Öcsöd-Kováshalom. Potscape of a Late Neolithic site in the Tisza region

Abstract

The primary goal of the present study is the publication of the ceramic inventory from Öcsöd-Kováshalom, for which Dissertationes Archaeologicae, being an online journal, can provide the necessary space. We shall principally focus on the possible correlations between vessel forms and their decoration in our analysis, alongside the examination of other traits and dimensions. The ad hoc nature of the analysed finds, i.e. an assemblage of vessels that could be successfully refitted, nevertheless constrains the more general insights that can be drawn from this assemblage. Our primary focus is on three different groups of the site’s ceramic inventory, examined according to uniform criteria. The analytical units differ from each other in terms of size and, as a result, the quality of the recorded data. Until now, the so-called Tisza I and Tisza II cultural phases were essentially distinguished qualitatively, based on the differing ceramic style of the two superimposed occupation levels (A and B) at Öcsöd-Kováshalom. We took a bottom-up approach in our analysis, moving from the deposits of individual contexts towards the entirety of the settlement. We also strove to extend the Tisza I and II developmental sequence to a larger region in the southern Hungarian Plain by looking at the contexts with similar ceramic patterns on other sites. The essence of our approach is encapsulated by Katalin Sebők’s model for the Late Neolithic of the Tisza region, in which ceramic vessels are enveloped by the different (research) aspect connected with several lines, reflecting the intricate relationships between them. This model takes stock of both the European and the American theoretical approaches and also incorporates elements of various approaches based on system and network theories that figure prominently in modern research agendas. Another inspiring aspect of K. Sebők’s initiative is that she moved beyond the traditional boundaries of pottery assessment and sought new avenues for meaningful analyses, which was also one of our priorities in the current assessment of the pottery finds from Öcsöd-Kováshalom. The settlement complex represents a specific initial phase in the Late Neolithic development of the Hungarian Plain in the Tiszazug micro-region. Its position in the Tisza culture’s formative phase determined the nature of the site, made up of a tell-like and a single-layer settlement, and its layout of a central settlement area surrounded by smaller settlement clusters within a large triple and segmented enclosure, as well as the community’s social and economic milieu. The finds and features brought to light at the site preserve the imprints of complex, multi-scalar processes in the community’s life. The main goal of the analysis of the assemblage of 240 refitted and reconstructed vessels was to examine and interpret the possible imprints of these multi-level changes.