Tisza culture

The Tisza culture emerged on the Alföld plain around 5400 BCE and endured until about 4500/4400  BCE. Its hallmark settlement type was the tell, a permanent mound formed by centuries of occupation; at Hódmezővásárhely–Gorzsa alone, tells measuring some 3–3.5 ha rose up to 3 m above the floodplain, housing early Tisza (Tisza I) through Late Tisza phases (Tisza IV). A suite of conventional and Accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon dates places Gorzsa's Late Neolithic sequence between 4846 and 4495 cal BC, confirming sustained habitation and complex social organisation that contrasts with shorter‑lived flat settlements elsewhere.

Tisza material culture is defined by a rich lithic repertoire combining a dominant chipped assemblage—short end scrapers on flakes and simple blades for harvesting (sickle inserts) and woodworking—with a wide variety of polished and ground implements such as axes, adzes, chisels, millstones and burnishers. Chipped tools were predominantly struck from Transdanubian radiolarites (Bakony, Mecsek), Central Banat radiolarian chert and Tevel flint, while later Classical and Late Tisza layers introduce imported obsidian (Tokaj–Prešov source) and Volhynian/Prut flint. Polished axes and adzes further attest to long‑distance procurement of hornfels (South Carpathians), greenschists (Bohemian Massif), amphibolites, dolerites and metasandstones, many of which were transported as cobble or rough‑outs via major river corridors. The Maros, Tisza and Temes/Timiș rivers clearly functioned as north–south and east–west axes for raw‑material exchange and cultural contact across the Carpathian Basin, embedding the Tisza culture in a broad network of Neolithic interaction.

Lipson and colleagues (2017) analyzed the remains of five individuals ascribed to the Tisza culture. The three males were G-P15, I-P37 and I-P215.{{sfn|Lipson|2017}} mtDNA extracted were various subclades of U, H, T, and K.{{sfn|Lipson|2017}}

File:Ceramic figure of seated man with mask and sickle - Koszta József Museum 59.1.1.jpg

File:Ceramic figure of seated woman - Koszta József Museum 67.17.1.jpg

File:Ceramic altar with ram heads - Hungarian National Museum 41.1935.1.jpg|Ceramic altar, 5300-5200 BC.{{cite web |date=2022 |title=Ritual and Memory: Neolithic Era and Copper Age |url=https://isaw.nyu.edu/exhibitions/ritual-and-memory/objects/altar-szeged |website=Institute for the Study of the Ancient World}}

File:Ceramic facepot with traces of red paint - Koszta József Museum 66.1.1.jpg

File:Pehar potiske kulture, Borđoš.jpg|Tisza pottery

File:Big size copy of a neolithic find in the M3 Archeopark open-air museum.jpg|Modern sculpture depicting the Szegvár-Tűzkövesi idol

File:Neolithic house in the M3 Archeopark.jpg|Tisza house reconstruction at Polgár-Csőszhalom, Hungary.{{cite journal|url=https://www.academia.edu/6762944|title=Experimental reconstruction of a neolithic house at the Polgár-Csőszhalom settlement|journal=Leaflet Prepared and Printed for the Occasion of the International Workshop "Chronologies, Lithics and Metals" Held at the Archaeological Institute of the Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary Between 30.03 - 01.04. 2012. |date=2012 |last1=Sebők |first1=Katalin }}{{cite journal|url=https://www.academia.edu/6099305|title=Újkőkori ház kísérleti rekonstrukciója Polgár-Csőszhalom telepuléséről|journal=Ősrégészeti Levelek/Prehistoric Newsletter 7 (2005), 24–49 |date=2007 |last1=Anders |first1=Alexandra |last2=Sebők |first2=Katalin }}

File:Neolithic house, inside-6.jpg|House interior, reconstruction

File:Neolithic house, inside-7.jpg|House interior, reconstruction

File:Neolithic house, inside-3.jpg|House interior, reconstruction

File:Neolithic house, inside-2.jpg|House interior, reconstruction

File:Neolithic house, inside.jpg|House interior, reconstruction

• The Szegvár-tűzkövesi idol
• Prehistoric Europe
• Old Europe (archaeology)

{{Reflist|refs=

{{cite book |last1=Starnini |first1=Elisabetta |last2=György |first2=Szakmány |last3=Sándor |first3=Józsa |last4=Zsolt |first4=Kasztovszky |last5=Veronika |first5=Szilágyi |last6=Boglárka |first6=Maróti |last7=Barbara |first7=Voytek |last8=Ferenc |first8=Horváth |year=2015 |chapter=Lithics from the tell site Hódmezővásárhely-Gorzsa (southeast Hungary): typology, technology, use and raw material strategies during the Late Neolithic (Tisza culture) |title=Neolithic and Copper Age between the Carpathians and the Aegean Sea |editor-last=Hansen |editor-first=Svend |publisher=Habelt Verlag |pages=105–128 |isbn=978-3-7749-3972-1}}

}}

• {{Cite encyclopedia |title=Tisza culture |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Ukraine |volume=5 |date=1993 |url=http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/pages/T/I/Tiszaculture.htm |accessdate=24 September 2010}}
• {{cite journal |last1=Lipson |first1=Mark |date=November 16, 2017 |title=Parallel palaeogenomic transects reveal complex genetic history of early European farmers |journal=Nature |publisher=Nature Research |volume=551 |issue= 7680|pages=368–372 |doi=10.1038/nature24476 |pmc=5973800 |pmid=29144465 |bibcode=2017Natur.551..368L }}
• {{cite journal |last1=Narasimhan |first1=Vagheesh M. |date=September 6, 2019 |title=The formation of human populations in South and Central Asia |journal=Science |publisher=American Association for the Advancement of Science |volume=365 |issue=6457 |pages= eaat7487|biorxiv=10.1101/292581 |doi=10.1126/science.aat7487 |pmc= 6822619|pmid= 31488661}}

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• [https://isaw.nyu.edu/exhibitions/ritual-and-memory/objects/face-pot-biatorbagy-tyukberek 'Face Pot', 5200–5000 BCE, Institute for the Study of the Ancient World]
• [https://isaw.nyu.edu/exhibitions/ritual-and-memory/objects/face-pot-szegvar-tuzkoves 'Face Pot', 5000–4500 BCE, Institute for the Study of the Ancient World]
• [https://isaw.nyu.edu/exhibitions/ritual-and-memory/objects/male-figurine 'Male figurine', 5000–4500 BCE, Institute for the Study of the Ancient World]
• [https://isaw.nyu.edu/exhibitions/ritual-and-memory/objects/female-figurine 'Female figurine', 5000–4500 BCE, Institute for the Study of the Ancient World]
• [https://www.fieldmuseum.org/science/projects/koros-regional-archaeological-project/szeghalom-kovacshalom-virtual-tour-neolithic The large Tisza culture settlement of Szeghalom-Kovacshalom, Hungary, 4800 BC: A virtual tour]

{{Neolithic Europe|state=expanded}}

{{Prehistoric technology}}

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Category:Archaeological cultures of Europe

Category:Neolithic cultures of Europe

Category:Archaeological cultures in Hungary

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Category:Archaeological cultures in Ukraine

Category:6th-millennium BC establishments