In 1984, the Archaeological Institute of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences engaged in a microregional survey at Gyomaendr'd (Eastern Hungary). The project investigated the interrelation of changing ecological conditions and human settlement in one particular area through the course of time (ranging from the early neolithic period till the 17th century). This was the first large-scale project of its kind undertaken in Hungary, and one of the few world-wide. This richly illustrated volume containing 11 studies by 20 authors outlines how various approaches from different disciplines can be applied in the course of the methodologies and the techniques of this interdisciplinary research project. Publication of further results are to be found in Volume II.
Complete publication of the Prehistoric, Sarmatian and Late Avar settlement at Gyoma 133 (Békés County Microregion). This is a full excavation report on work carried out between 1986 and 1988, the last season being in advance of development. The bulk of material is of Sarmatian (Roman) date and involves three occupation levels, the second involving extensive evidence of metallurgy. Particularly interesting are the results of animal bone study which allow a new picture of Sarmatian agriculture to be built up. The Sarmatians were great horsemen and the discovery of articulated remains of horses and dogs seem to indicate ritual treatment of these important animals.
This volume is the first comprehensive description of the most spectacular landforms of Hungary. It is a richly illustrated book which presents a collection of significant sites, capturing the geodiversity of Hungarian landscapes. The Landscapes and Landforms of Hungary discusses the effects of geomorphological features to the landscape, such as volcanism, weathering, fluvial or aeolian erosion, karst formation, gravitational movements, and others. The importance of the conservation of geomorphological heritage is underlined, as well as the importance of geomorphological heritage and conservation. This book can be used for undergraduate and graduate courses in geomorphology, physical geography, hydrogeography, and nature conservation. It will be of benefit to environmental scientists, geomorphologists, conservationists, among others.
Archaeology, as with all of the social sciences, has always been characterized by competing theoretical propositions based on diverse bodies of locally acquired data. In order to fulfill local, regional expectations, different goals have been assigned to the practitioners of Archaeology in different regions. These goals might be entrenched in local politics, or social expectations behind cultural heritage research. This comprehensive book explores regional archaeologies from a sociological perspective—to identify and explain regional differences in archaeological practice, as well as their existing similarities. This work covers not only the currently-dominant Anglo-American archaeological paradigm, but also Latin America, Western and Eastern Europe, Asia, and Africa, all of which have developed their own unique archaeological traditions. The contributions in this work cover these "alternative archaeologies," in the context of their own geographical, political, and socio-economic settings, as well as the context of the currently accepted mainstream approaches.
The transition from the Neolithic period to the Copper Age in the northern Balkans and the Carpathian Basin was marked by significant changes in material culture, settlement layout and organization, and mortuary practices that indicate fundamental social transformations in the middle of the fifth millennium BC. Prior research into the Late Neolithic of the region focused almost exclusively on fortified 'tell' settlements. The Early Copper Age, by contrast, was known primarily from cemeteries such as the type site of Tiszapolgar-Basatanya. This edited book describes the multi-disciplinary research conducted by the Koros Regional Archaeological Project in southeastern Hungary from 2000-2007. Centered around two Early Copper Age Tiszapolgar culture villages in the Koros Region of the Great Hungarian Plain, Veszto-Bikeri and Korosladany-Bikeri, our research incorporated excavation, surface collection, geophysical survey and soil chemistry to investigate settlement layout and organization. Our results yielded the first extensive, systematically collected datasets from Early Copper Age settlements on the Great Hungarian Plain. The two adjacent villages at Bikeri, located only 70 m apart, were similar in size, and both were protected with fortifications. Relative and absolute dates demonstrate that they were occupied sequentially during the Early Copper Age, from ca. 4600-4200 cal B.C. The excavated assemblages from the sites are strikingly similar, suggesting that both were occupied by the same community. This process of settlement relocation after only a few generations breaks from the longer-lasting settlement pattern that are typical of the Late Neolithic, but other aspects of the villages continue traditions that were established during the preceding period, including the construction of enclosure systems and longhouses.
Ice skates made from animal bones were used in Europe for millennia before metal-bladed skates were invented. Archaeological sites have yielded thousands of examples, some of them dating to the Bronze Age. They are often mentioned in popular books on the Vikings and sometimes appear in children's literature. Even after metal skates became the norm, people in rural areas continued to use bone skates into the early 1970s. Today, bone skates help scientists and re-enactors understand migrations and interactions among ancient peoples. This book explains how to make and use them and chronicles their history, from their likely invention in the Eurasian steppes to their disappearance in the modern era.
Archaeologists have focused a great deal of attention on explaining the evolution of village societies and the transition to a ‘Neolithic’ way of life. Considerable interest has also concentrated on urbanism and the rise of the earliest cities. Between these two landmarks in human cultural development lies a critical stage in social and political evolution. Throughout world, at various points in time, people living in small, dispersed village communities have come together into larger and more complex social formations. These community aggregates were, essentially, middle-range; situated between the earliest villages and emergent chiefdoms and states. This volume explores the social processes involved in the creation and maintenance of aggregated communities and how they brought about revolutionary transformations that affected virtually every aspect of a society and its culture. While there have been a number of studies that address coalescence from a regional perspective, less is understood about how aggregated communities functioned internally. The key premise explored in this volume is that large-scale, long-term cultural transformations were ultimately enacted in the context of daily practices, interactions, and what might be otherwise considered the mundane aspects of everyday life. How did these processes play out "on the ground" in diverse and historically contingent settings? What are the strategies and mechanisms that people adopt in order to facilitate living in larger social formations? What changes in social relations occur when people come together? This volume employs a broadly cross-cultural approach to interrogating these questions, employing case studies which span four continents and more than 10,000 years of human history.
Over 80 archaeologists from four continents create a benchmark volume of the ideas and practices of landscape archaeology, covering the theoretical and the practical, the research and conservation, and encasing the term in a global framework.
The Vandals is the first book available in the EnglishLanguage dedicated to exploring the sudden rise and dramatic fallof this complex North African Kingdom. This complete historyprovides a full account of the Vandals and re-evaluates key aspectsof the society including: Political and economic structures such as the complexforeign policy which combined diplomatic alliances and marriageswith brutal raiding The extraordinary cultural development of secular learning,and the religious struggles that threatened to tear the stateapart The nature of Vandal identity from a social and genderperspective.
Archaeology of Populus Monograph in Archaeology of Mediterranean Landscapes Series. Population trends and demographics in general are discussed through a variety of case studies based in Mediterranean Europe. The range of archaeological techniques and methods of analysis includes regional field surveys, artifact scatter analysis, palaeoanthropology, historical and documentary sources, and studies of cemeteries.
