遗址发现和年代序列

下涅克遗址位于匈牙利西南部，在多瑙河与流经多瑙河的森林之间，这是一处被称为下乐格兹的泥泞的冲积景观。2006至2009年，我们在高速公路修建之前发现了这处遗址并进行发掘。该遗址由不同的团队进行发掘，但是主要持续性的发掘是由位于布达佩斯的匈牙利科学院考古研究中心负责。

无论是在年代还是在空间方面，这处新石器时期遗址的居址与墓葬都令人赞叹。首先，它的延续时间十分长：自新石器时代早期至晚期（公元前5750年至公元前4300年）。最初，从巴尔干半岛地区而来的农民到这里定居，他们属于欧洲中部的线纹陶文化（LBK），之后出现索波特和伦杰尔时期的居址与墓地，这些居址与墓葬在遗址中大范围出现，但并没有形成很厚的地层。以现有的材料来看，时间持续如此之久同时又没有形成深厚堆积的遗址在匈牙利的新石器时代是史无前例的。第二，在伦杰尔时期，从房屋、灰坑和墓葬的情况看，遗址达到了前所未有的规模。通过大范围的地磁勘探，我们完成了的发掘并大致估算遗址整体范围在80公顷左右。下涅克遗址如此之大的规模，已远超以往在匈牙利所发现的新石器时代遗址，同时也使该遗址可与东欧铜石并用的曲里宝耶文化中的 “巨型遗址” 相媲美。

遗址的最早阶段约始于公元前6000年，很多早期的新石器时代（如斯塔尔切沃）的特征被揭露出来。最普遍的特征是大型不规则的灰坑以及灰坑的复合体。在其中发现了许多火膛的遗迹，共计发现约有15个火膛和50个灰坑，大多数为灰坑的复合体，还有一些骨架被填塞在地下的炉子中并紧贴在灰坑的侧壁之上。通过对发现的25座斯塔尔切沃墓葬进行生物考古学的研究，为我们研究葬俗及其起源、饮食、生活习惯还有斯塔尔切沃人群其他的方面提供了契机，这在匈牙利尚属首次。

在斯塔尔切沃和欧洲最古老的新石器文化期（LBK）之后，该处居址出现了一小段的空白期。虽然从巴尔干半岛地区来的移民，如斯塔尔切沃人在LBK的形成中扮演了十分重要的角色，但这个过程却发生在下涅克遗址以北地区。经过几代人的时间，早期的LBK群体才来到下乐格兹湿地区域，并周边定居，这其中就包括了下涅克遗址。

LBK文化人群和之后从巴尔干半岛北部地区而来的索波特文化人群很可能存在着在定居方面一定程度的重合。在遗址东部边缘的调查发现了10个大的灰坑复合体（直径2-7米）和4处大小接近的沟渠，同时我们还发掘了一口水井。尽管先前所调查到索波特文化时期的特征相对较少，但利用地球物理的技术，我们发现了一处遗存丰富且意义重大的索波特文化遗迹：包括18座索波特的墓葬，其中有两座还是合葬墓，大多数死者都以蜷缩的姿态被埋葬，但相比于当地的新石器时代人群，这些骨骼所体现的人群十分高大、强壮，很多墓葬中随葬有罐子、海菊蛤饰品、光滑的琢石等，这组墓葬是匈牙利目前发现最大的一处，并且各类的生物考古学研究都已展开；此外，沟渠系统也是相当重要的发现。

在新石器时代晚期的伦杰尔时期，下涅克的居址使用达到了顶峰。近9000种遗存被发现，包括122座房屋、灰坑，以及近2300座墓葬。在80公顷的区域内，几乎随处可见伦杰尔时期的居址和墓葬 。

该地区在这一时段内，地表上发现了122座由木材搭建的房屋，这是前所未见的。借由地球物理勘探，相信未来能够发现更多。这些房屋的发现可以帮助我们更好地理解伦杰尔人群的建筑以及生活习惯。

伦杰尔文化墓葬的数量和特殊的埋葬方式使得下涅克遗址十分的重要。相比其他重要的伦杰尔文化新石器晚期遗址仅有数百座墓葬的情况而言，这处遗址所发现的2350座墓葬在欧洲早期农业时期的记录中是独一无二的。墓葬大多数被组织为墓群， 在居址的不同区域形成了小型的核心墓地。在整个遗址的范围内，发现有92组墓群。最小的一处包含有25-30座墓葬，最大的一处约有100座墓葬。除了墓群之外，还发现几处独立和分散的墓葬。一些是嵌于灰坑之中，其他的一些位于之前房屋所处的地方，还有一些被平均分成小组。下涅克遗址大量的墓葬和丰富的随葬品为体质人类学、古生物和人口学的调查、丧葬礼俗和社会分化、以及随葬品所反映的长距离网络和交换活动等研究议题提供了难得的机会。

研究新进展：广泛的考古学和科学的合作

这项工作需要广泛的研究团队持续性的合作。这个团队由爱思特·万菲领导，她和Tibor Marton以及Anett Osztás一同负责斯塔尔切沃遗存的分析。同时Krisztián Oross和Tibor Marton负责对LBK和索波特文化阶段的工作。Anett Osztás以伦杰尔的房屋建筑和居址结构作为他的博士论文题目。Krisztina Somogyi（ÁSATÁRS文化、考古服务和商业有限公司），作为遗址发掘的成员之一，正以与伦杰尔文化房屋相关联的陶器的生产作为她博士论文的研究。István Zalai-Gaál（今年不幸去世）参与了墓葬和随葬品的分析，研究内容包括它们的类型学、相对年代以及与邻近地区之间的联系、还有关于社会考古方面。所有的这些研究和整理工作受到了来自于匈牙利科学基金OTKA（K 81239）的资助 。

生物考古学工作同样在进行之中。近2500具人类遗存的体质人类学和骨病理学的研究由Kitti Köhle（匈牙利科学院人文科学研究中心考古研究所）负责；她以862座伦杰尔墓葬作为博士论文的主题。这些骨骼遗存为多项国际合作提供有利材料。在2009年和2013年间，受德意志研究联合会支持（Kurt W. Alt and Eszter Bánffy），与美因茨大学人类学系合作进行关于aDNA和稳定同位素的取样。 Anna Szécsenyi-Nagy（匈牙利科学院人文科学研究中心考古研究所）成功地研究了下涅克遗址所有文化阶段中（除LBK）的68个线粒体DNA的样品。在她的博士研究中，她研究了来自传统多瑙河流域（Transdanubian）的几百个线粒体DNA样品。她关于欧洲第一个农民的基因源头的研究结果已经发表（Szécsényi-Nagy et al. 2015）。在David Reich（哈佛医学院）、Johannes Krause和Wolfgang Haak（德国马克斯·普朗克人类历史科学研究所）的共同参与下，新一代的（染色体的）aDNA研究仍在进行。同时，Alex Mörseburg（美因茨大学人类学研究所）正在进行人和动物骨骼稳定同位素分析。

有关日常饮食习惯及其变化、人群移动和迁徙、以及包括传染病在内的病理学等方面的问题上，相信新的研究将会给出答案，这也是先前体质人类学和微生物学分析结果的有力延续。在下涅克遗址中，伦杰尔人群中所发现的肺结核是欧洲此类疾病最早的案例之一。Kitti Köhler基于实质上的变化，在13号墓群中第一次鉴别出了这一情况。这组墓葬骨病理学的分析得到了Erika Molnár和György Pálfi（赛格德大学生物人类学系）的补充和帮助。Annamária Pósa（匈牙利科学院人文科学研究中心考古研究所）对这组墓群中所有个体先后进行了古微生物的分析。Balázs G. Mende（匈牙利科学院人文科学研究中心考古研究所）正着手于了解这种疾病对于伦杰尔社会广泛的影响。

此外，一个生物地球化学的合作计划已启动。这项由海德堡大学的DFG资助的计划（主要关注新石器早期牛奶的消费和欧洲东南饮食结构的改变）正在分析下涅克遗址中斯塔尔切沃的陶器和骨质工具（饮食文化：欧洲东南部早期农业食物技术和古饮食结构的跨学科研究：由Maria Ivanova-Bieg主导）。与此相关，Angela Kreuz（德国黑森州考古、古生物与文物保护机构）正在研究斯塔尔切沃时期的植物遗存。Éva Ágnes Nyerges（匈牙利科学院人文科学研究中心考古研究所）正在为了她的博士项目（关注新石器时期的农业转变）进行下涅克遗址的动物考古学研究。Kata Szilágyi（塞格德弗拉费伦茨博物馆）从技术和原料的角度出发，以新石器晚期大量出土的石器作为她的博士论文。Pál Sümegi和他的同事（塞格德大学地质与古生物系）正在负责古代环境的复原，其中包括软体动物的分析和贝饰的研究（海菊蛤和角贝）。通过与“ERC他们生活的时代”项目的合作，我们建立了遗址的绝对年代学序列，并利用贝叶斯统计模型进行阐释。Alasdair Whittle（卡迪夫大学）和Alex Bayliss（英国历史协会）还关注于下涅克遗址放射性碳同位素的年代问题。为了解新石器时期聚落的大小和空间布局，在与爱思特·万菲领导下的德国考古研究所（法兰克福）的Römisch-Germanische Kommission的合作中，我们不仅对下乐格兹地区的新石器遗址、还涵盖下涅克遗址未勘察过的区域集中进行了地磁调查 。最后但同样重要的是，在布达佩斯新成立的Römisch-Germanische Kommission研究站使得爱思特·万菲能够为这些持续的学术工作提供经济资助，并且促进了博士研究生的培养、促使围绕下涅克遗址和下乐格兹新石器时代展开大规模且多学科的合作 研究。

进一步研究：截至目前的结果

有关遗址和相关发现的部分研究已经发表，既有准备阶段的一些报道（Bánffy et al. 2010; Gallina et al. 2010; Gelencsér 2010; Majerik et al. 2010），也有一些专题研究的文章（Zalai-Gaál 2008; 2013; Zalai-Gaál / Osztás 2009a; 2009b; Zalai-Gaál et al. 2009; 2010; 2011a; 2011b; 2012a; 2012b; 2014a; 2014b; Osztás et al. 2012; Köhler 2012; 2013; Köhler et al. 2013; 2014; Nyerges 2013; Somogyi / Gallina 2013; Serlegi et al. 2013; Szécsényi-nagy et al. 2015; Rassmann et al. 2015; Pósa et al. 2015）。在Alasdair Whittle、Alex Bayliss和全体英国-匈牙利团队的参与下（Bericht der Römisch-Germansichen Komission 94, 2016: 1-361），一本关于遗址年代的专题卷已于2016年出版。最新一篇论文刊载于《自然》，文章由Kurt Alt, Eszter Bánffy 和Anna Szécsényi-Nagy撰写，内容是关于下涅克遗址的骨骼遗存与其他更早的生物考古学信息的比较研究，他们以aDNA技术分析了农业的扩散以及当地狩猎采集者和外来者之间互动（Lipson et al 2017）。有关下涅克遗址和其相关发现还会在未来几年继续开展。

About the discovery and the long Neolithic sequence

The site of Alsónyék lies in south-west Hungary, in between the Danube and the forested hills of Transdanubia, in a muddy alluvial landscape called Sárköz. It was discovered and excavated prior to motorway constructions, between 2006 and 2009. Parts of the site were excavated by different teams, but the main area and major parts of the ongoing evaluation became concentrated in the Institute of Archaeology Research Centre for the Humanities, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest.

This Neolithic settlement and cemetery is proved to be surprising and remarkable both in temporal and in spatial terms. First, it has a very long sequence of occupation, from the Early to the Late Neolithic, broadly from ca. 5750 cal BC to ca. 4300 cal BC. That encompasses the settlement of the first farmers arriving from the Balkans, one of the central European Linearbandkeramik culture (LBK), then settlements and cemeteries of the Sopot and Lengyel periods, which all spread horizontally over wide areas of the site, without formation of deep stratigraphy. Such persistence of place without tell formation is, on the basis of present knowledge, unprecedented in the Hungarian Neolithic. Secondly, the Lengyel occupation, including houses, pits and graves, is of unparalleled size. The large excavated surface was completed by extended geomagnetic prospections and thus the full size can be estimated to reaching a possible extent of some 80 hectares. With this size, the Alsónyék is perhaps larger than other known Neolithic sites in Hungary by a factor of at least two or three, and makes the site match the “megasites” of the chalcolithic Tripolje-culture in East Europe

From its earliest phase, at the beginning of the 6^th millennium, many early Neolithic, “Starčevo” features were excavated. The most common features are the large irregular pits and the pit complexes, in which traces of many ovens were found including ca. 15 ovens and ca. 50 pits, mostly large pit complexes. Twenty-five Starčevo burials provide the first opportunity in Hungary to investigate the burial customs, origin, diet, lifestyle and other aspects of Starčevo people through various kinds of bioarchaeological research. Some of the skeletons were squeezed in subterranean ovens dug into the side walls of pits.

The only small gap in between the settlement phases was detected after the Starčevo and the oldest Central European Neolithic group, that of the Bandkeramik (LBK). Although the migrants from the Balkan i.e. the Starčevo people played an essential role in the formation of the LBK, this process happened north to Alsónyék. It took some generations until the early LBK groups reached the Sárköz wetland region and settled many places around, also at Alsónyék.

There must be some overlap in the settling of the late LBK occupants and the people of the Sopot culture, again arriving from the northern Balkans. At the eastern edge of the site some ten large, pit complexes (2–7 m in diameter) and small sections of four more or less parallel ditches were investigated, and also a well was unearthed. There is again geophysical evidence, for a greater extent to the Sopot occupation, in spite of the relatively few features investigated. A very rich and important assemblage of Sopot material, including eighteen Sopot graves, two of them double burials, are particularly significant. Most of the deceased were buried in a crouched position, but the skeletons were of tall and robust people, compared to the local Neolithic population. Many of these burials contained pots, and Spondylus ornaments and chipped and polished stone artefacts were also found. This group of Sopot graves is the largest ever discovered in Hungary, and various bioarchaeological studies will follow in due course. The ditch system is also an important discovery.

The Neolithic settlement of Alsónyék reached its greatest extent during the Late Neolithic Lengyel period. Nearly 9000 features, including postholes associated with 122 houses, pits and pit complexes, and approximately 2300 burials, could be assigned to it. The traces of Lengyel settlement and burials were found over the entire excavated area, with an estimated extent of the already mentioned 80 ha.

The 122 surface-level, robust timber-framed houses at a single site is unprecedented for the area and the period. Many more could be detected with the help of geophysical prospections. These buildings help provide a better understanding of the architecture and lifestyle of the Lengyel population.

The numbers of burials and the special arrangements for the deceased over the late Neolithic are what makes the Alsónyék site exceptionally significant. Compared to other significant late Neolithic site of the Lengyel culture with some dozen or a hundred burials known, the ca. 2350 burials uncovered is unique in the European early farming records. The burials mostly form grave groups, constituting small nuclear cemeteries within the various parts of the settlement. Ninety-two distinct burial groups were found, ranging over the whole site. The smallest of these contain 25–30 burials, and the largest ca. 100. Apart from the grave groups, several solitary or scattered graves were also found; some of these were inserted into pits, others were on the location of former houses and some were even arranged in small clusters, but the enormous number of graves at Alsónyék and the abundant grave goods provide an unprecedented opportunity for osteological, palaeopathological and demographic investigations, and for archaeological analysis of mortuary practices and social differentiation, as well as of the long-distance networks and exchange activity reflected in grave goods.

Proceeding the new information: a wide range of archaeological and hard scientific investigations

This work has required the ongoing cooperation of an extended research group. Eszter Bánffy leads this team, and is responsible for the analysis of the Starčevo occupation with Tibor Marton and Anett Osztás, whilst Krisztián Oross and Tibor Marton are working on the LBK and Sopot periods. Anett Osztás is writing up the Lengyel house architecture and settlement structure for her PhD thesis. Krisztina Somogyi (ÁSATÁRS Cultural, Archaeological Servicing and Commercial Ltd.), who was one of the excavators of the site, is carrying out the processing of pottery connected to certain house groups of the Lengyel settlement in her PhD thesis. István Zalai-Gaál (who passed away sadly this year) was involved in evaluating all the graves and most of the grave goods, including their typology, relative chronology and connections with neighbouring groups, not to mention their social archaeological dimensions. All this research has been underpinned by a grant from OTKA (K 81230), the Hungarian Scientific Fund, for the primary documentation and evaluation of the finds.

Bioarchaeological investigations are also underway. The osteology and the palaeopathology of the nearly 2500 human remains are the task of Kitti Köhler (Institute of Archaeology, Research Centre for the Humanities, Hungarian Academy of Sciences); 862 Lengyel graves were the subject of her PhD dissertation. These unique anthropological assemblages have become cornerstones in several international collaborations. Run together with the Anthropology Department of Mainz University, a major aDNA and stable isotope sampling between 2009 and 2013 was supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (led by Kurt W. Alt and Eszter Bánffy). Anna Szécsenyi-Nagy (Institute of Archaeology, Research Centre for the Humanities, Hungarian Academy of Sciences) successfully investigated 68 mitochondrial DNA samples from all periods of Alsónyék except the LBK. In her PhD she has analysed a couple of hundred mtDNA samples from Transdanubian contexts (Szécsényi-Nagy 2015). The first results regarding the genetic origin of Europe’s first farmers have already published (Szécsényi-Nagy et al. 2015). The investigation goes on, with new generation (autosomal) aDNA, with the participation of David Reich (Harvard Medical School) and Johannes Krause, Wolfgang Haak (Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena). Parallel to this, Alex Mörseburg (Institute of Anthropology, Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz) is evaluating the stable isotope results from both human and animal samples.

The new research will answer some of the questions on dietary habits and their changes, about mobility, migrations and also, about pathological issues including epidemics. This is a continuation of some surprising results of earlier osteological and microbiological analyses. Discovery of the presence of tuberculosis at Alsónyék within the Lengyel population presents one of the oldest cases so far of this disease in Europe. Kitti Köhler has clearly identified tuberculosis for the first time, within grave group 13, on the basis of physical anthropological alterations. The palaeopathological analysis of this grave group has been supplemented with the help of Erika Molnár and György Pálfi (Department of Biological Anthropology, University of Szeged). All the individuals of this grave group were subsequently subjected to palaeomicrobiological analysis (Institute for Mummies and the Iceman, EURAC Research, Bolzano) with the help of Annamária Pósa (Institute of Archaeology, Research Centre for the Humanities, Hungarian Academy of Sciences). Balázs G. Mende (Institute of Archaeology, Research Centre for the Humanities, Hungarian Academy of Sciences) is dealing with the general impact of the disease for the Lengyel community.

One of the biogeochemical projects has just begun. A major DFG-funded project at Heidelberg University, which is concentrating on early Neolithic milk consumption and dietary change in south-east Europe, is analysing the Starčevo pottery and stone tools from Alsónyék (Food cultures: interdisciplinary studies of early farming food technology and palaeodiet in southeastern Europe: led by Maria Ivanova-Bieg). Associated with this, Angela Kreuz (Archäologische und Paläontologische Denkmalpflege, Landesamt für Denkmalpflege Hessen) is studying the Starčevo botanical remains. Éva Ágnes Nyerges (Institute of Archaeology, Research Centre for the Humanities, Hungarian Academy of Sciences) is studying the extensive zooarchaeological remains from Alsónyék for her PhD, focusing especially on changes in agriculture through the Neolithic period. Kata Szilágyi (Móra Ferenc Museum, Szeged) is studying the rich Late Neolithic chipped stone material in her PhD dissertation, from both the technological and the raw material point of view. Pál Sümegi and his colleagues (Department of Geology and Palaeontology, University of Szeged) are responsible for palaeoenvironmental reconstruction including analysis of mollusca as well as the investigation of the shell ornaments (Spondylus and Dentalium). A major cooperation with the Times of Their Lives ERC project helped to create the fine absolute chronological sequence, interpreted in a formal Bayesian statistical framework, the two PIs are Alasdair Whittle (Univesrity of Cardiff) and Alex Bayliss (Historic England), concentrate on the radiocarbon chronology of Alsónyék. There is cooperation with the Römisch-Germanische Kommission of the German Archaeological Institute (Frankfurt am Main) under the leadership of Eszter Bánffy, which in addition to other Neolithic sites in the Sárköz area is concentrating on the geomagnetic survey of the unexplored areas of Alsónyék, in order to make estimates of the size and the spatial organisation of the Neolithic settlements.

And last but not least, the newly established Research Station of the Römisch-Germanische Kommission in Budapest enables Eszter Bánffy to both supply the proceedings with financial support and also, to tutor the PhD students, to fasten together and lead all the large-scale and diversified research that has grown out of the Alsónyék site and around of the Sárköz Neolithic. Ongoing further research – our results to date

Several studies discussing the site and its finds have already been published, ranging from preliminary reports (Bánffy et al. 2010; Gallina et al. 2010; Gelencsér 2010; Majerik et al. 2010) to articles devoted to particular aspects (Zalai-Gaál 2008; 2013; Zalai-Gaál / Osztás 2009a; 2009b; Zalai-Gaál et al. 2009; 2010; 2011a; 2011b; 2012a; 2012b; 2014a; 2014b; Osztás et al. 2012; Köhler 2012; 2013; Köhler et al. 2013; 2014; Nyerges 2013; Somogyi / Gallina 2013; Serlegi et al. 2013; Szécsényi-nagy et al. 2015; Rassmann et al. 2015; Pósa et al. 2015). A thematic volume was devoted to the precise chronology of the site was published in 2016, with the participation of Alasdair Whittle, Alex Bayliss and the whole British-Hungarian team (Bericht der Römisch-Germansichen Komission 94, 2016: 1-361). The latest article, published in Nature, about the parallel investigation of the spread of farming and the interaction between local hunter-gatherers and newcomers was largely based on the aDNA analysis of the Alsónyék skeletons and on the earlier bioarchaeological project by Kurt Alt, Eszter Bánffy and Anna Szécsényi-Nagy: Lipson et al 2017). The ongoing investigations of the Alsónyék site and its finds will last for a few more years.