Mária Tóth

Hungarian Academy of Sciences | HAS · Archaeometry Research Group

The Székely or Szekler Script is one of the most mysterious phenomena in the Hungarian cultural history. There is no common understanding either about its origin, or about the time of its genesis, editing, or its original function. The age of its certain monuments is still an open question, as only a few can be dated precisely. The researchers agre...

X-ray diffraction (XRD) is a widely used method to specify the mineralogical composition of archaeological artefacts, e.g. the material of inlays or corrosion products of metal objects. Laboratory micro-XRD instruments, like the RIGAKU DMAX RAPID II micro-X-ray diffractometer (μ-XRD), can be used instead of conventional X-ray (powder) diffraction a...

A special collection of late Medieval stove tiles characterized by identical features was found at different sites of the northern part of the Carpathian Basin. First findings were discovered in Besztercebánya (Banská Bystrica, present day Slovakia) at the end of the 19th century. The unique, high-quality stove tiles are decorated by circumstantial...

A glazed terracotta statue depicting the Virgin and the Child, dated to the turn of the 15th and 16th centuries, is a prominent object of the Collection of Sculpture before 1800 of the Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest. The provenance of the statue is unknown, it may stem from the place of its 19th-century purchase, Florence or its environs. This paper...

Our research deals with white pottery from five 15th-18th century wells recently excavated at Kecskemét- Nagykorösi utca 7-9 site. The wells are rich in finds; especially large amount of ceramic and whole vessels was excavated. 20 white ceramic samples from the wells were selected for petrographic and XRD analysis. Comparative archaeometric data fr...

The goal of this study was to measure the chemical composition of late Roman silver artefacts preserved in the Hungarian National Museum by means of systematic handheld X-ray fluorescence analysis. The mapping of the elemental composition of silver objects is suitable for revealing their chemical inhomogeneity. The measurements were systematically...

This paper deals with the archaeological material of a Scythian Age settlement excavated near Nagytarcsa in 2007. Located on the higher terrace of a stream, the site represents a characteristic lowland, hamlet-like settlement of the Vekerzug culture, where animal husbandry played an important role in subsistence. Based on diagnostic ceramic finds a...

This study aims to simulate the long-term deterioration of architectural glazes exposed to open air in a highly polluted urban environment. A laboratory experiment—a 14-day long accelerated weathering test—on glazed roof tiles has been performed to reveal the damaging influence of contacting acid solutions originating from dissolved gaseous polluta...

The Zsolnay products are one of the most famous Hungarian ceramics. The architectural ceramics produced by the Zsolnay Factory were often applied to decorate buildings, mainly around the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. We have studied two buildings in Budapest, the Museum of Applied Arts in the densely built-up centre of the city with high tra...

The issue of diagenetic alteration of carbonate deposits in caves (speleothems) has gained increasing importance in recent years, as this process has serious consequences for speleothem-based paleoclimate studies. In this study stable hydrogen and oxygen isotope data of water trapped in fluid inclusions were collected for recently forming stalagmit...

A large variety of building and decorative materials, including mosaic tesserae, were discovered during the archaeological excavation of the medieval Bizere monastery. In order to assess the material usage for the decorative elements of the monastery, several tesserae made of rocks and ceramics and a “red marble” decorative stone were studied using...

The Hutterites and Habans produced coloured-glazed, mostly blue-and yellow-coloured vessels alongside their white-glazed faience ware. However, the production technology of the coloured-glazed vessels, specifically the nature of the glaze, is a matter of debate among scholars. Both coloured tin glaze and coloured engobe covered with a transparent l...

From the mid-15th century "berettino", or "turchino", lighter and darker, deep blue, cobalt-bearing glazes were used on Italian maiolica objects. At first such vessels were made mainly in Faenza, later they spread to Northern Italy and from the 17th century they became popular throughout Europe. According to written sources and archaeological finds...

Világszerte, így hazánkban is, egyre nagyobb igény mutatkozik a kulturális örökség tárgyi emlékeinek természettudományos, más szóval archeometriai vizsgálatára. Sok esetben olyan leletek/tárgyak vizsgálatáról van szó, amelyek egyediek, nagy értékűek, ezért kiemelkedő sze-rep jut a roncsolásmentes elemzési módszereknek. 2014 áprilisában került vissz...

We have investigated two buildings covered with Zsolnay glazed architectural ceramics in Budapest (Hungary), one located in the densely built-up area of the city centre with a high traffic rate and one in a city quarter with moderate traffic and more open space. A black crust layer, containing a large amount of artificial particulate matter with di...

Graphite-tempered ceramics from two Celtic archaeological sites in South Hungary, Dunaszentgyörgy (Highway No. 6) (LT B2-C1) and Bátaszék (Körtvélyes-du ˝ lóló´) (LT D), were investigated in the context of the present project. The main aim of the research was to compare the graphitic temper of the vessels found at the archaeological sites and to pr...

Analysis of the NWA 2086 CV3 chondrite showed a matrix/chondrule ratio of 52%, similar to Bali, Mokoia, and Grosanaja. Nearly twice as many chondrule fragments as intact ones demonstrate that an early fragmentation phase occurred prior to final accretion. After this event, no substantial mechanical change or redeposition is evident. Rims with doubl...

Jászfényszaru–Szőlők-alján 2007-ben végeztek megelőző feltárást, melynek során egy Árpád-kori település részlete került elő. A kerámiaanyag igen jelentős és a keltezést tekintve egy korábbi (11. század vége – 12/13. század fordulója) és egy későbbi (12/13. század fordulója – 14. század eleje) csoportra bontható. A két periódus leleteiből összesen 2...

The paper presents the first results of a long-term project aiming to reconstruct the production technology of the Anabaptist (Hutterite) tin-glazed ceramics produced in Eastern-Central Europe. Microanalytical investigations were performed on 17th-century faience artefacts (six samples) excavated at Sárospatak, North-East-Hungary. The results are c...

A Balatonőszöd mellett feltárt magyar lelőhely az őskor korszakában a világ egyik legnagyobb területen kutatott lelőhelyével, Çatal Höyükkel egyenértékű a feltárási terület nagyságát tekintve. A késő rézkor korszakának kutatásában meghatározó, korábban egymás utáni fázisokként meghatározott Boleráz és Baden, és a hol önálló kultúraként, hol a Baden...

Preventive excavation, led by Róbert Kertész in 2007 in Jászfényszaru-Szo′lo′k-alja, revealed a fragment of a settlement from the Árpádian Age. The ceramic material is significant, and on the basis of its dating, it can be divided into two groups, an earlier one (from the end of the 11th century to the turn of the 12th/13th century) and a later one...

A szarmata telepkerámián végzett anyagvizsgá latok új perspektívákat nyithatnak a Barbaricum kutatásában, mint ahogy azt az Üllo′ 5. lelo′helyro′l származó pecsételt töredékeken végzett petrográfiai, XRD és WDXRF analízisek is jól példázzák. A vizsgálatok célja annak az elo′zetesen felállí tott munkahipotézisnek az igazolása volt, mely szerint a 49...

This paper summarized the results of comprehensive petro-mineralogical and geochemical (archeometrical) investigation of Inka Period ceramics excavated from Inka (A.D. 1438-1535) and Late Intermediate Period (A.D. 1000/1200-1438) sites of the Paria Basin (Dept. Oruro, Bolivia). Applying geological analytical techniques we observed a complex and imp...

Single crystals of Li6Y(BO3)3 have been grown by both the Bridgman and Czochralski methods. It was found that the complex nature of the melt solidifications affects the efficiency of the crystallization process and the composition of the grown crystals. High supercooling favored melt dissociation and the formation of thermodynamically unstable phas...

The Zsolnay products are one of the most famous Hungarian ceramics. The architectural ceramics produced by the Zsolnay Factory were often applied to decorate buildings, mainly around the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. We have studied two buildings in Budapest, the Museum of Applied Arts in the densely built-up centre of the city with high tra...

In frames of the Austro-Hungarian cooperation the texture, microstructure, phase and chemical composition of mortars from the Gothic Prandegg castle (Upper Austria) were studied by using several methods including polarizing and cathodoluminescence microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction and wet chemical analyses. Based on the de...

The collecting work for the catalogue of the sepulchral monuments of mediaeval Hungary begun by Dénes Radocsay was resumed in 1979. The team of Lívia Varga, Pál Engel and Pál Lővei began assessing the sites with the active support of Miklós Mojzer. In the course of the work we took note of a few tombs in the lettering of which the chiselled lines w...

This paper deals with the preliminary petro-mineralogical and geochemical characterization of a special Neolithic fineware type which could have been an object of long distance trade. The results presented here represent the first steps of a longer project.

There are two ways to obtain mortar and plaster binders that can harden under water. Both procedures lead to similar products, i.e. compounds of Ca with Si, Al and Fe, capable of binding water molecules in their solid structure.

Along the M31 Motorway at Nagytarcsa-Urasági-du{combining double acute accent}lo{combining double acute accent}, amongst other periods, an Early Iron Age settlement section was excavated. Wheel-made wares, represented amongst the finds from the Scythian period of the settlement, directed our attention to the problems concerning Early Iron Age wheel...

Provenance investigation of archaeological pottery means determining the sources of natural or artificial mixture of raw materials, and requires tracking the steps of a complex manufacturing process. The basic step is to sample the possible raw materials and to compare them with the pottery. It is a fundamental task to develop an effective sampling...

The Rákóczi Museum of the Hungarian National Museum started an excavation in 2006 to uncover the remnants of a gun-foundry operated between 1631 and 1648 and located in the southwestern corner of the outer castle in Sárospatak. Fragments of white and blue tin-glazed Haban faience objects were found in the late 17th century filling of the workshop r...

Synsedimentary and early diagenetic oxygen levels are estimated by evaluating celadonite–smectite formation in Jurassic marine black shale-hosted manganese carbonates. Celadonite formed under suboxic–dysaerobic conditions, Al-rich Fe-smectite formed under suboxic–anaerobic conditions, and nontronite formed under anoxic- anaerobic conditions during...

The lifestyle of the large Balaton-Lasinja/Furchenstich and Boleráz/Baden settlement of Balatonocombining double acute accentszöd-Temetocombining double acute accenti ducombining double acute accentlocombining double acute accent was investigated in respect of possible common ceramic forms, technology, tradition, food-products and consumption in th...

Nearly 200 glass beads found in Sarmatian (2nd-4th cent. AD) and Avar (6th-8th cent. AD ) graves in recent Hungary were subjected to instrumental analysis. The Sarmatian beads are monochrome, the Avar beads are often decorated. The textures, inclusions, precipitations, colouring and modifying components, inhomogeneities of glasses with different co...

To reveal the processing steps of tin-glazed pottery (majolica, faience) production and to determine the raw material use and technological parameters of the workshop, joint use of phase analysis by X-ray diffraction (XRD) as well as microtextural and microchemical investigation by electron microprobe analysis (EMPA) are necessary. It is essential...

Combined petrographical, mineralogical, geochemical and stable isotope analyses were conducted on an actively forming Egerszalók Travertine mound to determine the factors that govern carbonate precipitation and thus influence the use of travertines in paleoclimate reconstruction. Stable isotope analyses of oxygen, carbon and hydrogen demonstrate bo...

The room temperature stability region of the tetragonal tungsten bronze-type potassium lithium niobate (K3Li2Nb5O15, KLN) has been determined by X-ray phase analysis on ceramic samples synthesized by solid state reaction in the composition range of [K2O]=28–33mol%, [Li2O]=12.5–20.5mol% and [Nb2O5]=50.5–55.5mol%. Lattice parameters and temperature d...

Kutnohorite with moderate and bright orange-red cathodoluminescence (CL) was studied by CL microscopy and spectroscopy. This mineral was found in fossiliferous concretions composed mainly of rhodochrosite from the Mn-carbonate mineralization at Úrkút, Hungary. The CL microscopy reveals that kutnohorite occurs as impregnations, layers and veinlets....

Temperature dependence of the solid state reaction between sodium and polycrystalline alumina powder has been investigated in thermal experiments between 800 and 1100 °C, i.e. in the wall-temperature range of operating high pressure sodium (HPS) lamps with sintered polycrystalline alumina arc tube. During the experiments a ceramic arc tube was appl...

This study presents the results of the petrographic, mineralogical and geochemical analysis of Kisapostag Culture (Early Bronze Age) pottery (jars or urns/amphorae) from Vörs-Máriaasszony-sziget. This study forms a part of a major project on pottery analysis at a multi-period archaeological site. Pottery samples were chosen through macroscopic exam...

In this work we present the investigations on the determination of the mechanism of sodium loss in High Pressure Sodium (HPS) lamps. The transport through the ceramic arc tube consists of several steps (solution in the ceramics, diffusion through the ceramics, leaving the bulk phase, evaporation from the surface). Among the listed processes the mec...

Talajmontmorilloniton vegzett adszorpcios kiserleteink ujabb adatokkal tamasztottak ala, hogy a montmorillonitok valoban nagy mennyisegben kepesek femionokat megkotni, s ezaltal rendkivul jelentős szerepuk van a talajban lejatszodo kemiai folyamatokban, a nyomelemek es szennyezők talajbeli mozgasaban. A kulonboző femionokkal adszorbealt montmorillo...

Synthesis of fullerenes from graphite powders of different grade was studied in a radiofrequency (RF) plasma reactor. Dependence of fullerene yield on the properties and feed rate of precursors and on the helium content of plasma gas was studied in details. The fullerene yield was influenced by the mean size and the thermal conductivity of graphite...