Three Successive Waves of Neolithisation> LBK Development in Transdanubia

UDK 903ı12\ı15(292.451\.454)"633\634" Documenta Praehistorica XXXVI (2009) Three successive waves of Neolithisation> LBK development in Transdanubia Krisztián Oross, Eszter Bánffy Archaeological Institute of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, HU [email protected]< [email protected] ABSTRACT – Due to the latest research, the LBK formation in Transdanubia must have involved an essentially Mesolithic subsistence, complemented by certain elements of the Neolithic package brought here by migrant late Star≠evo groups. Many small sites were located in marshy areas, unsuitable for food production as a basis of livelihood. The currently available evidence suggests that there was a 4–5 generations long period, when it was not self-evident that the sedentary way of life would be fully accepted and adopted. During the ensuing earlier LBK period, the culture spread across the entire area of Transdanubia and a few settlements were even established on the left Danube bank, still, no substantial changes can be noted in the density of the settlement network and the layout of the settlements. In sharp contrast to the preceding period, the Keszthely and Notenkopf phases saw the settlement of larger communities on arable loess plateaus and the adoption an economy based exclusively on farming. New evidence from 53rd century BC sites such as Balatonszárszó-Kis-erdei-dűlő reflects fundamental changes in the size and layout of settlements, as well as in subsistence strategies. IZVLE∞EK – Zadnje raziskave so pokazale, da je morala biti pri nastanku LTK v Transdanubiji vklju- ≠ena mo≠na mezolitska gospodarska osnova z elementi neolitskega paketa, ki je prispel s selitvijo Star≠evo skupine. Mnogo malih najdi∏≠ se nahaja na mo≠virnih podro≠jih, neprimernih za kmetova- nje. Podatki ka∫ejo, da se je sedentarni na≠in ∫ivljenja uveljavil v ≠asu 4–5 generacij. V ≠asu zgod- nje LTK se je kultura raz∏irila na celotnem podro≠ju Transdanubije. Nekaj naselij je bilo postavlje- nih celo na levem bregu Donave. V tem ≠asu ni opaznih bistvenih sprememb v poselitvenem vzorcu in obliki naselbin. O≠itna sprememba nastopi v fazi ‘Keszthely’ in fazi ‘ornamenta v obliki not’, ko naselja postanejo ve≠ja in so postavljena na terasah orne puhlice. Gospodarstvo temelji izklju≠no na kmetovanju. Najdi∏≠a Balatonszárszó-Kis-erdei-dűlő iz 53 stoletja BC dokazujejo temeljne spremembe v velikosti in obliki naselja ter gospodarskih strategijah. KEY WORDS – Transdanubia; neolithisation; LBK periods and phases; settlement patterns Earlier models of the neolithisation of Europe hypo- contribute to a better understanding of neolithisa- thesising a single wave of colonisation and a single- tion, there can be little doubt that the transition to event scenario have in recent years been supplanted the Neolithic in the Carpathian Basin can best be de- by more complex ones offering a fresh perspective scribed by scenarios combining the two, by an ’inte- on this process, which is now seen as involving in- grationist’ approach. It is not mere chance that stu- teraction and reciprocal cultural impacts, with a fo- dies arguing for both immigrant and indigenous con- cus on the gradual transformation of subsistence tributions to the process offer the most fruitful ideas, strategies. New approaches have been developed for even if elaborated for geographic regions other than the study of settlement patterns, the archaeological the one discussed here (Zvelebil 1986; 2000; 2001; heritage, social organization and, also, ideology. Gronenborn 1994; 1999). The gradual nature of the transition has been documented in more distant re- While studies written from an ’indigenist’ or, conver- gions, too: for example, Catherine Perlès has convin- sely, a ‘migrationist’ perspective both have much to cingly argued that the neolithisation of the Balkans DOI: 10.4312/dp.36.11 175 Krisztián Oross, Eszter Bánffy should probably not be conceived of as a direct diffusion from Anatolia (Perlès 2005), but more likely as the outcome of two geographically and chronologically distinct population movements, one a maritime migration from the Levant and the southern Turkish coast, the other an over- land migration towards Bulgaria (Öz- dogan 1997; 1999; 2000). In neither case, however, was the full Neolithic package adopted. According to Per- lès, the cultural elements which were not introduced to the newly coloni- sed areas were in part deliberately rejected and in part suppressed by local traditions. These examples offer good parallels to other regions such as the Carpathian Basin: following the transition to the Neolithic in the Balkans, the Early Neolithic, which can be conceptualised as phases of dynamic innovation alternat- ing with more tranquil periods of settlement, proceeded at varying ra- tes in various regions, including the southern frontiers of Transdanubia. Fig. 1. The late Star≠evo and formative, earliest LBK distribution In this sense, Transdanubia (lying in in Transdanubia with some important sites: 1. Babarc; 2. Becse- the western part of the Carpathian hely I-Bükkaljai-dűlő; 3. Brunn am Gebirge; 4. Gellénháza-Városrét; Basin) shares certain similarities 5. Harc-Nyanyapuszta; 6. Medina; 7. Révfülöp; 8. Sármellék; 9. Szent- with the Balkans, in that the transi- györgyvölgy-Pityerdomb; 10. Tapolca-Plébániakert; 11. Tihany-Apá- tion was a complex process. It be- ti; 12. Vörs-Máriaasszonysziget; 13. Zalaegerszeg-Andráshida-Gé- came clear from the 1990s that the bárti-tó. single most decisive impact stimulating the transi- the growing body of evidence, a model of multi- tion came from the late phase of the Star≠evo cul- phase neolithisation can now be constructed. The ture, an immigrant group from the Central Balkans, earliest wave was the appearance of the Star≠evo which advanced as far as the Balaton region (Kalicz culture in southern Transdanubia, which will not be 1990; 1993). This model has only been challenged discussed here. The early LBK in Transdanubia can by a few prehistorians (Pavúk 1994; 2004). Postu- be divided into an earliest, formative phase, and an lating the significance of late Star≠evo groups, but earlier phase (Bánffy and Oross in press), differing assuming also the participation of indigenous fora- from the late LBK period in terms of settlement den- gers in the process, an integrationist model was pre- sity and settlement layout, material culture, cultural sented for Transdanubia, and it was furthermore connections with the Balkan Neolithic and subsis- suggested that this region played a key role in the tence strategies. Discussed in the following will be neolithisation of the Danube Valley and, on a broa- the revised LBK sequence for Transdanubia. der scale, of the greater part of Central Europe (Bánffy 2004). The new model of neolithisation was The research projects mentioned above yielded a based on both the archaeological record and the wealth of new information, as well as a considerably findings of palaeo-environmental and micro-regional more detailed picture of the emergence and devel- research projects (Bánffy 2006a; Zatykó et al. 2007), opment of the LBK. The dynamic changes from the as well as new material recovered during the large- beginning to the end of the LBK sequence are pre- scale salvage excavations preceding motorway con- sented in a chronological and spatial model (Tab. 1). struction. In the light of more recent research and This model describes the entire LBK sequence as a 176 Three successive waves of Neolithisation> LBK development in Transdanubia and that the LBK emerged from a peripheral branch of the Star≠evo population (Kalicz 1993). Recent research has furnished data enabling a reconstruction of the peopling of central Transdanubia, with evidence for the presence of both Star≠evo and indigenous forager groups (Bánffy 2000; 2004; Bánffy et al. 2007). A number of new Mesolithic sites have been identified, of which the Regöly site has been excavated (Eichmann et al. in press). The late Mesolithic settlements and their occupants ap- pear to have played a major role in the transformation of the terminal Star≠evo culture. The blending of di- Fig. 2. Reconstruction of the two timber-framed buildings of the verse traditions can be noted in both formative LBK settlement at Szentgyörgyvölgy-Pityerdomb. the archaeological and palaeo-ecolo- series of transitional phases and the formation of gical record. Transdanubia can be divided into two new structures according to a certain rhythm in main geographic regions during this period, with time. This rhythmic change can be noted both in Lake Balaton in the centre (Fig. 1). This division was time and space, and seems to have survived and to very probably a reflection of two distinct palaeo-eco- have had an impact during the centuries following logical zones, separated by what has been termed the LBK period, i.e. in the Late Neolithic of Transda- the Central European-Balkan Agro-Ecological Barrier nubia, as reflected by the distribution of the Sopot (CEB AEB) by Pál Sümegi and Róbert Kertész (Süme- culture of southern origin and, later, the Lengyel pe- gi and Kertész 2001). riod, extending into the Early Copper Age and occu- pying a larger territory than the LBK. One point that We now also have a better understanding of settle- clearly emerges from this sequence is that the fully ment patterns and settlement layouts. The generally sedentary, food producing Neolithic life-style cannot small settlements formed smaller clusters, reflecting have evolved earlier than the late LBK period, corres- a loose system of farmsteads sited relatively close to ponding to the Notenkopf and early Keszthely pha- each other. These sites shared one important feature, ses respectively, during the 53rd century BC. namely that they lay in areas unsuited to agriculture as a secure source of livelihood. The soil types and The earliest, formative LBK the hydrological conditions would have enabled no more than a form of horticulture combined with a Aside from the already known fact that the Star≠evo few domesticated plants.

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