A Tale of Two Tells: Variation in Neolithic Nucleated Settlements in Southeastern Europe

Summary

Ongoing investigations by the Körös Regional Archaeological Project at two Hungarian tells located 7 km apart, Szeghalom-Kovácshalom (SzK50) and Vésztő-Mágor (V15), exposed different dimensions and settlement layouts. The 4.25 ha Vésztő-Mágor tell is 9 meters high, while the 0.5 ha Szeghalom-Kovácshalom tell rises 3.5 m above an old Körös River meander. The first settlers at both tells were Middle Neolithic groups (Szakálhát phase 5200 B.C., cal), but their growth and development diverged during the Late Neolithic (Tisza culture, 5000-4500 B.C. cal). Surface collections, geochemical and geophysical investigations and excavations at SzK50 exposed a 60 ha nucleated settlement complex surrounding a small tell that expanded rapidly at ca. 4800 B.C. (cal). The SzK50 tell also rose rapidly inside a "moat," but social differentiation between Neolithic families living on and off the tell was limited. Investigations at V15 revealed a different settlement layout at the larger tell. While it was enclosed by encircling ditches, there was no adjacent flat settlement. The 2.5 m of Tisza occupation levels at V15 show it was expanding at the same time as SzK50, however, occupations were confined within the ditches, and there is more evidence for ritual activities and emerging elites at that nucleated tell settlement.

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This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage