Tiszapolgár

Version 0.2

Maximilian O. Baldia

Introduction

The purpose of this text is to provide a general overview of the culture and is intended as a resource for students and teachers of European Archaeology.

List of Figures

Graph of C¹⁴ dates

List of Tables

Table of calibrated radiocarbon dates

Location

The Tiszapolgár culture ushers in the Hungarian Copper Age. The culture was located on the Great Hungarian Plain and the Banat[1] in eastern Central Europe. It occupied roughly the same area as the Hungarian Middle Neolithic Bandkeramik (AVK) and the Late Neolithic Tisza-Herpály-Csöszhalom culture complex. However, Tiszapolgár traces are found in higher elevations in the east and north than those of previous cultures. The type-site (Tiszapolgar-Basatanya) is a cemetery in northeastern Hungary.

Dating

Proto-Tiszapolgár is usually dated 4570 – 4270 cal. BC (based on nine C¹⁴ dates). These dates overlap heavily with Tiszapolgár, dated 4410 – 3760 cal BC (twenty-three dates). On theoretical grounds I would, therefore, tentatively end the Tisza culture just before 4400 cal BC.

Evolution

Copper-using Tiszapolgár appears to be a continuation of preceding Late Neolithic Tisza-Herpály-Csöszhalom. Tiszapolgár is referred to as a culture in its own right, having additional subdivisions (Basatanya, Desk, Kisrépart, and Luska). This contrasts with its Lengyel counterpart to the west, which is divided into (pottery style) phases. Thus, Lengyel III equals Tiszapolgár.

Tiszapolgár overlapped culturally, geographically and chronologically with the following Bodrogkeresztúr of the Hungarian Middle Copper Age.

Pottery

The pottery is unpainted, but mostly polished and frequently decorated knobs (bosses). Occasionally there are also pierced lugs. Sixteen different vessel types are usually identified in an elaborate classification scheme.

Houses

Tiszapolgár settlements have been partially excavated.

Burials

Most of the information about Tiszapolgár stems from cemeteries. At Tiszapolgar-Basatanya cemetery of over a 150 graves of single interments was excavated. The oldest graves belong to the Tiszapolgar phase, while the more recent ones are of the Bodrogkeresztur culture.

Copper

Copper axes begin to be found in increasing regularity in burials and stray finds (Sherratt 1997b:294).

References and Credits

Schalk, Emily

1998 Die Entwicklung der prähistorischen Metallurgie im nördlichen Karpatenbecken. Eine typologische und metallanalytische Untersuchung. Internationale Archäologie: Naturwissenschaft und Technologie 1. Verlag Marie Leidorf 1998. Rahden/Westf., Germany. 1998.

Sherratt, Andrew

1981 Plough and pastoralism: aspects of the Secondary Products Revolution. In Hoder, I., G. Isaac and N.Hammond (Eds.), Pattern of the past. In honour of David Clarke. Cambridge, 1981:261-305.

1997 Economy and society in prehistoric Europe: changing perspectives. Princeton, N.J. Princeton University Press, 1997.

Please send comments or questions to Max Baldia.

[1] The Banat is largely a part of southeastern Europe. It is found in southernmost Hungary; Serbia, northern Yugoslavia; eastern Romania, the piedmont of Transylvania and the southern hills Slovakia