Social Dynamics and Archaeological Sciences at Neolithic Tells: Investigations on the Great Hungarian Plain by the Körös Regional Archaeological Project

Summary

Investigation of social dynamics at Neolithic tells, Szeghalom-Kovácshalom and Vésztő-Mágor, Hungary, included surface collection, geophysical and geochemical surveys, targeted excavations, micromorphology, stable isotope studies, compositional analysis, and contexual analyis of 14C dates, cultural materials, and burials. Both sites were established ca. 5200 B.C., cal., and they are located on the same branch of the Sebes-Körös River, seven km apart. However, they have different dimensions and settlement layouts. At Szeghalom-Kovácshalom a 60 ha nucleated settlement complex surrounds a small tell. The larger Vésztő-Mágor tell was enclosed by encircling ditches, but there is no adjacent flat settlement. Spatial analysis using GIS documented rapid horizontal settlement expansion ca. 4800 B.C., cal., while micromorphological studies and calibrated 14 C dates revealed rapid vertical growth at both tells. Archaeometric and contextual analysis provided vital data used to examine the archaeological correlates of social complexity. There was some evidence for social differentiation and for ritual activities led by emerging elites. However, this first occurance of population nucleation did not lead to institutionalized hereditary inequality and powerful rulers at the tells. On the Great Hungarian Plain, this occurred during the Bronze Age. Nonetheless, population nucleation did contribute to the emergence of new ideas about socio-political organization.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)   •
• Unraveling Social Dynamics through Archaeological Science

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 12150