The Neolithic of the Sárköz and Adjacent Regions in Hungary: Bioarchaeological Studies
https://doi.org/10.34780/6cf3-3fo6
Synopsis
The monograph series Confinia et Horizontes has been launched to disseminate the results of the prehistoric research connected to the Römisch-Germanische Kommission (RGK), the 120-year-old research institution of the German Archaeological Institute. One of its key themes is the Sárköz and the dissemination of the results of the RGK’s 5-years-long support project on the proceedings of the excavations and surveys in the south Transdanubian 6th-5th millennium cal BC settlement niche, including the mega-site Alsónyék. Hungarian experts from Budapest and Szekszárd, in cooperation with the RGK, carried out the fieldwork and the evaluation. The first volume on the Sárköz Neolithic was published in 2020, with the purpose of “setting the scene”: the environmental history of the Danubian Sárköz region.
The excavation results from the Alsónyék settlement and adjacent sites in the Sárköz yielded a wide range of human osteological and zooarchaeological findings. The present volume summarises the bioarchaeological research carried out since the excavations. Parallel to the RGK and Archaeological Institute’s joint evaluation programme, a DFG research project, led by Kurt W. Alt and Eszter Bánffy, investigated the archaeogenetic and stable isotope results taken from Neolithic skeletons, with a strong focus on the Sárköz sites. Three PhD dissertations on osteology and aDNA research were born from these projects. The present volume includes the results of each: the osteological and palaeopathological study on the vast number of Alsónyék Neolithic burials (by Kitti Köhler), and the mitochondrial DNA investigations on the Sárköz skeletons as compared to neighbouring coeval human remains (Anna Szécsényi-Nagy, Viktoria Keerl). Aside from these cornerstones of the volume, further studies enrich the picture of the state of bioarchaeological research: chapters on mobility and diet based on stable isotopes (Margaux L. C. Depaermentier and colleagues), and on animal remains of mammals and mussels (Anna Zs. Biller, Balázs Nagy and colleagues). Eszter Bánffy and Alexander Gramsch edited the volume.
Cover design: Oliver Wagner (RGK); Photo: Archeosztráda Kft.
Chapters
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Editor’s introduction: Contributing to the bioarchaeology of Neolithic Sárköz
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Biological reconstruction of the Early Neolithic burials excavated at the site of Alsónyék-Bátaszék (South-West Hungary)
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The biological reconstruction of the population of the Late Neolithic Lengyel culture of Alsónyék-Bátaszék
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Strontium and oxygen isotope baselines from multicomponent environmental analyses
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Multiproxy isotope analyses reveal scale-based mobility and social patterns in Neolithic Hungary
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Ancient population genetics of the 6000–4000 cal BC period of the Carpathian Basin
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Animal keeping and hunting habits of the Early Neolithic settlement of Alsónyék in the mirror of the animal bones
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Preliminary archaeomalacological analysis of a Starčevo culture refuse pit excavated at Alsónyék-Bátaszék archaeological site
