REEVALUATION OF THE NEOLITHIC IN EASTERN HUNGARY BASED ON CALIBRATED RADIOCARBON-DATES

The chief objective of this paper is to improve our understanding of t he Neolithic in Eastern Hungary using absolute chronological data. To accomplish this we calibrated new measurements as well as previously p ublished dates. The up-to-date, standardized evaluation of 261 calibra ted measurements showed temporal overlaps between archaeological cultu res defined on the basis of ceramic styles. The increasing number of d ates suggest that the Neolithic period began at the turn of the 6th an d 7th millennia BC and lasted for ca. 1500 yr in the present area of t he Great Hungarian Plain (Alfold). Further research should be aimed at complementing the current data set with dates from western Hungary an d establishing additional correlations among stratigraphic, typologica l and radiocarbon dates.