders A., Bartosiewicz L., 2011. The enclosure system of Polgr-Csszhalom and its interpretation, In: S. Hansen and J. Mller (Hrsg.): Sozialarchologische Perspektiven: Gesellschaftlicher Wandel
50001500 v. Chr. zwischen Atlantik und Kaukasus. Archologie in Eurasien 24. Darmstadt: 5779.
Raczky P., Anders A., Siklsi Zs., 2014. Trajectories of Continuity and Change between the Late Neolithic
and the Copper Age in Eastern Hungary. In: W. Schier and F. Draovean (Eds.), The Neolithic and Eneolithic in Southeast Europe. New approaches to dating and cultural Dynamics in the 6th to 4th Millennium
BC. Prhistorische Archologie in Sdosteuropa 28. Verlag Marie Leidorf, Rahden/Westf.: 319468.
Raczky P., Anders A., Sebk K., Csippn P., Tth Zs., 2015. The times of Polgr-Csszhalom. Chronologies of human activities on the Polgr-Csszhalom horizontal settlement. In: S. Hansen, P. Raczky,
A. Anders and A. Reingruber (Eds.): Neolithic and Copper Age between the Carpathians and the
Aegean Sea. Chronologies and Technologies from the 6th to the 4th Millennium BCE. International
Workshop Budapest 2012. Archologie in Eurasien 31, Habelt Verlag, Bonn: 2148.
Reimer P. J., Bard E., Bayliss A., Beck J. W., Blackwell P. G., Bronk Ramsey C., Grootes P. M.,
Guilderson T. P., Haflidason H., Hajdas I., Hatt C., Heaton T. J., Hoffmann D. L., Hogg A. G.,
Hughen K. A., Kaiser K. F., Kromer B., Manning S. W., Niu M., Reimer R. W., Richards D. A.,
Scott E. M., Southon J. R., Staff R. A., Turney C. S. M., van der Plicht J., 2013. IntCal13 and
Marine13 Radiocarbon Age Calibration Curves 0-50,000 Years cal BP. Radiocarbon 55(4).
Salisbury R. B., Bertk G., Bcsmegi G., 2013. Integrated Prospection Methods to Define Small-site
Settlement Structure: a Case Study from Neolithic Hungary. Archaeological Prospection 20: 110.
Sherratt A. G., 1982. Mobile resources: settlement and exchange in early agricultural Europe. In: C. Renfrew and S. Shennan (Eds): Ranking, resource and exchange. Aspects of the archaeology of early
European society. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge: 1326.

122

P. Raczky and A. Anders

Smegi P., Cskmei B., Persaits G., 2005. The evolution of Polgr island, a loess-covered lag surface
and its influences on the subsistence of settling human cultural groups. In: L. Hum, L., S. Gulys and
P. Smegi (Eds.): Environmental historical studies from the Late Tertiary and Quaternary of Hungary.
University of Szeged, Szeged: 141164.
Timr G., Smegi P., Horvth F. 2005: Late Quaternary dynamics of the Tisza River: evidence of climatic
and tectonic controls. Tectonophysics 407: 97110.
Trebsche P., Mller-Scheessel, N., Reinhold S., 2010. Einleitung. In: P. Trebsche, N. Mller-Scheessel
and S. Reinhold (Hrsg.): Der gebaute Raum. Bausteine einer Architektursoziologie vormoderner
Gesellschaften. Tbinger Archologische Taschenbcher 7. Waxmann: 928.
Widlok Th., Aufgebauer A., Bradtmller M., Dikau R., Hoffmann Th., Kretschmer I., Panagiotopoulos K., Pastoors A., Peters R., Schbitz F., Schlummer M., Solich M., Wagner B.,
Weniger G.-C., Zimmermann A., 2012. Towards a theoretical framework for analyzing integrated
socio-environmental systems. Quaternary International 274: 259272.
Zeeb-Lanz A., Arbogast R.-M., Bauer S., Boulestin B., Coupey A.-S., Denaire A., Haack F., Jeunesse C., Schimmelpfennig D., Turck R., 2016. Human Sacrifices as Crisis Management? In: C. A.
Murray (Ed.): Diversity of Sacrifice. State University of New York Press, Albany: 171189.
Zimmermann A., 2012. Cultural cycles in Central Europe during the Holocene. Quaternary International
274: 251258.