Tiszapolgár culture

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Tiszapolgár culture refers to cultures in the early Copper Age in Hungary and Eastern Slovakia . The name Tiszapolgár culture for the finds of the eastern Alföld goes back to Ida Bognár-Kutzian , author of two specialist books from 1963 and 1972. The culture was named after the sites in and around Polgár in Hajdú-Bihar County in Hungary and after the Tisza, the Hungarian name for the Tisza . The best known is the Basatanya burial ground .

chronology

The Tiszapolgár culture (4,500–4,000 BC) belongs to the Early Copper Age and largely follows the Tisza-Herpály-Csőszhalom culture , in the south and east the Vinča culture and Petreşti culture . The Bodrogkeresztúr culture follows it seamlessly in the Middle Copper Age . However, there is no clear material demarcation between the latest Tisza, Proto-Tiszapolgár and Tiszapolgár, which is why researchers often seem to contradict each other.

Influences

There must have been a clear outside push to bring about the radical changes that led to the Tiszapolgár culture. The cause is interpreted in the influence from the east, which is also supported by non-archaeological studies, including the verifiably imported flint raw material , the steppe horse breed and, according to Zoffmann, the clear presence of an eastern component in the skeletal material.

distribution

In her 1972 monograph, Bognár-Kutzián formed four regional groups of the Tiszapolgár culture:

  • Lúčky Group: Eastern Slovakia region
  • Basatanya Group: Region of north-east Hungary in the area of ​​the Körös River
  • Tiszaug- (Kisrétpart) group: Region on the rest of the course of the Tisza
  • Deszk Group: Region on Hungary's southern course of the Tisza

All higher-lying areas west of the Tisza are more likely to be assigned to the Lengyel culture today .

Locations

The sites are concentrated in the vicinity of bodies of water, especially of course the Tisza and its tributaries. Locations at high altitudes are rarer. Compared to the Neolithic , there is a clear increase in the number of sites, which is associated with the population growth during the Tiszapolgár culture.

Graves provide a large part of the finds. Particularly well-known shallow grave fields are:

  • Polgár , a place in Hungary, with the Basatanya burial ground south of the place
  • Deszk , place near the city of Szeged in the municipality of Csongrád in Hungary
  • Tibava , place and municipality in eastern Slovakia
  • Veľké Raškovce , a place and municipality in eastern Slovakia
  • A cattle grave in Endrőd , Hungary

anthropology

Anthropologically, a major break in development can be traced back to the beginning of the Tiszapolgár culture. Although the Neolithic population persists, the presence of skeletons of the eastern cro-magnoid type creates a non-uniformity in the bone spectrum.

Found good

Ceramics

The ceramic forms the most important group of the found goods. The most distinctive vessels have a hollow foot in different shapes, which often has a large perforation. The settlement ceramics are on average a little better fired than the grave ceramics, which makes the former somewhat lighter.

Most of the vessels are made in the Neolithic tradition, but differ in the drastic decrease in ornamentation. This decline shows a change in the world of imagination, which is interpreted as a decisive change between cultural phases.

Metal finds

The number of metal finds increases with the beginning of the Copper Age, of course, especially the cast objects. New forms are copper heavy equipment and artifacts made of gold. Heavy copper artifacts, gold, stone tools and raw materials are regularly found in hoards. Their temporal and cultural allocation to the Tiszapolgár culture is, however, partly controversial.

Weapons and implements

Weapons and implements were made from stone, bone, antler or copper. The copper utensils are mostly axes that were only found in the north, but represent one of the key finds of the early Copper Age; other copper tools are chisels and knives. Axes made from antlers and stone tools made from local obsidian and high-quality flint imported from the East were also found . The knowledge of heavy stone tools such as B. Millstones is limited as very few finds come from settlements. The lack of real arrowheads is remarkable .

trinket

New and therefore a decisive feature of the Tiszapolgár jewelry culture are golden ring or disk-shaped pendants. In addition, there are copper arm rings and copper rings, as well as pearls mainly made of limestone.

Settlements

The settlements have so far been little explored compared to the burial sites. They are located in the immediate vicinity of the shore, mostly on small elevations. Settlements at high altitudes are very rare and are attributed to the fact that raw materials (stone, salt, metal) were extracted there for the lower settlements.

The settlements are rarely located on Neolithic tell settlements , probably due to economic and ecological factors, because for most of the tell settlements a violent end can be ruled out due to the lack of layers of destruction. The undifferentiated settlement system (no fortifications, no “centers”) still bears witness to Neolithic traditions.

All settlements of the actual Tiszapolgár culture are unfortified flat settlements. The houses consist of simple rectangular post constructions. This type of construction can already be found in the previous Proto-Tiszapolgár phase (in Lúčky). and also in the following Bodrogkeresztúr culture .

livestock farming

The large number of animal bones testifies to the increasing importance of animal husbandry. Cattle, pigs, sheep / goats, dogs and horses have been identified in domesticated animals. The domestication of horses is an important factor in the development of the Copper Age, because now animals are no longer only used as food suppliers, but also as work animals. Bones of numerous wild animals and fish were also found in the settlements.

The animal bones found in the settlements hardly differ from those of the grave finds.

Ritual of the dead

The death ritual of the Tiszapolgár culture testifies to the social change that took place at the beginning of the early copper age. Differences between the burials of earlier cultures can be clearly recognized, both by their location on the burial ground and by their grave goods.

Burial places

The burial places of the culture are always close to water and mostly on small elevations, but rarely near settlements.

Burial methods

Most burials are corporal burials with a strict deposition scheme. As both anthropological and archaeological identification methods prove, women were laid on their left side and men on their right side in a gentle stool or back stool position and with their heads facing east, with rare exceptions. Partial or multiple burials are generally very rare. Cremations appear only in the Lúčky group.

All the dead were buried in rounded, rectangular or oval grave pits. There are traces of ash and ocher stains.

Grave goods

The graves of the Tiszapolgár culture have on average a very high number of grave goods. There seems to be a connection between the number of gifts and the age of death; the older the deceased, the more gifts he received. The lack of equipment in children's graves testifies to Neolithic traditions, where status was not inheritable but could only be acquired through performance.

The most important additions were vessels , followed by weapons and devices . There are both specimens without any signs of use and functionally unusable specimens made of soft types of rock, which are interpreted as status symbols.

Some corpses wore jewelry , following the common costume, men wore gold pendants, women pearls.

Meat additions from domesticated and wild animals are also very typical , with pigs, sheep and cattle being the most common.

Regional differences

Basically, it should be noted that the results of Slovak cemetery research cannot be applied to the entire area of ​​the Tiszapolgár culture. Many aspects are local features of the northern distribution area.

meaning

The Tiszapolgár culture shows the beginning of the development towards a stratified society , through economic upswing and the establishment of supra-regional contacts. It represents a crucial link between the Copper Age cultures of the Pontic and the Balkans and Central Europe.

literature

  • Ida Bognár-Kutzián: The Early Copper Age: Tiszapolgár Culture in the Carpathian Basin with 36 Figures, 74 Plates and 2 Supplements . Akadémiai Kiadó, 1972.
  • Ida Bognár-Kutzián: The Copper Age Cemetery of Tiszapolgar-Basatanya. With 146 Figures, comprising 158 Illustrations, 139 Plates and 5 Supplements Supplements . Akadémiai Kiadó, 1963.
  • Ida Bognár-Kutzián: The Neolithic in Hungary. (= Special reprint from research reports on prehistory and early history no.8). Austrian Working group for prehistory and early history, Archeologia Austriaca 40, Vienna 1966.
  • I. Zalai-Gaál: The cattle grave of Endröd 130. New information on the animal cult of the Central European Copper Age. Archaeolingua 8, 1998, pp. 545-568.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Abridged from: http://www.donau-archaeologie.de/doku.php/kulturen/tiszapolgar . Section: Introduction. Retrieved March 7, 2012
  2. ↑ a b c d e Abridged from: http://www.donau-archaeologie.de/doku.php/kulturen/tiszapolgar . Section: Chronology and Relationships. Retrieved March 7, 2012
  3. ↑ a b Abridged from: http://www.donau-archaeologie.de/doku.php/kulturen/tiszapolgar . Section: Dissemination. Retrieved March 7, 2012
  4. ↑ sentence taken from: http://www.donau-archaeologie.de/doku.php/kulturen/tiszapolgar . Section: Dissemination. Retrieved on March 7, 2012. There is cited: J. Pávuk, J. Bátora: Settlements and graves of the Ludanice group from Jelšovce Nitra, 1995, p. 132
  5. ↑ Abridged from: http://www.donau-archaeologie.de/doku.php/kulturen/tiszapolgar . Section: ritual of the dead. Retrieved March 7, 2012
  6. ↑ István Zalai-Gaál: The cattle grave of the Tiszapolgár culture from Endrőd 130 .
  7. ↑ Abridged from: http://www.donau-archaeologie.de/doku.php/kulturen/tiszapolgar . Section: ritual of the dead. Retrieved on March 7, 2012. There it is cited: Zs. K. Zoffmann: Anthropological Structure of the Prehistoric Populations living in the Carpathian Basin in the Neolithic, Copper, Bronze and Iron Ages Acta Arch. Acad. Scien. Hungaricae 52, 2001, p. 53
  8. ↑ a b c d Abbreviated from: http://www.donau-archaeologie.de/doku.php/kulturen/tiszapolgar . Section: Lost and Found. Retrieved March 7, 2012.
  9. ↑ Abridged from: http://www.donau-archaeologie.de/doku.php/kulturen/tiszapolgar . Section: Lost and Found. Retrieved on March 7, 2012. There it is cited: Ida Bognár-Kutzián: The Early Copper Age: Tiszapolgár Culture in the Carpathian Basin Akadémiai Kiadó, 1972, p. 134 f.
  10. ↑ sentence taken from: http://www.donau-archaeologie.de/doku.php/kulturen/tiszapolgar . Section: Lost and Found. Retrieved on March 7, 2012. There it is cited: Ida Bognár-Kutzián: The Early Copper Age: Tiszapolgár Culture in the Carpathian Basin Akadémiai Kiadó, 1972, pp. 135 ff.
  11. ↑ a b c d Abbreviated from: http://www.donau-archaeologie.de/doku.php/kulturen/tiszapolgar . Section: Settlements. Retrieved March 7, 2012.
  12. ↑ Abridged from: http://www.donau-archaeologie.de/doku.php/kulturen/tiszapolgar . Section: Settlements. Retrieved on March 7, 2012. There is cited: Ida Bognár-Kutzián: The Early Copper Age: Tiszapolgár Culture in the Carpathian Basin Akadémiai Kiadó, 1972, p. 161
  13. ↑ Abridged from: http://www.donau-archaeologie.de/doku.php/kulturen/tiszapolgar . Section: Settlements. Retrieved on March 7, 2012. There is cited: J. Makkay, J. Lichardus (Ed.): Origin, Bloom and End of the Tisza Culture. The Copper Age as a Historical Epoch Bonn, 1991, p. 325
  14. ↑ Abridged from: http://www.donau-archaeologie.de/doku.php/kulturen/tiszapolgar . Section: Settlements. Retrieved on March 7, 2012. There is cited: S. Šiška: Tiszapolgárska kultúra na Slovensku Slovenská Arch. 16,1, 1968, 61-175. 136 Fig. 32
  15. ↑ Abridged from: http://www.donau-archaeologie.de/doku.php/kulturen/tiszapolgar . Section: Settlements. Retrieved on March 7, 2012. It is cited there: Ida Bognár-Kutzián: The Early Copper Age: Tiszapolgár Culture in the Carpathian Basin Akadémiai Kiadó, 1972, pp. 162 ff.
  16. ↑ Literally taken from: http://www.donau-archaeologie.de/doku.php/kulturen/tiszapolgar . Section: ritual of the dead. Retrieved March 7, 2012
  17. ↑ a b c d e Abridged from: http://www.donau-archaeologie.de/doku.php/kulturen/tiszapolgar . Section: ritual of the dead. Retrieved March 7, 2012.