Annamaria Priskin

ANNA PRISKIN, then a graduate student at Universidad Autonoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain, was awarded funding in April 2017 to aid research on “Late Bronze Age Subsistence Economy in South-East Hungary: A Macrolithic Approaches,” supervised by Dr. Roberto Risch. In the Hungarian Late Bronze Age (1350-1100 BCE) in the southeastern part of the Carpathian Basin, researchers can reconstruct a hierarchical settlement system of fortified settlements and the attached open settlements. Based on settlement archaeological research it is possible to determine the size and structure of these settlements; the excavated finds also provide information on the character of the prehistoric subsistence economy. More information on LBA food production can be collected through the multifaceted analysis of macrolithic implements, primarily grinding stones. With the help of this grant the grantee identified a LBA house through non-destructive methods; the study was able excavate a large portion of the house, and collected artefactual evidence for LBA occupation, zoological remains, and soil samples for botanical, geochemical and micromorphological analyses. The typological spectrum of the finds is limited, as expected for such a small excavation, but seem to represent everyday activities such as grinding for food preparation, pottery manufacture, bone, timber and leather working. Raw materials are also limited in contrast to large central settlements. This may indicate limited access to distant sources and a control by the elite of the exchange of exotic materials.