Houses, Households, Activity Zones in the Post-LBK World. Results of the Raw Material Analysis of the Chipped Stone Tools at Polgár- Csőszhalom, Northeast Hungary

Abstract

AbstractIn the last few decades, archaeological research has invested more energy into better understanding of past societies than ever before. There are several different factors that have made these changes possible. The development of non-destructive investigating techniques has made it possible to choose more precisely where to collect new data. Furthermore, advances in information technologies and the natural sciences have provided new tools to analyze and evaluate the data. Our project started in 2012 in order to evaluate the enormous amount of archaeological material excavated at Polgár-Csőszhalom, the most significant site of the post-LBK period in North-East Hungary. Our main motivation was to reconstruct the community of this complex site with the application of multilevel statistical methods and spatial information technologies. The investigation of raw material from the chipped stone industry yielded sixteen different activity zones on the flat settlement. The differentiation of these zones was possible through the recognition of the repeated patterns of the raw materials used. The analyses show that whilst individual households, as the elementary building modules of the settlement community, were self-sufficient in tool making, the procurement of raw materials seems to have been communal. The homogenous picture apparent from the distribution of the local raw materials and the lack of accumulation from more distant sources suggest conformity at household level.