Bondár Mária

In this study we report 21 ancient shotgun genomes from present-day Western Hungary, from previously understudied Late Copper Age Baden, and Bronze Age Somogyvár-Vinkovci, Kisapostag, and Encrusted Pottery archaeological cultures (3530 – 1620 cal BCE). Our results indicate the presence of high steppe ancestry in the Somogyvár-Vinkovci culture. They were then replaced by the Kisapostag group, who exhibit an outstandingly high (up to ∼47%) Mesolithic hunter-gatherer ancestry, despite this component being thought to be highly diluted by the time of the Early Bronze Age. The Kisapostag population contributed the genetic basis for the succeeding community of the Encrusted pottery culture. We also found an elevated hunter-gatherer component in a local Baden culture associated individual, but no connections were proven to the Bronze Age individuals. The hunter-gatherer ancestry in Kisapostag is likely derived from two main sources, one from a Funnelbeaker or Globular Amphora culture relate...

Grave 367 of the Balatonlelle-Rádpuszta site 67/5 cemetery dating from the classical period of the Baden culture contained the burial of an adult woman interred according to an unusual rite involving the placement of a child’s skull under the head. The sole grave goods from this burial were three and ten fragmented drilled dog canines. Roughly one-half of the canines lay by the feet of the deceased. The worn surface of the canines and the damaged perforations indicate that they had been worn for a long time, while their position in the grave would suggest that some had once adorned the lower part or hemline of a longer garment. The Hungarian and Central European analogies dating from a few centuries later raise the possibility that woman laid to rest at Balatonlelle as well as the dogs providing the canines used for the adornment, a wholly unique practice in the Carpathian Basin during the fourth millennium BC, were not of local, but of eastern origin.

Késő rézkori temető Budakalász-Luppa csárda lelőhelyen = Late Copper Age Cemetery at Budakalász-Luppa csárda. Bondár, Mária (2008) Késő rézkori temető Budakalász-Luppa csárda lelőhelyen = Late Copper Age Cemetery at Budakalász-Luppa csárda. Project Report. ...

Being a link between east and west in technological knowledge transfer and trade, the heartland of the Carpathian Basin is a truly exciting region in terms of metallurgy. It is also a key region because there is a tendency in international archaeological scholarship that researchers working in a particular country tend to focus on a particular research issue based on their own national academic literature, as a result of which very important finds and studies are often lacking from the international archaeological mainstream. This is one of the reasons that I deemed it important to collect, review and publish the Hungarian finds of Late Copper Age metallurgy together with the findings of earlier metal analyses and the results of more recent analytical studies in a small monograph. I sought to identify the distinctive traits of the metallurgy of the Baden cultural complex during the later fourth millennium BC, which according to the general scholarly consensus reflected a serious decline compared to the metalworking of the previous periods. I reviewed the academic literature on the newest research findings, including the geological and geochemical aspects which are less familiar to archaeologists. In some cases, I turned to the findings of experimental archaeology for a better understanding of mining and casting procedures. There are few studies on the social impact of metallurgy, or on its detrimental effect on health and the damage to the environment, I have reviewed the volume of prehistoric mining, trade and metal processing as well as its impact on the environment based on the published figures and various estimates.

Being a link between east and west in technological knowledge transfer and trade, the heartland of the Carpathian Basin is a truly exciting region in terms of metallurgy. It is also a key region because there is a tendency in international archaeological scholarship that researchers working in a particular country tend to focus on a particular research issue based on their own national academic literature, as a result of which very important finds and studies are often lacking from the international archaeological mainstream.
This is one of the reasons that I deemed it important to collect, review and publish the Hungarian finds of Late Copper Age metallurgy together with the findings of earlier metal analyses and the results of more recent analytical studies in a small monograph.
I sought to identify the distinctive traits of the metallurgy of the Baden cultural complex during the later fourth millennium BC, which according to the general scholarly consensus reflected a serious decline compared to the metalworking of the previous periods.
I reviewed the academic literature on the newest research findings, including the geological and geochemical aspects which are less familiar to archaeologists. In some cases, I turned to the findings of experimental archaeology for a better understanding of mining and casting procedures.
There are few studies on the social impact of metallurgy, or on its detrimental effect on health and the damage to the environment, I have reviewed the volume of prehistoric mining, trade and metal processing as well as its impact on the environment based on the published figures and various estimates.