Identifying an Old Stone Age Site : Archaeological and pedological investigations at Szekszárd-Palánk

• Published in: Hungarian Archaeology Vol. 12; no. 2; pp. 1 - 7
• Main Authors: Szegedi, Kristóf István, Dobos, Endre, Gábriel, Sára, Gelencsér, Ákos, Lengyel, György, Marton, Tibor, Tóth, Balázs, Lukács, Nikoletta
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 2023
• ISSN: 2416-0296; 2416-0296
• DOI: 10.36338/ha.2023.2.2

Preceding the Neolithic and marking the end of the Old Stone Age, the Mesolithic (corresponding with a transitional period between the Pleistocene and Holocene periods in geological terms) is still one of the blind spots of Hungarian archaeology. Based on available data, Late Epigravettian hunter-gatherers left the Carpathian Basin in the Late Glacial period (at the end of the Pleistocene period). In the following phase, one may only reckon with sporadic inhabitation until the emergence of Mesolithic cultures. As the related sites have only yielded very vague relative or absolute chronological data, clarifying their age and cultural connections is of exceptional importance for the research into the transition of the Paleolithic and Mesolithic periods in Hungary and Eastern Europe. In order to gain a better understanding of this transition, the National Institute of Archaeology of the Hungarian National Museum launched a research project aimed at processing the record of the sites mentioned above and conducting field research on certain sites.