Lithics from the tell site Hódmezővasárhely-Gorzsa (S-E Hungary): typology, technology, use and raw material strategies during the late Neolithic (Tisza Culture)

This paper summarizes the present state of the ongoing multidisciplinary research on the stone artefacts (chipped, polished, and ground stone tools) from the excavation of the Late Neolithic Tell settlement of Hodmezovasarheli-Gorzsa, in Southeastern Hungary. The excavated area represents the complete sequence of the Tisza culture, from its early phase to the later. Moreover, the excavation showed that the settlement had a longer life and that it was also occupied during the Copper, Bronze, Iron, Sarmatian and Middle Ages. Some lithic artefacts were collected and examined from these occupational horizons as well. However, in the present paper only the preliminary results of the Tisza culture artefacts will be illustrated. Our method of research involves a multidisciplinary, global approach to the whole stone assemblage, that is, chipped, polished and ground tools, which were studied from the point of view of typology, technology, use-wear and raw material analysis. These latter employed different archaeometric technologies, ranging from macro-, meso-, to microscopic scale descriptions. The results achieved until now have shown that a complex network of interactions was activated at Gorzsa during the entire Late Neolithic habitation, and that the courses of the Temes/Timis, Tisza and Maros rivers acted as main axes for establishing these connections.