VÖRÖS HOMOKKŐ NYERSANYAGÚ SZERSZÁMKÖVEK HÓDMEZŐVÁSÁRHELY–GORZSA KÉSŐ NEOLIT (TISZA KULTÚRA) TELL TELEPÜLÉS LELETANYAGÁBAN / RED SANDSTONE AS RAW MATERIAL OF LATE NEOLITHIC (TISZA CULTURE) GROUNDSTONES FROM THE TELL SITE OF HÓDMEZŐVÁSÁRHELY–GORZSA

The Late Neolithic tell settlement of Hódmezővásárhely–Gorzsa (Tisza Culture) lies at the confluence of the Tisza and Maros (Mureş) rivers in the Great Hungarian Plain. A total number of 1061 macro–lithic finds were listed, a quarter of which are polished stone tools, three quarters are ground stone tools and half of them are made of sandstone. The larger part of the finds is from the Neolithic layers and only a few are from the later phases of the site occupation, namely the Bronze, Iron and Sarmatian ages. Raw material determination was conducted starting with macroscopic and petrographic microscopic studies in thin section. The present study reports results of petrographic analyses on stone tools made of red sandstones. According to their macroscopic and polarizing microscopic features four types of sandstone can be separated among the finds. To determine the possible origin, we examined the recent gravel deposits of the Mureş river, Pleistocene pebbles of the Danube and Miocene conglomerate of the Mecsek Mts. Based on the preliminary results, the alluvium of the Mureş river can be considered as a possible source for the red–3 type sandstone. In addition, the surface occurrences of sandstone in the Papuk Mountains, as well as the material of the Permian–Triassic strata of the Balaton Uplands and the Mecsek Mountains were compared with the archaeological material. Based on the preliminary investigations, the material of the former two sites is completely excluded from the range of possible raw materials; however, Jakabhegy Sandstone in Mecsek cannot be completely excluded. To refine the raw material source(s), heavy minerals that are present in small amounts in the thin sections and sensitive to the degradation area can provide information. However, the thin section tests provide only a brief overview of these heavy minerals, as only a small volume of the total sample is shown in the thin sections. To clarify the different rock type sources of sandstone tools from Gorzsa, we plan detailed micromineralogical studies in the future.