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The problem with tells: lessons learned from absolute dating of Bronze Age mortuary ceramics in Hungary

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 February 2019

Paul R. Duffy Open the ORCID record for Paul R. Duffy [Opens in a new window] ,
Györgyi M. Parditka ,
Julia I. Giblin  and
László Paja
Paul R. Duffy*
Affiliation:
The Archaeology Centre, University of Toronto, 19 Russell Street, Toronto, ON M5S 2S2, Canada
Györgyi M. Parditka
Affiliation:
Museum of Anthropological Archaeology, University of Michigan, 3010 School of Education Building, 610 East University Avenue, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1259, USA
Julia I. Giblin
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology, Criminal Justice and Anthropology, Quinnipiac University, 275 Mount Carmel Avenue, Hamden, CT 06518-1908, USA
László Paja
Affiliation:
Department of Biological Anthropology, University of Szeged, Közép Fasor 52, Szeged H-6723, Hungary
*
*Author for correspondence (Email: paul.duffy@utoronto.ca)
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Abstract

Prehistoric population decline is often associated with social collapse, migration and environmental change. Many scholars have assumed that the abandonment of the fortified tell sites of the Great Hungarian Plain c. 1500–1450 BC led to significant regional depopulation. The authors investigate the veracity of this assumption by dating graves from Békés 103—a recently excavated Bronze Age cemetery in eastern Hungary. Using decorative motifs and radiocarbon dates to measure changing ceramic styles over more than 1300 years, they consider the implications for non-tell sites known only through surface survey. The results suggest that, even though people abandoned tell sites, regional populations were maintained.

Keywords

HungaryBékés 103Bronze Agetell settlementradiocarbon dating

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Type
Research
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Antiquity , Volume 93 , Issue 367 , February 2019 , pp. 63 - 79
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd, 2019 

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