Late Neolithic multicomponent sites of the Tisza region and the emergence of centripetal settlement layouts

• Main Authors: Dreibrodt, S. (Author), Furholt, M. (Author), Hofmann, A. (Author), Hofmann, R. (Author), Martini, S. (Author), Medović, A. (Author), Medović, I. (Author), Pešterac, T.S (Author)
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: De Gruyter 2019
• Subjects: 14C chronology; archaeo-magnetometry; centripetal settlement layout; circular enclosure; flat settlements; Late Neolithic; multicomponent settlements; population agglomeration; social organisation; tells; Tisza Region
• Online Access: View Fulltext in Publisher

 In the Tisza region, at the northern periphery of the tell cultures, large settlements characterised by combinations of tells, flat settlements, and enclosures emerged between 5300-4450 BCE. Here, the development of one such site, Borcrossed d signoš in the Serbian Vojvodina, is reconstructed based on geophysical surveys, excavations, systematic surface collections, and 14C dating. Between 4850 and 4700 BCE, the original tell site was complemented or temporarily replaced by a large flat settlement. This development is known from a number of similar sites in the region and is discussed as a trans-regional phenomenon of accelerated population agglomeration in the period between roughly 4900 and 4700 BCE. However, the two components of this phenomenon, the tell site and the connected extended flat settlement, show different development trajectories according to sub-region. In the southern part of the study area, tells represent the core of emerging large multicomponent sites. Contrastingly, in the north, large flat settlements tend to be the starting point of local population agglomerations, and tells represent spatially separated locations with special functions or were the result of a particular part of the larger flat settlements experiencing a longer duration of occupation. The complete abandonment and reduction in size of settlements after 4700 BCE is understood in the context of a transregional trend towards settlement dispersal and population decline in the Carpathian Basin and the whole western Balkans. Multicomponent sites in the Tisza region are characterised by a great diversity in terms of size and spatial configuration. In Borcrossed d signoš we observe the emergence of a completely new centripetal settlement layout which contrasts with the previously established arrangement of houses in parallel rows. This new phenomenon is interpreted as an outcome of a socio-political environment which was characterised by the cohabitation of a heterogeneous population in terms of cultural background, identity, and connections to networks of communication and exchange. Thus, the new settlement layout, which is characterised by a nearly circular arrangement of houses around a central open space, should be understood as an expression of a social organisation focused on the negotiation of communal concerns. © 2019 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston.