PALAEOLITHIC (OLD STONE AGE)

(50,000-10,000 BC)

Man first appeared around Budapest in the middle of the Old Stone Age (100,000-40,000 BC). This region, like other parts of Europe, was inhabited by the Neanderthal man (Homo sapiens neandertalensis). The Neanderthal represents a specific branch in human evolution. The height of the Neanderthal is estimated to be about 155-165 cm, his body was more robust than human body is today, the volume of the skull may have been between 1000 and 1635 cm3 (which is bigger than a modern man’s skull!), and the face was strong and rough with a firm overhang on the forehead.

The Neanderthal man acquired his food mostly by hunting. The remnants of animal bones at the excavated settlements show that different communities were specialised in hunting different types of animals. For example the c. 50,000-year-old hunting settlement excavated near Érd shows traces of cave bear hunting. Specialised hunting required the knowledge of a particular animal’s habits and advanced hunting skills, which was on the one hand an indication of closer co-operation between people, and on the other hand of a high level of conceptual thinking. The numerous types of chipped stone tools also indicate an advanced level of conceptual thinking. One of the first quarries in Europe is found right in the region of Budapest: in Farkasrét, in the wall of a depression above Denevér street, round flint bulbs were mined around 40,000 years ago.

Another indication of the high level of conceptual thinking is that the Neanderthal man cared for his dead: they carefully buried the deceased, and placed fragments of paint, tools and food next to them. Therefore they believed in the afterlife, since they prepared their dead for the “journey”. At the same time rituals imply the appearance of an ancient cult, as well as the belief in spirits (animism).

Besides the above-mentioned findings in Érd and in Farkasrét, there are also findings of similar age around Budapest in Remete-Felső-Barlang. But the findings in the Subalyuk cave in the Bükk mountains, or probably the hunting settlement excavated in Tata and the findings of the Jankovich cave in the Gerecse mountains, and probably the paint-quarry found in Lovas can also be dated from this era.

As long as 36,000-38,000 years ago, at the beginning of the Upper Palaeolithic (40,000-10,000 BC), new groups of people, the Homo sapiens sapiens (modern man) populated Europe. Supposedly the modern and the Neanderthal man had lived next to each other for a while before the Neanderthal disappeared. According to earlier opinions the two subspecies mixed together, however this is not supported by genetic research. It is more likely that since the two subspecies were rivals in obtaining food, the more successful one overcame the less successful one.

The secret of the Homo sapiens sapiens’s success could have been conceptual thinking and a high level of co-operation within groups. All these can be connected to the formation of advanced verbal communication. The highly developed use of language not only made co-operation easier, but since it contributed to a higher level of conceptual thinking, it also allowed the production of better quality and greater variety of tools. Stone tools became finer, and polished tools made of bone appeared. There was a change also in food gathering: on the one hand selective hunting was replaced by mixed hunting, mostly composed of small mammals and birds, and on the other hand vegetable diet became more and more important besides meat.

The cave-drawings in Spain and France, or for example the Venus of Willendorf (a female figure made of stone) point to the high intellectual culture of the Homo sapiens sapiens, but we can also mention the flute made of bone found in a cave in Istállóskő.

Artefacts from this period around Budapest were discovered on Csillaghegy, in Hegyalja street, and the lately on Corvin tér.

Literature

Gábori Miklós: A régibb kőkor Magyarországon. In: Magyarország története I/1. Főszerkesztő: Székely György. Budapest 1984. 69-115.

Gáboriné Csánk Vera: Az ősember Magyarországon. Budapest 1980.

Leakey, Richard: Az ember származása. Budapest 1995.

Vékony Gábor: Az emberiség őstörténete. Budapest 1993.

Vértes László: Az őskor és az átmeneti kőkor emlékei Magyarországon. Budapest 1965.

CAVE BEAR SKULL (Érd)

FLAKED STONE TOOLS (Érd)

RAW MATERIAL OF FLAKED STONE TOOLS (Farkasrét)

UPPER PALEOLITHIC FLAKED STONE TOOLS (Budapest - Csillaghegy)