6. Uivar: a late Neolithic-early Eneolithic fortified tell site in western Romania Wolfram Schier Aim and scope of the project “The south-eastern part of the Carpathian Basin constitutes the northwest margin of the distribution of Neolithie/ Eneolithic tell settlements in Europe. While present fiom the early sixth millennium eal BC in Macedonia for eastern Bulgaria and from even earlier in northern Grevee, tells do not appear before 5100 cal BC in the lowlands of the Pannonian Plain (Meier-Arend 1991, 778. Hertelendi and Horvith 1992; Gliser 1996). At most of these stratified settlement mounds, continuous habitation endl in the second half of the fifth millennium swith the appearance of the early Copper Age Tiszapolar Culture. In comparison with the tell settlements of the Southern Balkan Peninsula, tells of the Carpathian Basin ‘va rather ephemeral and isolated phenomenon whieh is repeated only once more (i.e. during the advanced eutly Bronze Age). The main objective of the Uivar project is to study the formation and decline of a late Neolithic tell settlement by using a multidisciplinary approach that focuses on the environmental and socio-economie evidence (or other possible causes) For the b ind the end of the centralised, continuous settlement that is represented by tells, On the other hand, living-on-top-ol-the-past is 2 process that can be seen as a mental concept based on building traditions, descendance lines, and ritual Hinks to the ancestors. “While these ancestral bounds may be seen as expressions of the conservatism of Neolithic society, seen with the yes of the archaeologist, the growth of a tell comprises a record of both continuity and of change. When sediment Ucposition (in cm per radiocarbon year) and innovation ratio within the material culture (expressed by the first tigenvector of @ correspondence analysis) are compared Gn an absolute time scale (Schier 2000; 2001), there is evidence for a non-linear relationship; while material culture may change drastically within a few centimetres: of ‘continuous tell stratigraphy, it may appear statie through half'a metre in other parts ofthe site pein > Figure 1. Map of the Carpathian Basin. The site of Vivar Livaris situated 40 km west-south-west of Timisoara (Fig. 1) in an alluvial plain near the River Bega, a tributary ofthe River Tisza, Near the miodem village of Uivar the settlement ‘mound rises to 4 mabove the plain and covers 3 hectares. The site was selected for study because of its considerable size (which indicated a settlement that had played a central role), and for the potential availability of palasoenvironmental ata in the site's surrounding floodplains. Research started jn 1998 as a joint Romanian-German project comprising intensive interdiseiplinary survey work aud larye-seale excavation. A survey in 1998 included drilling transects serial photography an a large-scale surfice sumpling ofthe6. Vivar: a late Neolithic-early Eneolithic fortified tell site in western Romania 55 Figure 2, Plan of the tell site of Uivar produced by high resolution Cesium magnetomesry in 2000 (Dr: Helmet Becker Bayerisches Landesam fir Denkmalpflege, Abt. Geophysikalische Prospektion) tell (performed over a regular 5 x 5 m grid), The surface Most crucial for the project, however, wasa geomagnetic collection recovered 40,000 sherds; analysis of chronological survey performed by Helmut Becker (Bayerisches and spatial distributions of material produced patterns that, Landesamt fir Denkmalpflege, Geophysikalische initially, were dificult to interpret, Excavation provided an Prospektion), which covered c, 11 hectares of the tell and evaluation of surface distributions, as well as of ploughzone its surroundings (Fig. 2). This high resolution magnetogram and subsurface features. revealed the location of more than 70 burnt houses of56 Wolfram Sehier Figure 3. Sequence of phases of the innermost ditch (irench IV No. 7 on Fig, 2), seen from the east (viral reconstruction S. Suhrbier, Bertin). different sizes and orientations, as well as a system of concentric ditehes that run up to 100 m from the edge of the settlement mound. The existence of such an extended ditch system not only underlines the importance and centrality of the settlement in its regional contest, but also raises the question of what was the function of such a large ‘enclosed, but (according to the geomagnetic evidence) mainly uninhabited area that surrounded the densely settled mound itself, Defensive system Allof the outer ditches detected by the geomagnetic record have been verified by test trenching. The ditches usually hhave a V-shaped cross-section, are c. 5-6 m wide and 1.5-2.5 m deep. Palisades ran 1.0-2.0 m from four of the five ditches. The outermost ditch encompassed an area of 8-10 hectares and was covered by 1.5 m of stratified colluvial/alluvial layers. At such a distance beyond the limits of the visible tell, features buried at such a depth would not have been discovered without geophysical prospection. Four of the outer ditches are datable with high probability to the late Neolithic Vinéa C culture ‘While a purely defensive character might be disputed for the outer ditches (see below), it can hardly be denied for the massive inner ditches. The innermost diteh had a complex building sequence (Fig. 3), beginning as « small ‘nid rather shallow ditch, but was filled, reshaped, enlarged, and had ils narrow causeway shifted laterally. After an intermediate period, when there was no fortification but several rectangular houses in that area (Fig. 4: BF), a third cutting atan oblique angle into the earlier ones, This final phase of the settlements innermost fortification (Fig. 4: A-B) has almost monumental dimensions: 7 m wide and more than 4m deep. The laminated stratigraphy Of this fortification suggests a rather slow rate of filling ‘with different types and sources of fil. Several dark layers (consisting of masses of charred threshing residues: glumes and spikelets), suggest that a pyrotechnical process took place near the ditch, Maybe the chaff served as fuel to produce the reducing atmosphere for black Vinéa pottery, Eine a fragment of a perforated kiln floor was also found in the filling of the ditch, “The corresponding outer ditch (Fig. 4: D) has slightly smaller dimensions, and a zow of double postholes running along its inner edge suggests a wall of horizontally split planks that were fixed betwocn pairs of posts. Mos! puzzling is the discontinuation of the outer ditch beyond the north side of the entrance causeway; there is no record of it in the geomagnetic results and this outer ditch may not have been completed. Domestic architecture No direct evidence of unburnt houses was discovered during the first four excavation campaigns. We discovered oven platforms based on differences in surfaces and structures, though no walls could be seen. Detailed evidence for domestic architecture came from burnt houses which were clearly identified by the geomagnetic survey. One of the basie, still unanswered questions is whether these burnt houses represent individual events of accidental ordeliberate buming (cf. Tringham 2005), or whether they belong to one of several fire catastrophes that destroyed the entire settlement or large paris of it “The ratio of bumt-o-unburnt housesis ofcourse very hard to estimate, Assuming that most of the sediment forming the6. Uivar: a late Neolithic-early Eneolithie fortified tell site in western Romania 57 Figure 4. Simplified plan of excavated features in trench IV, showing the latest phases of the fortification. The third phase of the innermost ditch (4, B) followed a phase of rectangular buildings (E, F). The latest feature is the ditch D, which seems 10 have remained unfinished. settlement mound consists of transformed building material, the total volume of the tell, which can be estimated around 70,000 cubie m, provides a rough basis for exirapotating the total number of houses that were built during the existence ofthe site, Calculated using ground plans, wall thicknesses, and the quantity of building loam contained in an average house (15-25 cubic m), the numberof houses at Vivar totals 3000-4500. This, admittedly crude, calculation does not take into acvoune the large quantities of former tell sediment ‘hich would have been redeposited as colluvium around the settlement mound. Thus, the actual number af houses may have been considerably higher. Looking atthe geomagnetic map (Fig. 2) itbecomes obvious that the percentage of bumt houses that can be detected ancl potentially excavated lies well below 5 percent of the total number of houses built during the life-span of the settlement, What did these houses look like? At Uivar, our excavations of ten bumt Neolithic houses have revealed considerable variability in size and construction details among contemporary houses. Exeavated in 2001-02, the best preserved burnt house allows us to provide a detailed reconstruction of a late Neolithic house, dated to ¢, 4900 cal38 Wolfram Schier Figure 5, Reconstruction of late Neolithic burnt house (ench 1 feat. 373), seen from the east (virtual reconstruction S. Suhrbier, Berlin). BC (Fig. 5). This 12% 4.5 m rectangular house consisted of three rooms. The floor was made of loam, supported by an artay of wooden poles, the negative impressions of which were preserved beneath the burnt floor. The house walls ‘consisted of wooden posts connected by wattle-and-daub ‘and covered on both sides with L015 em of loam. Although the floor was completely renewed once only, the walls had ‘up to 20 thin layers of loam plastering. The westernmost of the three rooms possessed an upper floor (Ze. as recorded in the debris from the upper floor, which contained negatives of split wooden planks); this was found above and within the wall debris, lying both on the lower floor and in situ The use of split planks to support the upper floor (instead of the round poles used for the ground floor) may suggest that the ceiling of the bottom room consisted of unplastered ‘ood visible from below and which therefore was carefully constructed and smoothly finished. Houses with upper storeys are known from several other sites in the middle and late Neolithic of south-east Europe (Lichter 1993, 66). ‘Aswe recovered no evidence for its materials, for its shape or for its support, the roof is the most hypothetical part of cour reconstruction, {In 2005 we uncovered the first evidence of unburnt house structures, and thus revealed unforeseen detatls and ‘unexpected conditions of preservation, The walls made of foam were distinguished from the surrounding cultural layer iby their harder consistency and not by any differences in colour, Afler we removed the wall foundation, we could recognise ditches and roves of postholes below the loam floor. Within a greyish layer, rich in small particles of charcoal, there appeared thin layers of uncharred plant fibres and fragments of thin wooden twigs and branches. ‘We discovered the foundation ditches of at least two houses oriented parallel or at right angles to each other (Fig. 6 a }), undemeath remains of carefully worked wooden planks. Branches or rods, some more than | m long, covered an rca of about 10 sq, m, mainly in the area between the two houses, In distinction to the worked wooden planks, the rod fragments were spread randomly without any orientation tr pattern, Among the rod fragments we discovered five6. Uivary a late Neolithic-early Eneolithic fortified tell site in western Romania 30 Figure 6. Wooten remains below late Neolithic house floors: 6a (top) ovig waste, working place for wattle: 6b (bottom) wooden beams used as substructure for floor. Note the carefully chiselled joint (Photos: W. Scher) damaged or fragmented stone axe blades. This area, which is connected microstratigraphicaly tothe foundation layers of {vo houses, can be interpreted as a working place in whicl the wattle stmieture for the house walls was prepared. ‘Two dozen samples of wood were taken for archaeo- botanical analysis which is till in progress: hazel (Coryths, ash (Fraxinus), alder (Alnus) and poplar (Populus) have ‘been identified so far. Because thin, branch-less twigs of 1.5 1m length do not occur naturally in forests, the long nwigs at Uivar demonstrate that eoppicing and deliberate forest ‘management produced the raw material for building wattle and daub walls. The massive worked planks (still exhibiting visible arainstractare) had been compressed to a layer a few aillimetes thick; attempts to obtain dendrocheonological dates fiom these compressed planks filed. The preservation lof wood in this layer (2 m below the tell surface and well above the groundwater level) appears to have been due to mineralisation of carbonates In adyance of the final results of archaeobotanical analyses, a tentative reconstruction of building pro Figure 7. Corner of unburnt late Neolithic house: Ta (top) the northern long watl was founded on top ofa line ofeatie bones: 78 (bottom) afier removal of the bones, postholes became visible inside the foundation ditches (Photos Institute of Prehistoric Archaeology, Berlin. can be suggested, Worked wooden planks were laid out in the interior shape and orientation of the projected house, and foundation trenches were dug along the wooden planks. Massive comer posts and smaller intermediary ones were fixed in postholes dug into the bottoms of the foundation trench, Starting below the future floor level and well inside. the foundation treneh, rods cut from coppiced trees were used (0 twine the wattle structure of the walls. Next, the wooden frame inside the ground plan was covered by a layer of loamy earth mixed with ash and small charcoal fragments, It is not possible to determine whether or not the sherd and aninral bone content of this layer was intentional ‘or whether it was due to the re-use of an existing cultural layer. Covering the ashy layer was a layer of fibrous plants, possibly bundles of reeds, which were cut off precisely in Time with the inner edge of the walls. Finally, the actual floor ‘was prepared by spreading and compressing about 10 em Of yellowish foam on top of the plant layer. The preparation of a house floor appears to have been a surprisingly complex process, at least in the case of these60 Wolfram Sehier Figure 8. Photograph of front and drawing of alternative perspeclives of Agen of life-size face mask made of weakly trent clay and tempered with chef] Photo: P. Neckermann, Institute of Prehistoric “Archaeology, Wiarzburg). two houses, where favourable conditions have preserved organic remains. The floot building process reconstructed ete differs from the bunt houses in Uivar; the bottoms of fragments of burnt floors usually reveal negative impressions of round, supporting stakes. The reasons for such a complex preparation of a house floor are not well lnderstood, though they may have functioned as insulation against soil moisture of as mechanical stabilisation of floor plaster in order to prevent eracks, Ritual practice in and around the settlement third house, contemporary with the two.already discussed, revealed details of construction which are unique and ‘without any practical function. While the same frame of ‘Wooden planks was observed inside the foundation ditch of this house, the ditch itself was filed with densely packed, targe cattle bones. More than forty bones (belonging to several individuals) supported # 2 m length of house wall (Fig. 7 a, b). As the bones fad been integrated in the Towermost part of the wall (wich started below the inner floor level), they were hidden not only’ from the house's inhabitants, but even from anyone who would have carried out later episodes of demolition and rebuilding, This relationship strongly supports an interpretation ofthe eatle ‘bones as the remains of a founding ritual or, more precisely, 1 foundation sacrifice (Schier 2006, 326) ‘Only one of the (partially) exeavated burt houses at Livar contained large numbers of pottery vessels in sit {ce as one would expect if the burning bad boen the result of a sudden outbreak of fire). In some eases, differences in the degrees of hardness of floors and walls (caused by varying intensities of burning) might be the resull of avtempts to extinguish the fire. Current evidence from Uivar, therefore, can neither conlirm nor refute Tringhamn’s hypothesis of ritual house burning (Tringham 2005) ‘There is evidence, however, for the use of fite ia foundation rituals, In two cases, traces of heavy firing including ealeinated animal bones were found immediately below the foundation layer of the wooden poles which supported the loam floor in a house. It is inconceivable that the fire which destroyed this house could have affected the sub-foundation layer (Ze. the sub-foundation layers vere completely covered by the house and would bave had no direct air supply); clearly, the burning of the sub- foundation deposit and of the later house must have been6, Uivar: a late Neolithic-early Eneolithte fortified tell site in western Romania 61 caused by two, separate fires. A plausible explanation is, that the former burning was a purification ritual performed just before the founding of a new house. In two of the foundation ditches which were cut down into older houses, we found the head of a figurine and another, complete female figurine (Fig. 10: 1-2). These finds should also be understood in the context of a foundation ritual The most intriguing find from Uivar was found in a later foundation trench cut into the house described above (Fig, 5): one half of a life-size mask made of weakly bumt clay, with modelled eyebrows and nose, and with ‘a mouth cut in the shape of a ‘w" (Fig. 8). The outline of the mask closely resembles the so-called pentagonal Vinga C figurine heads (type 03 according to Héckmann 1968); the main difference is the presence of a mouth, which is not depicted on figurine heads from the Vinga culture, This find is a surprisingly perfect confirmation of the hypothesis, formulated in the 1950s, which interprets igurine heads as masked people (Heckmann 1968, 142-3), Itis still debatable, however, if these figurines represent gods/goddesses or humans involved in a ceremonial act. Nevertheless, the fact that only one half of the mask was recovered (and this was despite careful excavation by industrial vacuum cleaners) supports the old hypothesis, (Héckmann 1968, 143-4) that anthropomorphic figures were deliberately, symbolically destroyed, and it, again, sts the practice of rituals in the context of house foundation activities (ef. Another possible example of intense symbolic meanin which would have attracted ritual activity is the entrance to the site which passes through the two innermost circular itches. In the fills of the ends of these ditches (ice. next to the ditches” causeways) we found extraordinary concentrations of large animal bones, among which were several fragments of skulls, aurochs hon cores, as well as large fragments of red deer antler, The dominance of wild species in these concentrations and of body parts which, prior (o their secondary disposal in the ditches, may have boon used as trophies is remarkable and suggests that they functioned as apotropaic symbols marking the transition between the outside world and the realm of the settlement ie, the domus sphere in Hodder’s sense; 1990, 44-70), Finds and regional context Like most tell sites, the settlement mound at Uivar is rich in finds, especially pottery, To date we have recorded and classified five tons of Neolithic and Eneolithie pottery; 74 percent of this material belongs to the Vinéa culture. As is Iypical for Vinga pottery, there is a great variety of shapes, Tanging from storage vessels, narrow-necked amphorae, and coarse oval cooking pans known as “fish trays", to fine ‘wares, among which bowls are the dominant form. The usually dark-grey or black fine ware is of especially good fabric, with carefully smoothed and burnished surfaces, often polished to @ shiny, lustrous finish. Among the decorative techniques, the most frequent are channelling (Fig. 9: 1-6) and pattern burnishing. Channelling is restricted mainly to upper parts of vessel profiles (ce. nek and shoulder), while pattern burnishing occurs only on the lower parts of vessels. The technical skill required to produce such advanced handmade pottery, as well as the almost canonical rigidity of shapes and associated decorative systems, are strong arguments for specialised pottery production as opposed to household pot making, Support for the argument for specialist pottery production comes from the discovery of a fragmentary, perforated platform belonging to a two-chambered pottery kiln found as a secondary deposit in a ditch. Besides the typical Vinéa pottery which can e: be compared with other sites in the Romanian Banat (Drasovean 1996) and with the eponymous site of Vinga see below), the late Neolithic pottery from Uivar contains different cultural elements. There are a few, though quite distinctive, sherds of the Tisza culture (Fig. 9: 7-8); these should be regarded as imports. More numerous are fragments with incised decoration (Fig. 9: 11-12) that ate inspired by the Szakélhdt and Tisza cultures, but which were made in Vinéa fabric and, to a lesser extent, which ‘appear in Vinéa forms; Lazaroviei has previously defined the Bucovat group as a regional, synthetic culture which possesses a mixture of Szakélhat and Vinéa elements (Lazaroviei 1979, 143-54; 1991), Few sherds have been identificd as imports of the Turdas Group from southern Transylvania; Turdas was formerly thought to bean early phase of the Vinga culture (Garasanin 1979, 149-53), though it has recently been recognised as regional group marking the transition from Vinéa B to Vinéa C (Lazaroviei and Kalmar-Maxim 1991). Mote humerous, but still making up less than 0,1 percent of the Uivar Neolithic pottery, are finds of the Foeni group, a recently defined regional group of the Transylvanian Petresti culture (Dragovean 1997; Paul 1992), With its black polished ware of metallic appearanee, the Foeni material is technically superior even to the Vinga fabric, The eponymous settlement of Foeni is only 15 km from Uivar, and the fact that there is so lite Foeni material al Uivar suggests, not that there was no contuet between the sites, but that the usage of the two sites was not contemporaneous, AL Uivar, eatly Copper Age pottery was found primarily in storage and refuse pits and in shallow depressions located, immediately below the plough zone, on top of the first cultural layer. Only one tentative house from this period has been excavated, The Eneolithic poticry at Uivar can be attributed to the Tiszapolgar culture and, more specifically, to its formative phase, Proto-Tiszapolgar (Kalicz and Raceky 1987, 26; Makkay 1991, 324-5). Unfortunately very little material from this earliest Tiszapolgér phase has been published and, therefore, itis difficult to separate this formative phase from classieal Tiszapolgér (Boenir Kuteidn (972), Eight percent of the pottery at Uivar can be classified as Eneolithie; while some vessel shapes can62 Wolfram Schier wh xe Figure 9, Decorated pottery from houses and settement layers iva: 1 classical” Vinga culture; 7-8, Tisza culture; Stoeni group of Petrest clare; 10, Tardas varians of Vinéa cultures 1112+ regional Banat variant of Vina culture fDnavings P. Neckermann, Institute of Prehistoric Archaeology, Witrzhurg)-6, Uivar: a late Neolithic-earty Eneolithic fortified tell site in western Romania Figure 10, Anthropomorphic figurines and pottery: 1-2, Vinca culture; 3-7, early Copper Age (Proto-Tiszapoletir culture) (Drawings P. Neckermann, Institute of Prehistoric Archaeology: Wirzburg), 63o4 Wolfiam Schier be dated to the classical Tiszapolgar culture, others, such ts long-necked vessels with pointed, perforated (or lentil- shaped) knobs and perforated low pedestals (Fig. 10: 3-7) fare characteristic for Proto-Tiszapolgar (Horvath 1987, 42; fig. 10, 11, 17, 19). Generally the Eneolithic pottery is of very good quality, is well bumished with a characteristic Hiky gloss, and has a greyish to dark grey colour. When Compared with material from classical Hungarian sites the high quality of the Uivar pottery indicates a persisting tradition of late Neolithic pottery technology and thus, perhaps, a rather early date. Preliminary analysis of lithies from Uivar (Tillman 2004) has shown a predominance of blades and, among ‘these, of scrapers and sickle blades. There i litle production waste and a high degree of metric standardisation, both Of which indicate a central and specialised lithic industry, though the sites of production within the settlement have yet to be discovered, A number of raw material types have been ‘identified, though the locations of their sources have yet to toe determined: the exception is obsidian which accounts for $ percent of the lithies and which was imported from the Taka region of northem Hungary. Another exotic import is a scraper made of Szentgal radiolarite which was used in @ composite sickle, This radiolarte comes from the Bakony mountains north of Lake Balaton (Bird and Regenye 2003); at Uivar suggests exchange relations with the early Lengyel culture which spanned a distanee of more ‘than 300 kin. A characteristic feature of the lithie speetrum at Uivar is the absence of arrowheads; there are no triangular or trapezoidal artefacts of any type which could have served ins presence as points for long distance weaponry. The presence of large wild animals in the fauna, however, can only be understood with the presence of effective hunting weapons, ‘A discovery in 2002 shed light on the probable substitute for the absence of bows and arrows; a large storage vessel, found ia situ, contained more than 40 balls made of burnt clay and with a standardised diameter of $ em. Most probably, these should be interpreted as @ store of sling balls. The use of the sling has been suggested for the Neolithic of south-eastern Europe, though the missiles themselves have freqnently escaped the attention of excavators (Vutiropoulos 1991), Dating It is not difficult to compare the type-spectrum of the Vinea pottery in Uivar with the famous sequence at the type site, which is located ¢, 150 km away. Based on 0 reassessment of the mostly unpublished, stratigraphically ordered material from Vinta (Schier 1996; 1997) it has tboen possible to refine and enhance the typo-chronological resolution ofthe schematic stratigraphy of the site of Vinta itself It can be shown that the beginning of the younger Vinéa culture, that is Vinéa C, actually starts at ¢. 6.5 m relative depth at the type site and can be subdivided into three subphases C1-C3. The latest Neolithie pottery from Uivar comes from the top layer of the tcl just below the ploughzone, as well as from several burnt houses, and can be correlated with Vinéa Cy and the older part of C2 as redefined at the type site (chier 1997). No material datable to Vinéa C3 or even D Table 1. Radiocarbon dates. Trench Context and material Burnt house /chareoat Filling of sunken but (cuts 351/373) /chareoal Burnt house / charcoal Burnt wall debris of house / charcoal But house / charcoal Rectangular post pt / charred beam Rectangular post pit / charcoal Filling of innermost ditch, V 77,12 m/ charred chaff Filling of innermost diteh, V 77.86 m (charred batt Filling of incomplete inner ditch / charcoal Filling of outer ditch / charcoal6. Uivar: a late Neolithic-early Eneolithic fortified tell site in western Romania 65 fhas been found at Uivar. Because of this, the relation of the Inte Neolithic to the early Copper Age features and finds at Uivaris important also for the chronological framework of the region. The taditional view considers the Tiszapolgsr culture later than or, at best, overlapping late Vinéa D (Kalicz and Raczky 1987, 30). Future research will have to investigate whether or not, at Uivar, a gap of several centuries exists between the Vinéa C2 settlement and the features belonging to a formative phase of the Tiszapolgér culture Almost 40 radiocarbon dates have been analysed at ivar; the majority come from the latest Neolithic building horizon, This phase comprises several complete or partial houses and can be dated on the basis of five secure dates in the range 4940-4800 cal BC (Schier and Drasovean 2004, 202-204), Two dates from the fill of the innermost ditch fallin the range 4830-4700 eal BC. One date from the fill, ofthe incomplete inner ditch and one date from one of the Outer ditches stgeest that these ditches were still open at 4690-4500 cal BC, even though they may have been dug ‘much earlier. Unfortunately no datable material could be obtained from the bottoms ofthe ditches, and thus it i still possible that the time of construetion for the fortification system is contemporary with the latest build pethaps is even older. On the other hand, the ditch system, ‘was still open, maybe even in use, up to 300 years after the late Neolithic building phase at the site. This is yet another argument in favour of continuity atthe settlement and against the proposal that a large gap exists between Vinéa C2 and (ProtoyTiszapolgir Environmental evidence and economic issues Having uncovered 1500 sq. m to date, the excavation is only one part of the interdisciplinary work at and around the tell at Uivar Besides the ongoing archacozoological analysis of more than two tons of animal bones, the project is undertaking an extensive archaeobotanical programme of recovery ancl analysis (Fischer and Résch 2004), Wet sieving of samples fiom cultural layers, pits, houses and ditch fills has provided an increasingly representative picture of crop cultivation and processing, Occurring in high frequencies are einkorn (Triticum monococcum) and a wheat species only recently identified, which is nowadays ‘restricted tothe Caucasus region (Triticum of. timophevi) emmer (Triticum dicoccum) is surprisingly rare. Less frequent cereals were pasta wheat (Tritiewm aestivum? drum) and barley (Hordeum vulgare). Other cultivated plants include flax (Linum usitatissimum), pea (Pistun Salivum) and lentil (Lens cwlinaris). The importance to subsistence of vathering is probably underestimated «ue {© tphionomic factors; nevertheless the palacobotanical Fecord contains a variety of berries, including comel cherry (Cornus mas) and Piysalis alkekengé, which are rare or Absent in the more recent flora ofthe alluvial plain, ‘Alopographieal survey based on a narrow grid revealed Aha the seenninaly fiat plain around the settlement mound ‘actually contains very shallow depressions between 0.1~ 0.3 m deep. Drilling and small test trenches in two of these patches proved the existence of buried fiuvial sediments with pollen preservation, probably fossil oxbow lakes. A preliminary palynotogical study shows that these sediments reach back into the middle Holocene, thus covering the time span of the settlement. Because of the mixing of alluvial and colluvial components (the latter contains tiny sherds and daub particles from the tell), radiocarbon dating of charcoal in this pollen profile could be misteading, In order fo obtain an absolute timescale for assessing human impact in corretation with settlement dynamics, sediments were dated by Optically Stimulted Luminescence (OSL). Unfortunately due to incomplete bleaching of the quartz grains only maximal dates could be obtained (Kadereit 2004; Kadereit et al. 2006). Nevertheless, Uivar can be considered one of the rare Neolithic sites in south-eastern Europe for which environmental change and human impact can be analysed on a local scale and in close proximity to the settlement itself The surprising identification of the northernmost diteh, buried under 1.5 m of alluvialcolluvial sediments, was the stimulus for geomorphological and sedimentological research which is attempting to reconstruct the miero- topography of the alluvial plain around the tell in the fifth nillennium eal BC. First results (Sponholz 2004; Kadereit et «af, 2006) not only suggest that the ancient land surface was Jower than at present, but also reveal a anicro-topography caused by prehistoric changes in river courses and resulting oxbow lakes, whieh are now levelled by flood sediments and which contsin an increasing colluvial component as one approaches the tell. A comprehensive assessment of the late Neolithic landscape and its dynamies will, however, only be possible at the end of the interdisciplinary project Conclusion Since the interdisciplinary fieldwork at Uivar is still in progress, the available evidence allows only preliminary conclusions which will be modified in the light of further research, However, a mumber of points can be made at this point Without doubt, the large-scale geomagnetic survey provided the most surprising results. Widening the perspective toa tegional scale, we could fave the possibility that tell settlements in the Carpathian basin are far larger and more complex spatial entities than is suggested by the Visual outline of their mound. The existence of complex itch systems, resembling Neolithie enclosures in central and north-westem Europe, adds a new aspect to the tell phenomenon and raises questions about the function of the large enclosed, but uninhabited, areas around the core of the scitlement with its densely packed houses. The settlement size and its complexity, as well as the indicators for specialised production and the division of labour, emphasise the central and complex character of late Neolithic tell seltlements. On a social seale, it would66 Woljiam Schier not be an exaggeration to think in terms of proto-urbanity ‘A variety of ritual behaviour (well known from most tel fies) appears (0 be associated with building activity in Uivar, The find of a clay mask is unique for the Neolithic “of south-eastern Europe, and it supports the hypothesis that Vina culture figurines depict or symbolise ceremonially masked individuals. In terms of relative chronology, Uivar raises more questions than it answers; while the conventional regions) Ghronological framework for the late Neolithic and carly Copper Age recognises a gap between these phenoment, the stratigraphic and construction evidence does not support the assumption of a long-lasting interruption. Tn any ese, the apparent extent of early Eneolithic building activity is almost without parallel among the tell sites in south- 'y, northern Serbia and western Romania eastern Hun Finally, ongoing interdisciplinary reconstruction of the pulaeoenvironment at Uivar will contribute to @ bettet Miiderstanding. of the dynamics and, especially, the end of tall settlement inthis eegion, atthe north-western margin of the widespread Eurasian phenomenon of tell settlements Acknowledgements “The Vivarproject could be realised thanks othe continuous suppor by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinsehal.T wish to thank all members ofthe project team, steadily growing ince 1998, Special thanks go to Florin Drayovean for the inspiring spirit of cooperation, and to H. Becker (Geophysics), A. Tilmann (Lithie study), M. Rosch and tr Fischer (Archacobotany), G. el Susi (Archacozoology), B, Sponholz (Physical Geography), G. Wagner and A. Kadeveit (OSL dating) for their experience and knowledge sshich they have contributed to the project, for bridging the borderlines between several disciplines, and forall of thei valuable information which { have included in this article Tam especially gratefal to Douglass Bailey for improving the English of this text and for his belpCul remarks on an turlier draft, For the remaining errors of misintespretations, however, I remain responsible Bibliography Bit, K. and Re: vonplexes in the Bakonty Mountains, Hungary. kn T Set, Gr Kost, G, Steffens and J, Ciemny (eds), Man and mining fonuch ene Bergban Stakes in honour of Gerd Weisgerber a eacrsasion of his 65th birthday. Vevésfentliciangen ans der sructacken Bergha-btseun Bochun 114, 88-63. 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