Polgár‑Csőszhalom Late Neolithic Settlement: A Complex Household‑Based Network Analysis

Project Lead

Gábor Szabó

Participating researchers

Alexandra Anders

Péter Csippán

Norbert Faragó

Zsolt Mester

Gábor Mesterházy

Katalin Sebők

Zsuzsanna Siklósi

Zsuzsanna Tóth

Time

2012-2016

Period

Prehistoric period, Neolithic era

The aim of our research was the processing and household-archaeological analysis of several hundred features and a collection of 250,000 artifacts excavated from the single-layer settlement of the Late Neolithic site complex at Polgár-Csőszhalom.

We examined the spatial and temporal distribution, patterns, and points of connection of buildings, pits, wells, and burials, as well as the associated ceramic, animal bone, and stone tool artifact types, using traditional archaeological, statistical, spatial-statistical methods, and radiocarbon dating.

Our investigations demonstrated the diversity of activities, relationships, and spatial use, which are difficult to describe within the framework of our earlier mechanical, narrow, and static models.

The results of our analyses so far have indicated that, in addition to households, larger communities can also be identified at the single-layer site of Polgár-Csőszhalom, in connection with the material finds, activities, spatial use, and ideology. These communities may have operated jointly in many ways and on multiple levels in their actions.

During their various activities, these communities used different spaces, which did not have rigid boundaries. All this suggests that in the 5th millennium BCE, a well-organized, cooperative community, preserving its traditions and capable of effectively responding to challenges, inhabited the settlement for approximately 250 years.

http://nyilvanos.otka-palyazat.hu/index.php?menuid=930&lang=HU&num=101024