Eszter Bánffy

Deutsches Archäologisches Institut · Romano-Germanic Commission, RGK, Frankfurt am Main

In diesem Sammelband werden verschiedene Perspektiven auf das Leben und Wirken von Gerhard Bersu (1889-1964), dem ehemaligen Ersten Direktor der Römisch Germanischen Kommission (RGK) versammelt, die mehrere Jahrzehnte europäischer archäologischer Forschung reflektieren.

Prehistoric archaeologist and cultural anthropologist Marija Gimbutas was born exactly a century ago. Although she left us over a quarter of a century ago (she passed away in 1994), her person and her still controversial ideas continue to attract considerable interest, reflected both by the acclaim and the harsh critique that her work and theories...

This paper sketches the main facts and plausible current working hypotheses which characterise the Formative LBK phase, in Transdanubia and eastern Austria. The Formative phase with its perhaps 120–130-year span, probably in the 56th–54th centuries cal BC, appears to bridge the gap between the Balkan Starčevo culture and the Early LBK. There are st...

In European and many African, Middle Eastern and southern Asian populations, lactase persistence (LP) is the most strongly selected monogenic trait to have evolved over the past 10,000 years1. Although the selection of LP and the consumption of prehistoric milk must be linked, considerable uncertainty remains concerning their spatiotemporal configu...

The study demonstrates the process of cultural changes in the first half of the 6th millennium cal BC, with Körös and Starčevo groups in the northern marginal zones of the Balkans. This time and this zone, the southern part of theCarpathian basin was determined by clay as the fundamental and abundant building block of material culture, architecture,...

Although archaeology was considered for many years as being a masculine profession, this perception started to change nearly a century ago, as more and more women have brought serious contributions in this field, approaching to a gender equality situation in our times. A respectable feminine presence in the European scientific field nowadays is Pro...

A handful of new radiocarbon dates from three Balaton-Lasinja culture graves at the site of Veszprém-Jutasi út in western Hungary form the starting point for formal models for late Lengyel and post-Lengyel chronology in that region. The graves date to the later fifth millennium cal BC. They provide the opportunity to put the earlier Copper Age Bala...

The research institute named Romano-Germanic Commission (RGK) of the German Archaeological Institute (DAI) was founded 120 years ago, located in both a historic centre and a contact zone: in the former imperial and coronation city of Frankfurt am Main and at the boundary of the territory of the Roman Empire and the region outside, also called “Barb...

One of the main concerns of archaeological research into the Neolithic of the Carpathian Basin was the creation of a firm relative chronological sequence, primarily based on ceramics, less frequently on stone tools or other artefact types. As a result of archaeological work, the typological description of the finds and the nature of the interaction...

Eszter Bánffy, Kerstin P. Hofmann, Philipp von Rummel (Hg.): Spuren des Menschen – 800000 Jahre Geschichte in Europa. WBG Theiss Darmstadt 2019. 552 Seiten mit über 500 Farbabbildungen. Fest gebunden € 50,–. ISBN 978-3-8062-3991-1

Confinia et horizontes is a publication series aimed at disseminating the results of major prehistoric (Neolithic and Bronze Age) projects of the Romano-Germanic Commission of the German Archaeological Institute. The title of the new series deliberately combines Latin and Greek terms: in referring to border regions and boundary lines, it calls to m...

We are a group of archaeologists, anthropologists, curators and geneticists representing diverse global communities and 31 countries. All of us met in a virtual workshop dedicated to ethics in ancient DNA research held in November 2020. There was widespread agreement that globally applicable ethical guidelines are needed, but that recent recommenda...

Strontium isotope analysis has recently proven to be a useful tool to elucidate population movements and subsistence strategies in ecological and archaeological sciences. The interpretation depends on the size, type, availability, and preservation of the sample and the reliability of the produced strontium isotope baseline. However, collecting quan...

Present-day domestic cattle are reproductively active throughout the year, which is a major asset for dairy production. Large wild ungulates, in contrast, are seasonal breeders, as were the last historic representatives of the aurochs, the wild ancestors of cattle. Aseasonal reproduction in cattle is a consequence of domestication and herding, but...

In 2018, the RGK’s research team led by Knut Rassmann undertook the magnetometer survey of the Late Neolithic site of Öcsöd-Kováshalom over a roughly 65 ha large area. An enclosure system of three concentric semi-circular ditches was detected around the tell-like mound that formed the core of the settlement. In order to resolve these issues, we org...

The complexity of Neolithic population movements and their interpretation through material culture have been the subject of archaeological research for decades. One of the dominant narratives proposes that groups from the Starčevo-Kö rö s-Criş complex spread from the central towards the northern Balkans in the Early Neolithic and eventually brought...

Eszter Bánffy (ed.) The environmental history of the Prehistoric Sárköz region in Southern Hungary confinia et horizontes vol. 1

Confinia et horizontes is a publication series aimed at disseminating the results of major prehistoric (Neolithic and Bronze Age) projects of the Romano-Germanic Commission of the German Archaeological Institute. The title of the new series deliberately combines Latin and Greek terms: in referring to border regions and boundary lines, it calls to m...

This paper, presents formally modelled date estimates for the sequence of Lengyel funerary pottery in western Hungary, eastern Austria and south-west Slovakia. It is an extension of the dating and modelling already carried out by the project, The Times of Their Lives (ToTL), on the major Lengyel aggregation, including burials, at Alsónyék-Bátaszék...

At first sight, the Carpathian Basin appears to be a closed, homogeneous space, characterised by a vast plain and framed by the Carpathian Mountains. This is how it is mostly passed on in archaeological science. But on closer inspection, the uniformity dissolves into a complex heterogeneity, which does not simplify a supra-regional understanding of...

A variety of interdisciplinary research on mobility and migration patterns in Neolithic Hungary has recently contributed to the explanatory models of the Neolithisation across Europe. Most of these models were based on a combination of the spatial distribution of material culture or bioarchaeological and genetic analyses to determine large-scale mi...

During the second half of the 6th millennium BC the Transdanubian Linear Pottery Culture (Linearbandkeramik, LBK) spread to a large area of Central Europe. This farming subsistence included parts of an agricultural system characteristic of the Early Neolithic Starčevo-Körös-Çris culture complex, setting at the same time new emphases on crop growing...

This paper has two starting points that will eventually converge in our argumentation. One focuses on the early 6th millennium cal BC Starčevo settlement at Alsónyék in the Sárköz region of south-western Hungary. While no houses with a post structure could be identified, the amount of the burnt daub found in pits totals more than two tons. Based on...

The Römisch-Germanische Kommission (RGK), the research institute of the German Archaeological Institute (DAI) in Frankfurt has initiated countless new research methods since its foundation almost 120 years ago. The Technical Department established in 2010 was mainly engaged in archaeophysical surveys conducted over large areas and geomagnetic prosp...

The Römisch-Germanische Kommission (RGK), the research institute of the German Archaeological Institute (DAI) in Frankfurt has initiated countless new research methods since its foundation almost 120 years ago. The Technical Department established in 2010 was mainly engaged in archaeophysical surveys conducted over large areas and geomagnetic prosp...

The paper presents the finds and findings from a site of the Copper Age Balaton-Lasinja culture investigated at Keszthely-Fenékpuszta, Pusztaszentegyháza in 2000. The archaeological and anthropological analyses of two pits (Features 45 and 46) and the human remains from at least twenty individuals discovered in them shed light on the post-mortem mo...

This paper offers a preliminary report on the non-invasive investigation of an archaeological site at Gétye in Western Hungary. The geophysical survey and several field surveys confirmed our previous assumption on the presence of a Late Neolithic circular enclosure, known as rondels. The ground plan of the enclosure is outlined clearly. The rondel...

A salvage excavation was conducted at the Balatonmagyaród-Hídvégpuszta, Déli rév site between 1981 and 1987, in the course of which the major portion of a settlement occupied during various periods was brought to light. The repeated occupation of the site can be explained by the site’s excellent geomorphological and strategic location as well as by...

The Castellum Pannonicum Pelsonense series was established in 2010. The Kis-Balaton region that includes Fenékpuszta and south-western Hungary in a wider regional sense is home to a dense network of pre- and protohistoric sites which also give significant insights into occupation processes at a supra-regional comparative level. The rich spectrum of...

Spuren sind Vergangenes in der Gegenwart, die uns über Zukünftiges nachdenken lassen. Spuren der Geschichte finden wir in der vom Menschen seit der Altsteinzeit genutzten und veränderten Landschaft ebenso wie in selbstgemachten Löffeln aus Konzentrationslagern, in Monumenten aus Stein ebenso wie Knochen, z. B. in Form von Isotopen und alter DNA. In...

The paper is based on findings and finds from the Middle Copper Age Balaton-Lasinja culture were discovered at Keszthely-Fenékpuszta, Pusztaszentegyháza site in June, 2000. Based on the results of archaeological, anthropological, and ancient DNA analyses these pits can be evaluated as archaeological records for a previously unknown secondary mortua...

The Castellum Pannonicum Pelsonense series was established in 2010, its aim being to publish the results from archaeological investigations in and around the Roman fortification of Keszthely-Fenékpuszta. Chronologically, it focuses on Late Antiquity but volumes in the series soon began to include pre- and protohistoric contributions (CPP4) or artic...

This study explores and demonstrates processes of cultural change in the first half of the 6th millennium cal BC, among the Körös and Starčevo groups of the northern marginal zones of the Balkans. Within this period and zone, which forms the southern part of the Carpathian basin, clay was the fundamental and most abundant building block of material...

The strengths of formal Bayesian chronological modelling are restated, combining as it does knowledge of the archaeology with the radiocarbon dating of carefully chosen samples of known taphonomy in association with diagnostic material culture. The risks of dating bone samples are reviewed, along with a brief history of the development of approache...

The strengths of formal Bayesian chronological modelling are restated, combining as it does knowledge of the archaeology with the radiocarbon dating of carefully chosen samples of known taphonomy in association with diagnostic material culture. The risks of dating bone samples are reviewed, along with a brief history of the development of approache...

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Genome-wide ancient DNA analysis of skeletons retrieved from archaeological excavations has provided a powerful new tool for the investigation of past populations and migrations. An important objective for the coming years is to properly integrate ancient genomics into archaeological research. This article aims to contribute to developing a better...

This corrects the article DOI: 10.1038/nature25738.

From around 2750 to 2500 BC, Bell Beaker pottery became widespread across western and central Europe, before it disappeared between 2200 and 1800 BC. The forces that propelled its expansion are a matter of long-standing debate, and there is support for both cultural diffusion and migration having a role in this process. Here we present genome-wide...

Longhouses are a key feature of Neolithic Linearbandkeramik (LBK) settlements in Central Europe, but debate persists concerning their usage, longevity and social significance. Excavations at Versend-Gilencsa in south-west Hungary (c. 5200 cal BC) revealed clear rows of longhouses. New radiocarbon dates suggest that these houses experienced short li...

Agriculture frst reached the Iberian Peninsula around 5700 BCE. However, little is known about the genetic structure and changes of prehistoric populations in diferent geographic areas of Iberia. In our study, we focus on the maternal genetic makeup of the Neolithic (~ 5500–3000 BCE), Chalcolithic (~ 3000–2200 BCE) and Early Bronze Age (~ 2200–1500...

Ancient DNA studies have established that European Neolithic populations were descended from Anatolian migrants who received a limited amount of admixture from resident hunter-gatherers. Many open questions remain, however, about the spatial and temporal dynamics of population interactions and admixture during the Neolithic period. Using the highes...

http://rdcu.be/ydIL Link to the full text!! Ancient DNA studies have established that Neolithic European populations were descended from Anatolian migrants1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 who received a limited amount of admixture from resident hunter-gatherers3, 4, 5, 9. Many open questions remain, however, about the spatial and temporal dynamics of popula...

Since their domestication in the Mediterranean zone of Southwest Asia in the eighth millennium BC, sheep, goats, pigs and cattle have been remarkably successful in colonizing a broad variety of environments. The initial steps in this process can be traced back to the dispersal of farming groups into the interior of the Balkans in the early sixth mi...

In temperate latitudes sheep have a seasonal reproductive behaviour, which imposes strong constraints on husbandry in terms of work organization and availability of animal products. During the last 50 years, researchers have focused on understanding the mechanisms driving small ruminants' reproduction cycles and finding ways to control them. This c...