Some Balaton-Lasinja graves from Veszprém-Jutasi út and an outline chronology for the earlier Copper Age in western Hungary

– A handful of new radiocarbon dates from three Balaton-Lasinja culture graves at the site of Veszprém-Jutasi út in western Hungary form the starting point for formal models for late Lengyel and post-Lengyel chronology in that region. The graves date to the later fifth millennium cal BC. They provide the opportunity to put the earlier Copper Age Balaton-Lasinja culture of Transdanubia into its regional and wider context, and to highlight both gradually improving understanding of its character and remaining problems of chronology and classification. The Balaton-Lasinja culture was part of a whole series of regional shifts in settlement and society connected to the end of the Neolithic and the demise of major settlement aggregations which had dominated lifestyles in previous centuries. This study indicates how much further detailed research continues to be needed to get fully to grips with this set of important changes, which run on into the Copper Age. Contrasts are drawn between western and eastern Hungary, and the uncertainties surrounding the chronology of the fourth millennium cal BC, including for the Furchenstich pottery style, are emphasised.

In contrast, research on the same times in Transdanubia in western Hungary has historically lagged behind. One obvious gap here was between the Late Neolithic Lengyel culture and the Late Copper Age Baden culture. From the 1970s onwards (Raczky 1974), the late phase of the long-enduring Lengyel culture, Lengyel III, was seen to persist in the period that was traditionally called the Early Copper Age in the central Carpathian basin, contemporary with Tiszapolgár in the previously accepted cultural scheme for eastern Hungary (Raczky, Siklósi 2013;Siklósi, Szilágyi 2021).
Just as there was historically uneven knowledge of Lengyel settlement in Transdanubia -whilst large settlements and cemeteries were found and excavated in east Transdanubia, including the eponymous site (Wosinsky 1889;1891) and a recent site with more than 2000 burials at Alsónyék (Osztás et al. 2016), data from the western Lengyel complex is characterised by smaller, dispersed settlements, with almost entirely 'Sonderbestattungen' or unusual graves -very little was known about late Lengyel settlement before 1974 (Raczky 1974) and more robust settlement data followed only in the 1990s (Bánffy 1995), with subsequent insights into changes in subsistence strategy in favour of stockbreeding (Bánffy 1994;Barna et al. 2019). According to current knowledge, the Lengyel III horizon can be divided into two typo-chronological phases, IIIa and IIIb. The latter was taken to represent the gradual adoption of more elements common in the subsequent Balaton-Lasinja culture (Kalicz 1991;Bánffy 1994). As part of a larger cultural formation already described in Croatia, Slovenia and eastern Austria, the Balaton-Lasinja culture was initially supposed to be the result of a massive migration into southern Transdanubia (Kalicz 1969), based on the work of Josip Koro∏ec (1958) who summarised its

Introduction: aims and contexts
This paper presents a handful of new radiocarbon dates from three Balaton-Lasinja culture graves at the site of Veszprém-Jutasi út in western Hungary, as well as a series of formal models for late Lengyel and post-Lengyel chronology of that region based on the small number of existing dates. The graves date to the later fifth millennium cal BC. They provide the opportunity to put the middle Copper Age Balaton-Lasinja culture of Transdanubia into its regional and wider context, and to highlight both gradually improving understanding of its character and remaining problems of chronology and classification. The Balaton-Lasinja culture was part of a whole series of regional shifts in settlement and society connected to the end and aftermath of the Neolithic and to the demise of major settlement aggregations, including tells, which had dominated lifestyles in previous centuries. This study indicates how much further detailed research continues to be needed to get fully to grips with this set of important changes, which run on into the Copper Age. The immediate focus here is on western Hungary, but there are implications for other neighbouring regions as well.

From the Late Neolithic to the Copper Age in western Hungary and beyond
There has long been an imbalance in studies of the Neolithic and the Copper Age in Hungary between its eastern and western parts (Kalicz 1991;Bánffy 1994). This applies not least to the end of the Neolithic, broadly in the middle of the fifth millennium cal BC. This period is represented by a series of changes in eastern Hungary that are archaeologically well documented, like the abandonment of tell settlements and the appearance of new pottery styles. A significant shift in subsistence strategy has also been noted, with more reliance on stockbreeding and pastoralism in emerging Early Copper Age communities (Bánffy 1995). The Copper Age of eastern Hungary was already well-investigated by the mid-late 1950s (Kutzián 1955;Banner, Bognár-Kutzián 1961), and even underpinned by some reliable stratigraphic observations (Kalicz 1958). Its presumed cultural and chronological sequence (from principal characteristics in the late 1950s, and on 25 sites of the Lasinja culture published by Stojan Dimi-trijevi≤ (1961), who considered them to be part of the suite of post-Vin≠a phenomena.

The Balaton-Lasinja culture
One of the earliest identifications of the Balaton-Lasinja culture resulted from systematic work on the archaeological topography of Hungary in the early 1960s. Volumes 1 and 2 were published on results from the Balaton Uplands in County Veszprém, where surface collections were complemented by small excavations (Bakay et al. 1966;Éri et al. 1969). The similarity of some assemblages to recently published Slovenian and Croatian material led to the definition of the Balaton group in 1969 by Nándor Kalicz, who stressed the dominance of southern traditions in its early phase of its development, while also emphasising central European ties both in the ceramic assemblages and in the metallurgy of its later phase (Kalicz 1969). Soon after, ceramics were already being classified as Balaton- Lasinja I, II and III types (Kalicz 1973). They became Balaton-Lasinja I and Balaton-Lasinja II-III cultures by the early 1980s in a further comprehensive survey, in which Kalicz discussed the dynamics, the cultural connections and the metallurgy of the period (Kalicz 1982). The label of 'Furchenstich' was also proposed for the more recent pottery assemblages in this proposed typo-chronological sequence. Related cultural groups are also known with many different names in adjacent regions (such as Retz-Gajary in Croatia, Baj≠-Retz in Slovakia and Mondsee in Austria).
Kalicz went on to distinguish Balaton-Lasinja III as the Protoboleráz horizon, with some sites in eastern Hungary as well (Kalicz 1991;2001). In this system, Lengyel III was set to be contemporaneous with Tiszapolgár, and Balaton-Lasinja with Bodrogkeresztúr, in eastern Hungary, and with Ludanice in the north-central part of the Carpathian basin; Furchenstich was seen as parallel to the Hunyadihalom group (Bodrogkeresztúr B). Protoboleráz already marked the emergence of Late Copper Age cultural groupings, such as Boleráz and Baden.
Although meticulous studies of typo-chronology were the principal focus for decades, architecture, settlement structure, burials, subsistence strategy and metallurgy also received attention. Two major types of houses of the Lengyel III and Balaton-Lasinja periods can be distinguished. Bipartite houses, with a larger northern and a smaller southern room, proved to be very characteristic for the period. No tra- ces of internal division and just a single row of postholes in the position of the ridge purlin were observed in other buildings, which were extremely variable in shape and size. Some further constructions are more like Neolithic Lengyel houses with a single cross-row of heavy posts in their interior. Bedding trenches usually mark the walls of the houses. The exceptional visibility of the house plans, comparable only with those of LBK buildings, is due to these features. Different house types were dated to both the late Lengyel and Balaton-Lasinja periods, and no strict architectural sequence could be distinguished (Virág 2003;2005;Virág, Figler 2007;Oross et al. 2010).
Balaton-Lasinja settlement layouts are clearly looser than those of the densely built-up extended Neolithic sites of the LBK and the Lengyel periods. Small clusters of houses and a limited number of buildings have been discovered at sites such as at Zalavár-Basasziget and Balatonszárszó-Kis-erdei-dűlő (Virág 2003;Oross et al. 2010). Archaeozoological and especially archaeobotanical evidence has remained extremely scarce. In sharp contrast to the extended extramural cemeteries of the earlier phases of the Copper Age in eastern Hungary, only single burials and small grave groups have so far been discovered on contemporaneous Transdanubian sites.
Metallurgy in western Hungary does not present the abundance of large copper axes and the series of other different artefacts known from eastern Hungary that reveal close ties with the Balkans. Attributed to a central European tradition, hooked copper spirals, so-called glass-shaped spirals, and different kinds of copper wire belong to repertoires recovered in the western Carpathian basin. However, the so-called Csáford-Stollhof type gold discs form a very spectacular and characteristic group of objects that have their close counterparts in the adjacent central European regions, sometimes also made from copper, and rarely from silver (Korek 1960;Bóna 1963Bóna /1964Makkay 1976; Kalicz 1982. 10-16).

The Balaton-Lasinja graves at Veszprém-Jutasi út
During the excavation of the Neolithic and Copper Age site of Veszprém-Jutasi út in 2003, some Balaton-Lasinja graves in the southern and eastern parts of the excavated area were recorded. Settlement features related to the graves could not be observed on the site, although Balaton-Lasinja pottery occurred in the Lengyel pits, into which Copper Age graves were cut. Balaton-Lasinja pottery was found in a welldefined small area around the graves, and the situation can be interpreted as relating to burial ritual. The scattering of broken vessels into graves is a phenomenon known in other Balaton-Lasinja graves.
Veszprém-Jutasi út (earlier called Felszabadulás út) is a well-known site of the Lengyel culture, entering the literature as the first known settlement of the late Lengyel period (Raczky 1974). The western edge of the site was investigated during the excavation in 2003, and mainly the early stage in the settlement's life (Regenye 2004;2007;Regenye, Biró 2014;2019). Based on previous research, we know that the Lengyel site includes an extended Lengyel III settlement in the eastern direction as well; the centre of the site shifted eastward over time. The Balaton-Lasinja graves were located in a group on the westernmost edge of this large Lengyel III settlement.
The graves excavated in 2003 are mostly dated to the Lengyel culture. Eight burials can be listed here. These graves are located in a group. Four more graves (9, 13, 14, and 15), about 90m away from this group, were interpreted as burials of the Balaton-Lasinja culture (Regenye 2006). One of these, grave 15, an unfurnished burial, was subsequently shown by radiocarbon dating to be of Lengyel date (SUERC-54643; Regenye et al. 2020.Tab. 2).
So only three graves of the Balaton-Lasinja culture are securely recorded. Grave 9 is that of a child (of Infans II age) lying on its right side in a contracted position, the skeleton oriented east-west. Grave 13 is that of an adult man, lying on his right side in a contracted position, his skeleton oriented southwest-northeast. Grave 14 is that of an adult woman (of Maturus-Senilis age, Köhler 2006), her upper body lying in supine position, the legs bending to the left, and skeleton oriented south-southeastnorth-northwest.
The grave pit could be observed only in the case of grave 9, which was roughly round, 1.2m in diameter. The other two graves were buried into a Lengyel III pit; the form of the graves could not be determined.
All three burials are inhumations, but their orientation varies. Grave 9 has an eastwest layout; the orientation of graves 13 and the 14 varies slightly from south-north. Two of the skeletons (9, 13) lie on their right side and the third turns to the left. The location of the two graves in a pit roughly parallel to each other may suggest a linked burial. Grave 14 was covered with irregular large limestone blocks which extended partly to grave 13. There was a possibility of post-depositional manipulation or disturbance in the case of grave 14, the left arm being separated between the two skeletons and covered by the stones.
Two of the three graves had grave goods. Ceramics, ornaments and several stone implements are included in the child's grave, but only one of the adult graves had a single vessel. Both the composition of the grave goods and their placement in the grave follow Lengyel traditions in the case of the child's grave. One vessel was placed behind the head, two in front of it. At the neck were pieces of shell ornaments, in the form of rectangular flat beads (two intact, with three fragments, with two drilled holes at the top) made from river shells, and an unworked shell. The stone tools were placed around the head: a core in front of the neck, a core-flake behind the head, and a polished basalt axe preform above the head.
Three out of four vessels were in grave 9 (that of the child) and the fourth in one of the two adults, in grave 13. In that grave fill there were two more pots, incomplete pieces of a pedestalled vessel and a jug. These are not included in the grave furniture. Together with the fragments of different pots found in the grave fill beneath the stone deposit and under the legs of grave 14, they may have been placed in the grave as part of the funerary rite.
Both the graves had a pedestalled bowl with a bellshaped base; in grave 9 there were also a biconical bowl and a small cup. The vessels are typical forms of the Transdanubian Copper Age (Kalicz 1995b. 75-76;2003.14); both the biconical bowl and the bell-shaped pedestal are basic forms, just like the pedestalled bowl in grave 13 (cf. Kalicz 1995a.Fig. 3, 12). The biconical bowl with a short upper part is a frequent type deriving from the Lengyel culture, but the decoration of the upper part, typical of the Balaton-Lasinja culture, is missing here. The bowl on a pedestal ornamented with four drop-shape knobs fits well into the repertoire of both the Balaton-Lasinja (Horváth, Simon 2003.Figs. 21.9,24.3) and the Ludanice culture (Virág 1995.Abb. 2, 10). The little biconical cup is not characteristic of the Balaton-Lasinja culture, lacking decoration or handle.
The four pots found in the two graves show strong Lengyel traditions. The vessel forms are typical of the Balaton-Lasinja culture, but the characteristic channelled decoration is missing. Based on these characteristic features, these ceramics can be related to the material of the north Transdanubian sites.

Radiocarbon dating
New radiocarbon measurements were obtained on three human skeletons from the Balaton-Lasinja graves at Veszprém-Jutasi út as part of the Times of Their Lives project (see Acknowledgements, and Table 1).
These measurements are conventional radiocarbon ages (Stuiver, Polach 1977). At CEZA they have been corrected for fractionation using δ 13 C values measured by AMS. These values can include an element of fractionation introduced during the preparation and measurement of the samples in addition to the natural isotopic composition of the sample, and so they are not suitable for dietary analysis. For this reason, where sufficient material was available, subsamples of the dated gelatin prepared at MAMS-were analysed for δ 13 C and δ 15 N using IRMS at the Isotrace Facility, University of Otago Chemistry Department, using methods outlined by Beavan Athfield et al. (2008.3). At SUERC, δ 13 C and δ 15 N samples were prepared and analysed from sub-samples of the dated gelatin as described by Kerry Louise Sayle et al. (2014), and these δ 13 C values were used for age calculation.
Groups of replicate radiocarbon measurements are available on two skeletons, both of which are statistically inconsistent at the 5% significance level (Ward, Wilson 1978) (Tab. 1). Those for Ve-9 are statistically consistent at the 1% significance level and have been combined before inclusion in the chronological models, but those from Ve-13 are significantly divergent. This degree of replication arises from attempts to resolve some differences between replicate measurements reported in August 2014 by Mannheim (MAMS-21328-41) and East Kilbride (SUERC-54631-4, SUERC-54638-44 and SUERC-54648-9) and is discussed further by Judit Regenye et al. (2020.24). Although the δ 13 C AMS value for MAMS-14829 is unusually depleted, the remaining three measurements are still significantly divergent (T'= 22.0, T'(1%)=11.3, ν=2) and so, in the absence of contextual information suggesting which results may be in error, we have again incorporated a weighted mean of the results in our modelling.
Details of existing radiocarbon measurements from settlement features associated with ceramics of the Balaton-Lasinja phase are listed in Table 2, those of the preceding Lengyel III ceramic phase in Table 3, and those of the succeeding, related, Furchenstich phase in Table 4.

Radiocarbon calibration and reservoir corrections
Radiocarbon ages from fully terrestrial samples have been calibrated using IntCal20 (Reimer et al. 2020).
The measurement on mussel shell from Balatonőszöd-Temetői-dűlő (KI-16690) probably has a freshwater reservoir effect derived from the nearby Lake Balaton. Unfortunately, no data are currently available for the freshwater reservoir in the lake, and so we use a value of 540±70 BP as calculated for Schela Cladovei on the Danube at the Iron Gates (Cook et al. 2001).
Human bone can also exhibit a reservoir age, if people ate foods that did not derive entirely from the terrestrial biosphere. Accurate calibration in this case requires the proportions of different diet-sources in each individual to be estimated. This allows a mixedsource calibration curve to be constructed for each person, which incorporates the aquatic reservoir in the appropriate proportion for that individual. For this reason, source-proportional dietary modelling was undertaken for the dated human skeletons in this study. Existing pairs of radiocarbon measurements on human and animal bone from Neolithic and Copper Age graves in this region, however, are statistically consistent, suggesting that consumption of non-terrestrial foods by the population was probably negligible (Bayliss et al. 2016.Tab. 1;Jakucs et al. 2016.Tab. 1;Raczky, Siklósi 2013. Tab. 1). This does not mean, however, that particular individuals might not have consumed a larger component of freshwater resources.

Proportional dietary analysis for the Balaton-Lasinja skeletons from Veszprém-Jutasi út
The δ 13 C and δ 15 N isotopic values for burials Ve-13 and Ve-14 are from replicate measurements, and the weighted means (Ward, Wilson 1978) (Tab. 1) have been used in the analysis. As no stable isotopic values have been measured from Ve-9, the proportional diet estimates have been derived from the mean FRUITS (Food Reconstruction Using Isotopic Transferred Signals; Fernandes et al. 2014) estimates for Veszprém burials for which there are stable isotope values (Regenye et al. 2020.Tab. 4a).
The individual mixed-source calibration curve for each of the Veszprém burials incorporates the aquatic reservoir in the proportion suggested by the dietary estimates provided by the Bayesian mixing mo-

Tab. 1. Radiocarbon and stable isotopic measurements for Balaton-Lasinja graves from Veszprém-Jutasi út.
del FRUITS vβ2.0. FRUITS produces estimates of the mean percentage (and standard deviation) for each of the possible food sources making up the diet for each consumer.
To estimate the relationship between an individual's isotopic profile and the food sources that were likely available, we first create a FRUITS model starting with the 'baseline' isotopic values for foods from the isotopic averages of each likely food source. The FRUITS proportional dietary estimates were modelled on two diet proxies (δ 13 C and δ 15 N) for the average isotopic data and its associated mean error for each of three general food sourcescereals, terrestrial herbivores and omnivores (cattle, sheep, and pigs), and freshwater fish. The cereals baseline used carbon and nitrogen values for archaeobotanical samples of wheat (n=12) and barley (n=6) from Nives Ogrinc and Mihael Budja (2005), and emmer wheat (n=1) and barley (n=3) from Amy Bogaard et al.  Kalicz (1995.41), following information from a letter by Hans Quitta, with neither standard deviations, details of the material dated nor contextual information. Kalicz (1982.10) writes that radiocarbon dates for the Balaton-Lasinja culture are between 3040-2980 uncal bc ±80 y. Footnote 38 makes clear that this is based on the dates reported from Nagykanizsa-Sánc in Quitta's letter. We infer from this information that the quoted error on these measurements may have been ±80 BP.

Tab. 2. Radiocarbon and stable isotopic measurements associated with Balaton-Lasinja settlement features.
group of samples provided a final freshwater fish baseline value of δ 13 C of -21.4±0.2‰ and δ 15 N of +8.7±0.2‰.
The FRUITS proportional diet model also uses the metabolic enrichment of stable isotope values that occur in the course of building consumer tissue. This is known as an 'isotopic offset' between diet and consumer. We used an isotopic offset in the

Tab. 4. Radiocarbon and stable isotopic measurements associated with Furchenstich features and ceramics.
to the higher δ 15 N contribution of terrestrial meat in the diet.
The results of the FRUITS analysis for the individuals from Veszprém-Jutasi út indicates the population all had diets that were made up almost entirely of cereals and terrestrial protein, and that freshwater fish are a negligible contribution to the diet (Tab. 5).

Chronological modelling
The Bayesian chronological modelling has been undertaken using the program OxCal v4.4 (Bronk Ramsey 2009). The algorithms used are defined exactly by the brackets and OxCal keywords on the left-hand side of Figures 6 and 8 (http://c14.arch.ox.ac.uk/). The posterior density estimates output by the models are shown in black, with the unconstrained calibrated radiocarbon dates shown in outline. The other distributions correspond to aspects of the model. For example, the distribution "start Veszprém Lengyel" (Fig. 6) is the posterior density estimate for the start of Lengyel burial at Veszprém. In the text and tables, the Highest Posterior Density intervals of the posterior density estimates are given in italics.

Furnished inhumation burials from Veszprém-Jutasi út
The first model examines the dating of furnished inhumation burials at Veszprém (Fig. 6). Five furnished Lengyel graves have been dated (Regenye et al. 2020.Tab. 2), four of which have been included in the correspondence analysis of Lengyel funerary ceramics (Regenye et al. 2020. Fig. 2). Ve-5 is allocated to phase 2 of that seriation, and ve-2, ve-3, and ve-7 to phase 3. One further, dated but unfurnished, grave appears to belong to this period of activity (Regenye et al. 2020. Fig 5).

The earlier Copper Age in western Hungary
The second model explores the context of the Veszprém cemeteries within the ceramic sequence of the earlier Copper Age in western Hungary .
First, we consider the relationship between the end of Lengyel furnished burial (which is largely restricted to the eastern part of this region) and the start of Lengyel III ceramics, which do not appear in graves and are restricted to settlement contexts. Regenye et al. (2020.Figs. 11-12) present a model for a threephase seriation of Lengyel graves, which we have recalculated using IntCal20 (Reimer et al. 2020). This suggests that Lengyel furnished burial started to decline in 4770-4560 cal BC (95% probability; start end Lengyel 3) (Fig. 11), probably 4750-4635 cal BC (56% probability) or 4610-4580 cal BC (12% probability), and finally ended by 4605-4460 cal BC (95% probability; end end Lengyel 3) (Fig. 11), probably 4575-4505 cal BC (68% probability).  Table 1).

Fig. 7. Probability distributions of the durations of the cemeteries at Veszprém and the interval between them, derived from the models defined in
in 3670-3545 cal BC (68% probability). It ended in 3545-3125 cal BC (95% probability; end Furchenstich) (Fig. 8), probably in 3485-3320 cal BC (68% probability). Overall Furchenstich pottery was used over a period of 1-265 years (95% probability; duration Furchenstich) (Fig. 9), probably for 60-210 years (68% probability). Given the small number of radiocarbon dates currently available associated with the Furchenstich style, this ending may fall within the earlier part of this date range and is then compatible with the suggestion that this ceramic style was replaced by Boleráz pottery c. 3500 cal BC (Furholt 2008). Figure 11 illustrates the outline chronology for the earlier Copper Age ceramics in western Hungary. These traditions span more than a thousand years, which brings into sharp relief the small number of radiocarbon dates on which this chronology is based. Nonetheless, it is striking that the Balaton-Lasinja tradition appears to have endured for much longer than the other ceramic styles.

Discussion
Great changes occurred across big swathes of Europe in the mid-fifth millennium cal BC. In the Carpathian basin, the previous system of tells and large agglomerated flat settlements came to an end. In the Vin≠a orbit, this process had probably begun around 4700 cal BC, as seen for example in the sequence of the Uivar tell in western Romania (Drasovean et al. 2017;Drasovean, Schier 2020;Bayliss et al. 2020). The great tell of Vin≠a-Belo Brdo itself was probably the latest tell in its area to be abandoned, around 4500 cal BC (Tasi≤ et al. 2016;Whittle et al. 2016). In the Lengyel sphere of Transdanubia and beyond, the major settlement aggregations with substantial houses and large grave groups had also largely ended by the middle of the fifth millennium cal BC Regenye et al. 2020).
The largest known Lengyel aggregation, at Alsónyék-Bátaszék, had reached its peak size around 4700 cal BC, declining steadily from then until probably the 45 th century cal BC (Osztás et al. 2016;. In the broad, so-called Danubian distribution of the LBK and post-LBK, longhouses and longhouse settlements also largely came to an end in the midfifth millennium cal BC. One regional study, in Lower Alsace in the upper Rhine valley, suggests that the last longhouses there belonged to the Rössen phase, dating probably to the 46 th -45 th centuries cal BC (Denaire et al. 2017). In another region, that of the Polish lowlands, the last longhouses were in use till the turn of the millennium (Czerniak et al. 2017). These worlds have traditionally been studied by separate research communities, and as a result, while there are plenty of hypotheses about the causes of such changes, there has been little discussion about the convergent timings.
In the aftermath of these changes, a different lifestyle came into existence. This can be broadly characterised by a more dispersed settlement system, the existence of generally smaller settlements (in modern terminology hamlets rather than villages), often smaller groups of graves or cemeteries, less obvious social differentiation, and finally an often less ostentatious material culture (Parkinson 2006;Yerkes et al. 2009;Siklósi, Szilágyi 2021.585). There was, however, considerable variability across east-central, central and western Europe, perhaps hardly surprising given the size of the area. In some regions, houses remained a visible and frequently detected feature of settlements, while in others a more elusive pattern of pits and other remains is met with, for example across many parts of the TRB distribution. On the Great Hungarian Plain, cemeteries became a notable feature, seemingly supplanting the graves previous intermingled in tells and flat settlements; the grave ground of Tiszapolgár-Basatanya remains the largest (Siklósi, Szilágyi 2021), perhaps serving as some kind of regional centre (Chapman 2020).
There are signs of differentiation within the grave goods at that cemetery (Chapman 2020;Sofaer Derevenski 2000), and further north there has been a long debate about the character of megalithic and related constructions. While a shift to plainer, or less exuberantly decorated, pottery characterises many regional sequences, the increasing appearance of copper and gold should be noted (Siklósi, Szilágyi 2021.585), and the production and distribution of jadeitite continued in the second half of the fifth millennium cal BC in western Europe (Pétrequin et al. 2012).
From this deliberately broad perspective, the results presented here for Veszprém-Jutasi út and the post-Lengyel sequence in western Hungary contribute in the first place to the better establishment of more robust local and regional detail, mirroring the progress towards the same end being made on the Great Hungarian Plain (Yerkes et al. 2009;Siklósi, Szilágyi 2021). It is, however, important to stress the varied quality of the dating samples currently available. The date estimates from Veszprém-Jutasi út and for the regional west Hungarian post-Lengyel sequence (Figs. 6-11) may suggest gradual change from the peak of earlier Lengyel activity (again, as seen at Alsónyék-Bátaszék), and then apparent considerable longevity for the Balaton-Lasinja phenomenon; the estimate for its duration, lasting several centuries (Fig. 9), is particularly striking. Although clearly incomplete and in need of much further research, the settlement record suggests much smaller settlement units than in the Lengyel heyday in Transdanubia, especially in its southeastern part. Interestingly, individual houses may not have been substantially smaller than in Lengyel times, and are archaeologically recognisable and visible. It is hard to quantify settlement density, but Balaton-Lasinja sites have been recurrent finds in both surveys and rescue excavations and appear to have existed in significant numbers. Finally, the contents of Balaton-Lasinja graves do not obviously suggest major social differentiation, though the presence of gold is again to be noted.
By way of contrast, the situation on the Great Hungarian Plain was different. According to recent analyses (Raczky, Siklósi 2013;Siklósi, Szilágyi 2021), the Tiszapolgár and Bodrogkeresztúr ceramic traditions probably overlapped in time, rather than being successive as previously thought; there may also be regional variation within the Plain (Siklósi, Szilágyi 2021.622). Associated material, such as heavy copper items and gold ornaments in Bodrogkeresztúr contexts (Siklósi, Szilágyi 2021.585), should therefore have been unevenly available or accessible across the communities of the Plain. The cemeteries themselves, though the majority are clearly much smaller than that of Tiszapolgár-Basatanya, are more prominent than those in the Balaton-Lasinja orbit, and might speak for local social differentiation, in the form say of established places for the dead of prominent social status. Date estimates currently available suggest that some of the smaller cemeteries at least were much shorter-lived than the long span originally attributed to Tiszapolgár-Basatanya (Siklósi, Szilágyi 2021.586). In these ways potentially less stable than the Balaton-Lasinja phenomenon, the emergent situation on the Plain may have also been shorter-lived than the Balaton-Lasinja sphere, with the Tiszapolgár-Bodrogkeresztúr phenomenon ending by the turn of the millennium (Siklósi, Szilágyi 2021.619). A possible contrast of this kind, however, will depend on the chronology of Transdanubia being confirmed and refined in the future.
The existing absolute chronological evidence reinforces earlier assumptions about the use of the Furchenstich pottery style as a phenomenon succeeding the Balaton-Lasinja era in western Hungary. That is, moreover, at a surprisingly late period, virtually in the second third of the fourth millennium cal BC. This conclusion must be tentative, however, until further radiocarbon dates are obtained on shortlived samples associated with Furchenstich pottery from a larger number of sites. Another significant implication is the apparent partial contemporaneity of Furchenstich with the Boleráz-Baden complex, over several centuries. The emergence of the Boleráz-Baden complex has been placed c. 3650 cal BC and the expansion of the Boleráz style c. 3500 cal BC in the comprehensive study of Martin Furholt (2008). It must be emphasised here, however, that literally no scientific research targeting problems associated with communities using Furchenstich and related pottery styles has been carried out in Transdanubia in the past two decades. The only exception is probably the long-lasting settlement at Balatonőszöd-Temetői-dűlő where an abundance of features and finds represented the Baden complex, while the earlier Copper Age occupation was only a limited part of the prehistoric assemblage (Horváth et al. 2014a). As a consequence, reliable radiocarbon dates associated with this kind of occupation are scarce. Therefore, only a very tentative picture can be presented of the development and the dynamics of early and mid-fourth millennium cal BC communities in the region. By contrast, large cemeteries of the Boleráz-Baden complex such as from Budakalász-Luppacsárda (Bondár, Raczky 2009) and Pilismarót-Basaharc (Bondár 2015) and extended sites like the afore-mentioned Balatonőszöd-Temetői-dűlő (Horváth et al. 2014b) have been published, including statistically modelled series of radiocarbon dates.
Further research needs therefore to continue to pick away at these local and regional differences within the post-Lengyel and post-Vin≠a worlds. In the future, we need to expand our focus to neighbouring regions as well. A lot of new data have been obtained during rescue and other excavations in Croatia and Slovenia in the last decade. These have contributed greatly to the refinement of the Neolithic-Copper Age sequence in this region (e.g., Balen, Drni≤ 2014;∞ataj 2014;2016;2020;Kramberger 2014;2020;McClure et al. 2020).
Finally, it is worth considering whether the emerging conditions of the later fifth millennium cal BC, seen here through the particular lens of Veszprém-Jutasi út, contribute to a better understanding of the circumstances in which the previous system of major settlement aggregation came to an end. That process has of course been much debated (among a host of others, see for example, Tringham, Krsti≤ 1990;Chapman 2000;2020;Tripkovi≤ 2010;Por-≠i≤ 2011;Crnobrnja 2011;Müller et al. 2013;Bo-ri≤ 2015;Whittle et al. 2016), and many factors have been suggested. This is not the place to re-air all the issues, but it is an opportunity to reflect briefly on how what came after may enable further insight into some of the processes perhaps at work; a small-scale situation like Veszprém-Jutasi út may be valuable in this quest. Clearly, it is unlikely that the system of major aggregations just petered out, though it is the case that a gradual decline in numbers at Alsónyék-Bátaszék has been carefully documented (Osztás et al. 2016;. It is much more likely that there was something unstable, with high social costs, making the maintenance of prominent places and large aggregations unsustainable in the long run. A favourite idea has been the rise of the individual household at odds with the wider community (for example, Tringham, Krsti≤ 1990;Bori≤ 2015), though the overt evidence for difference is generally hard to find, not helped by the lack of cemeteries in the Vin≠a culture or by the apparent paucity of signs of violence on the more than 2000 skeletons from Lengyel Alsónyék-Bátaszék (Osztás et al. 2016;; successive burnings at the top of Vin≠a-Belo Brdo (Tasi≤ et al. 2015), or through the sequence at Uivar (Drasovean, Schier 2020), however, should be remembered. Perhaps situations like Veszprém-Jutasi út in Transdanubia help to support the idea of the importance of the single (if not necessarily autonomous) household, showing more individual social units in smaller and potentially simpler social settings. The apparent durability of the Balaton-Lasinja phenomenon may also indicate the success of this resolution of putative former social tensions. The situation on the Great Hungarian Plain, however, as described briefly above, may suggest that competition and local or regional rivalries had not entirely disappeared.
Dating of the graves at Veszprém-Jutasi út was carried out within the project The Times of Their Lives, funded by an Advanced Investigator Grant from the European Research Council (2012-2017; 295412), and led by Alasdair Whittle and Alex Bayliss.