The Alsónyék story: towards the history of a persistent place

Abstract

First paragraph: The papers presented above in this volume have provided formally modelled date estimates for the development of Alsónyék, phase by phase, from the Starčevo to the Lengyel periods. In this final discussion paper, we now aim, first, to bring together all the chapters of the long story into a single narrative, and to attempt a detailed interpretation of its long persistence, which is of a kind so far rather unfamiliar in prehistory. That enables us, secondly, to discuss the Alsónyék story in more interpretive terms, in relation to notions of persistent place, community, aggregation and coalescence, and with an eye on the broader tempo of change. In doing this, we will tack between the site-specific evidence from Alsónyék and wider comparisons from ethnography and recent history, far beyond Transdanubia in both time and space. Thirdly, we will use our formally modelled date estimates from the Lengyel period at Alsónyék to trace the intensity of occupation and of the trajectory of population increase and decline at the site. In discussing the dramatic growth of the settlement in the Lengyel period, we will also, finally, consider some of its possible causes and conditions, but this has to be seen in the context of the ongoing post-excavation research of the Alsónyék project, in which it is important to underline that many basic analyses still remain to be completed. We will end, nonetheless, by looking ahead to key research questions for the future.