BEAUTY AND THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER

Personal adornments across the millennia

Edited by
Monica Mărgărit and Adina Boroneanț
 Cover: Dan Iulian Mărgărit
Photo cover: Bone piece with a ringlike morphology from the necropolis of Sultana-Valea Orbului
(Romania) and Spondylus beads from the necropolis of Urziceni-Vamă (Romania) (photos: Monica
Mărgărit)

Descrierea CIP a Bibliotecii Naţionale a României

Beauty and the eye of the beholder : personal adornments
across the millennia / edited by Monica Mărgărit and
Adina Boroneanţ. - Târgovişte : Cetatea de scaun, 2020
Conţine bibliografie
ISBN 978-606-537-461-4
I. Mărgărit, Monica (ed.)
II. Boroneanţ, Adina (ed.)
903

This book was edited with the financial suport of the grant offered by the Romanian National
Authority for Scientific Research and Innovation, CNCS - UEFISCDI, project number PN-III-P1-1.1-
TE-2016-0182, within PNCDI III.

Editura Cetatea de Scaun, Targoviște, 2020

ISBN 978-606-537-461-4
editura@cetateadescaun.ro, www.cetateadescaun.ro
Printed in Romania
 CONTENTS
FOREWORD / 7

THE WIDER PICTURE – ADORNMENTS IN REGIONAL STUDIES / 9

Daniella E. Bar-Yosef Mayer - Shell beads of the Middle and Upper Palaeolithic: A review of the
earliest records / 11
Emanuela Cristiani, Andrea Zupancich, Barbara Cvitkušić - Combining microscopic analysis
and GIS to analyse experimental perforations on Columbella rustica shells / 27
Fotis Ifantidis - Self-adorned in Neolithic Greece: A biographical synopsis / 41
Emma L. Baysal - Envisaging the Neolithic and Chalcolithic as a connected world: tracing
ornament movement in Anatolia / 55
Sanda Băcueț Crișan, Ancuța Bobînă - Beauty or social power? / 71
Selena Vitezović, Dragana Antonović - Jewellery from osseous and lithic raw materials in the
Vinča culture / 87
Andreea Vornicu-Țerna, Stanislav Țerna - Signs of a new era: the anthropomorphic
pendants and figurines made of osseous materials and the Chalcolitization of the North-Western
Pontic region / 101
Roberto Micheli - Items to display or to offer? Personal ornaments in Copper Age Northern
Italy / 121
Ekaterina Kashina, Aija Macāne - Wild boar tusk adornments and tools from the Neolithic
hunter-gatherer sites in the Volga-Oka interfluve (Central Russia) / 151
Petar Zidarov - White fangs of the south: canid tooth pendants in Thrace, Macedonia and Western
Anatolia during the Early Bronze Age / 163

ADORNMENTS IN SETTLEMENT ARCHAEOLOGY / 183

Esteban Álvarez Fernández - Personal ornaments in Cantabrian Spain around 17.5 cal BP:
Cualventi Rock-shelter (Alfoz de Lloredo, Cantabria) / 185
Sera Yelözer, Rozalia Christidou - The foot of the hare, the tooth of the deer and the shell of the
mollusc: Neolithic osseous ornaments from Aşıklı Höyük (Central Anatolia, Turkey) / 197
Catherine Perlès, Patrick Pion - The Cerastoderma bead production at Franchthi (Greece): a case
of apprenticeship? / 223
Adina Boroneanț, Pavel Mirea - Clay labrets of the Early Neolithic. A study case from Măgura
Buduiasca (Romania) / 247
Ioan Alexandru Bărbat, Monica Mărgărit, Marius Gheorghe Barbu - First farmers
adornments from the Early Neolithic settlement at Tărtăria-Pietroșița (Alba County, Romania) / 269
Christoforos Arampatzis - “Oh dear, how do I look?” Deer antler pendants from the Neolithic
lakeside settlement Anarghiri IXb, Western Macedonia, Greece / 289
 Beauty and the eye of the beholder: personal adornments across the millennia

Monica Mărgărit, Mihai Gligor, Valentin Radu, Alina Bințințan - About fragmentation,
recycling and imitation in prehistory: adornments made of marine valves in the settlement of Alba Iulia-
Lumea Nouă (Romania) / 299
Gheorghe Lazarovici, Cornelia-Magda Lazarovici - A workshop specialized in gold jewellery
from the Copper Age / 323
Vasile Diaconu - A necklace for a lady. A Cucuteni anthropomorphic representation recently
discovered in Neamț County (Romania) / 343

ADORNMENTS OF THE AFTERLIFE / 351

Lars Larsson - Beads and pendants in a long-term perspective. Tooth beads and amber in the
burials at Zvejnieki, Northern Latvia, through the millennia / 353
Nataliia Mykhailova - Personal ornaments of the children in the Mariupol type cemeteries
(Ukraine) / 371
Zsuzsanna Tóth - Mixing and matching social value: personal adornments made from hard animal
materials in the Late Neolithic burials of Kisköre-Gát (Hungary) / 383
Monica Mărgărit, Cristian Virag, Alexandra Georgiana Diaconu - Were personal adornments
just for women? The case of the Eneolithic necropolis from Urziceni-Vamă (Satu Mare County,
Romania) / 399
Vlad-Ștefan Cărăbiși, Anca-Diana Popescu, Marta Petruneac, Marin Focşăneanu, Daniela
Cristea-Stan, Florin Constantin - Early Iron Age fibulae from Balta Verde, Romania: typology,
combination and manufacture / 413
Dragoş Măndescu - Beauty of the beast. Animal skeletal parts as personal adornments in the Early
Iron Age necropolis at Valea Stânii (Argeş County, Romania) / 431
Lavinia Grumeza - The more colourful, the better! Polychrome glass beads of the 2nd-4th century
cemeteries in Banat (Romania) / 437

4
 LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS
Esteban Álvarez Fernández, Gir PREHUSAL, Salamanca, Spain, epanik@usal.es
Dragana Antonović, Institute of Archaeology, Belgrade, Serbia, d.antonovic.960@gmail.com
Christoforos Arampatzis, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece,
christ.arabatzis@gmail.com
Daniella E. Bar-Yosef Mayer, The Steinhardt Museum of Natural History and Institute of
Archaeology, Tel Aviv University, Israel/Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard
University, USA, baryosef@tauex.tau.ac.il
Marius Gheorghe Barbu, Museum of Dacian and Roman Civilisation, Deva, Romania,
barbumarius0216@yahoo.com
Emma L. Baysal, Ankara University, Ankara, Turkey, emmabaysal@gmail.com
Sanda Băcueț Crișan, County Museum of History and Art, Zalău, Romania,
sandabacuet2001@yahoo.ro
Ioan Alexandru Bărbat, Museum of Dacian and Roman Civilisation, Deva, Romania,
ioan_alexandru_barbat@yahoo.com
Alina Binţinţan, Independent Researcher, Romania, alina.bintintan@yahoo.com
Ancuța Bobînă, Independent Researcher, Romania, bobinaancuta@gmail.com
Adina Boroneanț, “Vasile Pârvan” Institute of Archaeology, Romanian Academy, Bucharest,
Romania, boro30@gmail.com
Vlad-Ștefan Cărăbiși, “Vasile Pârvan” Institute of Archaeology, Romanian Academy, Bucharest,
Romania, vlad.st.carabisi@gmail.com
Rozalia Christidou, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, UMR 5133, Lyon, France,
rozalia.christidou2@gmail.com
Florin Constantin, “Horia Hulubei” National Institute for R&D in Physics and Nuclear
Engineering (IFIN-HH), Bucharest, Romania, fconst@ifin.nipne.ro
Daniela Cristea-Stan, “Horia Hulubei” National Institute for R&D in Physics and Nuclear
Engineering (IFIN-HH), Bucharest, Romania, daniela@nipne.ro
Emanuela Cristiani, University of Rome, Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Science, Rome,
Italy, emanuela.cristiani@uniroma1.it
Barbara Cvitkušić, Institute for Anthropological Research, Centre for Applied Bioanthropology,
Zagreb, Croatia, bcvitkusic@inantro.hr
Alexandra Georgiana Diaconu, Valahia University of Târgoviște, Târgoviște, Romania,
alexandradiaconu4@gmail.com
Vasile Diaconu, Neamț County Museum Complex/Târgu-Neamț Museum of History and
Ethnography, Târgu-Neamț, Romania, diavas_n82@yahoo.com
Marin Focşăneanu, “Horia Hulubei” National Institute for R&D in Physics and Nuclear
Engineering (IFIN-HH), Bucharest, Romania, focsaneanumarin@gmail.com
Mihai Gligor, “1 Decembrie 1918” University of Alba Iulia, Alba Iulia, Romania,
mihai.gligor@uab.ro
 Beauty and the eye of the beholder: personal adornments across the millennia

Lavinia Grumeza, Institute of Archaeology, Romanian Academy – Iași Branch, Iași, Romania,
lavinia_grumeza@yahoo.com
Fotis Ifantidis, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece, fotisif@hotmail.com
Ekaterina Kashina, State Historical Museum, Moscow, Russia, eakashina@mail.ru
Lars Larsson, Lund University, Lund, Sweden, Lars.Larsson@ark.lu.se
Cornelia-Magda Lazarovici, Institute of Archaeology, Romanian Academy – Iași Branch, Iași,
Romania, magdamantu@yahoo.com
Gheorghe Lazarovici, “Lucian Blaga” University of Sibiu, Sibiu, Romania,
ghlazarovici@yahoo.com
Aija Macāne, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden, aija.macane@gu.se
Dragoş Măndescu, Argeş County Museum, Piteşti, Romania, dragos_mandescu@yahoo.com
Monica Mărgărit, Valahia University of Târgoviște, Târgoviște/“Vasile Pârvan” Institute of
Archaeology, Romanian Academy, Bucharest, Romania, monicamargarit@yahoo.com
Roberto Micheli, MiBACT ‒ Soprintendenza Archeologia, Belle Arti e Paesaggio del Friuli Venezia
Giulia, Trieste, Italy, roberto.micheli@beniculturali.it
Pavel Mirea, Teleorman County Museum, Alexandria, Romania, pavelcmirea@yahoo.com
Nataliia Mykhailova, Institute of Archaeology of National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Kiev,
Ukraine, medzie.nataliiamykhailova@gmail.com
Catherine Perlès, Maison de l’archéologie et de l’ethnologie, Université de Paris Nanterre, Paris,
France, catherine.perles@cnrs.fr
Marta Petruneac, “Horia Hulubei” National Institute for R&D in Physics and Nuclear Engineering
(IFIN-HH), Bucharest, Romania, marta.petruneac@gmail.com
Patrick Pion, Maison de l’archéologie et de l’ethnologie, Université de Paris Nanterre, Paris, France,
patrick.pion@parisnanterre.fr
Anca-Diana Popescu, “Vasile Pârvan” Institute of Archaeology, Romanian Academy, Bucharest,
Romania, ancadiana_popescu@yahoo.com
Valentin Radu, National Museum of Romanian History, Bucharest, Romania,
raduvalentin@hotmail.com
Zsuzsanna Tóth, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary, zsuzsanna.toth11@gmail.com
Stanislav Țerna, “High Anthropological School” University, Chișinău, Republic of Moldova,
ternastas@mail.ru
Cristian Virag, Satu Mare County Museum, Satu Mare, Romania, ccvirag@gmail.com
Selena Vitezović, Institute of Archaeology, Belgrade, Serbia, selenavitezovic@gmail.com/
s.vitezovic@ai.ac.rs
Andreea Vornicu-Țerna, Botoșani County Museum, Botoșani, Romania,
andreea.vornicu.tf@gmail.com
Sera Yelözer, Istanbul University, Istanbul, Turkey, serayelozer@gmail.com
Petar Zidarov, New Bulgarian University, Sofia, Bulgaria/Tübingen University, Tübingen,
Germany, petar.zidarov@gmail.com
Andrea Zupancich, University of Rome, Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Science, Rome,
Italy, andrea.zupancich@uniroma1.it

6
 FOREWORD
The message of personal adornments is not an easy one to decipher. Nevertheless, they provide
an insight to the many aspects (social, spiritual, economic, etc.) of human behaviour, personal
expression, relationships and communication. Understanding the complicated social and technical
aspects of adornments generally require a broad spectrum of technical and methodological
approaches as well as a good knowledge of the state of research and numerous local case-studies.
Beyond the aesthetic impact, at times secondary in traditional societies, personal adornments
represents a language in itself, a complex communication system, conveying clear messages on ethnic,
gender and age class affiliation. They are associated to certain rituals (e.g. passage or marital),
they can be amulets or talismans and they can act as currency or as symbols of the ritualistic trade
(e.g. Sciama 1998; Trubitt 2003; Vanhaeren 2005, etc.).
Moreover, their manufacture can be related to complex territorial and economic organization
helping to identify in certain cases crafts and specialized workshops, circulation paths of raw
materials and the existing systems for inter-community exchange (e.g. Newell et al. 1990; Vanhaeren
and d'Erico 2006; Rigaud et al. 2015). Further information can be extracted from their presence in
funerary contexts, revealing whether they were exclusively created for the afterlife or had been part of
the every-day life of the respective individual/community.
There is already an impressive literature dedicated to personal adornments, which analyses the
most diverse aspects: from their possible social-cultural functions to the means of obtaining the raw
materials, the techniques used for their transformation, the ways they were used/repaired and their
discard (e.g. Bar-Yosef Meyer et al. (eds.) 2017; Bar-Yosef Mayer and Bosch (eds.) 2019; Baysal 2019;
Ifantidis 2019; Mărgărit 2019; to exemplify only with the latest publications). Nevertheless, as this
volume also shows, the subject is a vast one and there is continuous need for further exploration.
***
The International Colloquium: “Beauty and the eye of the beholder: personal adornments across
the millennia” took place at Valahia University, Târgoviște, Romania, between 12 and 14 September
2019. Bearing in mind the complexity of the subject, the participants were invited to discuss a variety
of topics, expressing the views of various “beholders” both in the past and at the present moment:
their meaning/symbolism within the prehistoric/historical societies (e.g. cultural tradition, social
and spiritual organization and exchange systems), raw materials (identification of sources and
acquisition), various methodologies of study (technological and usewear analyses, microscopy,
SEM+EDS analysis, FTIR and RAMAN spectroscopy, etc.) and experimental approaches (creating
experimental reference collections), etc.
At the end of the colloquium, following the discussions with our colleagues, it was decided to
gather all presentations in a volume while also inviting other contributions dedicated to this topic,
in an attempt to capture a broader spatial and temporal image.
The result is the present volume comprising 26 studies organized in three major sections related
to regional studies on adornments, and their use and presence in everyday life and afterlife. Within
one section, papers were organized in chronological order. The papers in the volume cover
geographically the whole of Europe and Anatolia: from Spain to Russia and from Latvia to Turkey; it
spans chronologically many millennia, from the Middle Palaeolithic to the Iron Age (2nd – 4th
centuries AD).
The volume opens with ten regional studies offering not only comprehensive syntheses of various
chronological horizons (Palaeolithic - Daniella E. Bar-Yosef Mayer, Neolithic/Chalcolithic - Emma L.
Baysal; Fotis Ifantidis; Selena Vitezović and Dragana Antonović; Sanda Băcueț Crișan and Ancuța
Bobînă; Andreea Vornicu-Țerna and Stansislav Țerna; Roberto Micheli) but also new data on the
acquisition and working of various raw materials or specific types of adornments (Columbella rustica
 Beauty and the eye of the beholder: personal adornments across the millennia

shells - Emanuela Cristiani, Andrea Zupancich and Barbara Cvitkusić; wild boar tusk - Ekaterina
Kashina and Aija Macāne; canid tooth pendants - Petar Zidarov). The unbreakable link between
adornments of the everyday life and those of the afterlife it is also highlighted in some of the
contributions.
The following section - Adornments in settlement archaeology - includes nine studies, covering
the archaeological evidence from specific settlement sites. Many studies focused on the
adornments' iconographic designs, meaning, and exchange but also on raw materials, technologies
of production and systems of attachment. Chronology-wise, this section brings together the most
varied range of ornaments, raw materials and processing techniques from sites in Spain (Esteban
Álvarez-Fernández), Turkey (Sera Yelözer and Rozalia Christidou), Greece (Catherine Perlès and
Patrick Pion; Christoforos Arampatzis) and Romania (Adina Boroneanț and Pavel Mirea; Ioan
Alexandru Bărbat, Monica Mărgărit and Marius Gheorghe Barbu; Monica Mărgărit, Mihai Gligor,
Valentin Radu and Alina Bințințan; Gheorghe Lazarovici and Cornelia-Magda Lazarovici; Vasile
Diaconu).
The last section - Adornments of the afterlife - focuses on ornaments identified in various funerary
contexts allowing for a more detailed biography of ornaments through mostly use- and micro-wear
studies, in order to reconstruct their production sequence and use life. Raw material availability and
their properties, as well as contexts of deposition are also taken into account. In the seven studies of
the section, different funerary contexts from Latvia (Lars Larsson), Ukraine (Nataliia Mykhailova),
Hungary (Zsuzsanna Tóth) and Romania (Monica Mărgărit, Cristian Virag and Alexandra Georgiana
Diaconu; Vlad-Ștefan Cărăbiși, Anca-Diana Popescu, Marta Petruneac, Marin Focşăneanu, Daniela
Cristea-Stan and Florin Constantin; Dragoş Măndescu; Lavinia Grumeza) are discussed.
We would like to thank to all contributors who responded to our call and helped us complete this
volume in less than a year. Each paper was submitted to external reviews. Therefore, we would like
to also thank our colleagues who accepted to anonymously review the contributions, thus improved
the overall content of the volume.

The Editors
References
Bar-Yosef Mayer, D.E., Bonsall, C., Choyke, A.M. (eds.) 2017. Not Just for Show: The Archaeology of Beads, Beadwork
and Personal Ornaments. Oxbow, Oxford-Philadelphia.
Bar-Yosef Mayer, D.E., Bosch, M.D. (eds.) 2019. Early Personal Ornaments - Humans' Earliest Personal Ornaments.
PaleoAnthropology 2019.
Baysal, E. 2019. Personal ornaments in prehistory. Oxbow, Books Oxford.
Ifantidis, F. 2019. Πρακτικές Προσωπικής Κόσμησης στη Νεολιθική Ελλάδα / Practices of Personal Adornment in
Neolithic Greece. Archaeopress, Oxford.
Newell, R.R., Kielman, D., Constandse-Westermann, T.S., van der Sanden, W.A.B., van Gijn, A. 1990. An Inquiry
into the Ethnic Resolution of Mesolithic Regional Groupe. The Study of Their Decorative Ornaments in Time and Space.
Brill, Leiden.
Mărgărit, M. 2019. Personal adornments in the prehistory of the Northern Danube area: from aesthetic to socio-cultural
symbol. Cetatea de Scaun Publishing, Târgovişte.
Rigaud, S., d'Errico, F., Vanhaeren, M. 2015. Ornaments Reveal Resistance of North European Cultures to the
Spread of Farming. PLoS ONE 10(4), e0121166. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0121166.
Sciama, L. D. 1998. Gender in the Making, Trading and Uses of Beads. An Introductory Essay. In: Sciama, L.D.,
Eicher, J.B. (eds.), Beads and Bead Makers: Gender, Material Culture and Meaning. Berg, Oxford: 1-46.
Trubitt, M.B. 2003. The Production and Exchange of Marine Shell Prestige Goods. Journal of Archaeological
Research 11(3), 243-277.
Vanhaeren, M. 2005. Speaking with beads: the evolutionary significance of personal ornaments. In: d'Errico, Fr.,
Backwell, L. (eds.), From Tool to Symbols: From Early Hominids to Modern Humans. Witwatersrand University Press,
Johannesburg: 525-553.
Vanhaeren, M.; d'Erico, Fr. 2006. Aurignacian ethno-linguistic geography of Europe revealed by personal
ornaments. Journal of Archaeological Science 33(8), 1105-1128.

8
 MIXING AND MATCHING SOCIAL VALUE: PERSONAL
ADORNMENTS MADE FROM HARD ANIMAL MATERIALS
IN THE LATE NEOLITHIC BURIALS OF KISKÖRE-GÁT (HUNGARY)
Zsuzsanna Tóth
Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary, zsuzsanna.toth11@gmail.com

Abstract: Kisköre-Gát is a significant site of the Hungarian Late Neolithic Tisza culture. A settlement
and a cemetery with at least 37 graves were found before dam construction works. Excavations were
directed by J. Korek. Altogether, 32 graves were assigned to the Tisza culture and yielded a rich assemblage
of personal adornments made from hard animal materials placed with the deceased in 12 graves. Real and
imitation red deer canines, usually combined with limestone and shell beads, strung together to form
chains decorating the head, neck, breast or waist, were found in eight graves, while Spondylus bracelets
were placed in seven graves. Although the site has been known for decades and scientific publications on
the material is available as well, the finds made from hard animal materials were evaluated on a subjective,
typological basis alone and their manufacturing characteristics and raw material identification have never
been studied in a detailed manner by a specialist. The object biography and construction of these
necklaces based on a low magnification study will be presented in this article.
Keywords: Carpathian Basin, Late Neolithic, burials, worked hard animal materials, raw materials,
manufacturing chain.

The burials from Kisköre-Gát have been

Research history
The archaeological site itself is situated
south-east of the present day village of the
same name (Fig. 1). The first burials were
reported in 1962 by a local teacher, Sándor
Sipos, and were found during dam
construction works. Hereafter, excavations
took place between 1963 and 1966 conducted
by József Korek, prior to the construction
of the Tisza II dam. Parts of a Late Neolithic
settlement and burials were unearthed during
this work, but it became obvious that previous
dam construction works during the second
half of the 19th century had already destroyed
parts of the same settlement and graveyard
(Korek 1989: 23). J. Korek uncovered settlement
features and burials of the Late Neolithic Tisza
culture, as well as of the Middle Neolithic LBK,
and Gepidic graves. He evaluated the finds in
his dissertation in 1973 (Korek 1973), but the
monographic publication came to light (in
German) only in 1989 (Korek 1989).
recently studied by Zsuzsanna Siklósi (Siklósi
2013) and John Chapman (Chapman 2000a)
from a social archaeological point of view.
Description of the burials
Remains of 33 individuals were found in 32
graves. The graves formed smaller groups in-
between and around the settlement features,
connected to the houses (Siklósi 2013: 346,
Map 25). Graves 7 and 8 were dug into a large
pit and Grave 33 lay at the bottom of a large pit
as well. Moreover, the burials were not
disturbed by settlement features, suggesting
that the location of each grave was marked.
Neither was there any superposition of the
burial pits, also suggesting that during the
lifetime of the settlement the place of the
graves was known. Tisza culture inhumations
here and elsewhere were always oriented SE-
NW.
In two cases, the age and sex of the
deceased could not be determined, but the
 Beauty and the eye of the beholder: personal adornments across the millennia
distribution of males to females was balanced
(Siklósi 2013: Figs. 106-107) both in terms of
age (61.3% adult, 38.7% subadult: Siklósi 2013:
136) and sex (29% male, 32.3% female and
36.4% child: Siklósi 2013: 136, Fig. 106-107.).
The demographic profile of the burials
resembles other Late Neolithic cemeteries
(e.g. Aszód-Papi földek, Siklósi 2013: 138)
displaying a representative distribution of
children and a balanced sex-ratio.
The burials at Kisköre-Gát are all
inhumations: the Late Neolithic skeletons lay
supine in an extended position, most of them
oriented SE-NW. Altogether, 57.6% of the
graves contained grave goods, isolated items
Figure 1. Geographical setting of the site (black dot).
Methods
The bead finds were examined again, first
without any magnification and with a hand
lens of 20x magnification in the storage rooms
of the Hungarian National Museum (HNM).
The finds had not been studied or evaluated
384
and ornaments forming part of the costume.
Mostly mature females and males received
grave goods. The grave goods given to women
tended to be more variable and rich compared
to those of men (Siklósi 2013: 138-139).
Bone, antler, tooth, shell and clay are the
basic raw materials of these personal
adornments, they have different aesthetic and
symbolic meanings (Choyke 2010) as well, so
correct identification of the raw material is a
really important issue. Since traditionally
researchers tend to study in many cases the
significance of special, prestige raw materials,
attention was paid to them, which is much less
true for the hard animal materials.
by an archaeozoologist or specialist of worked
hard animal materials. I aimed to study the
finds again to check and, if necessary, correct
the raw material identifications and to
describe the manufacturing marks visible on
the finds and distinguish the usewear traces,
selecting pieces for further study.
 Beauty and the eye of the beholder: personal adornments across the millennia

Beads The most numerous find group among the

grave goods comprises beads made of various
"Beads are commonly defined as being small
raw materials (Fig. 2-4, 7, 10, 13). Stone beads
ornaments perforated through their centers
(limestone or marble) are mixed with shell
and small enough to be worn on the body. Beads
beads made of Spondylus (Spondylus
sewn on clothing, parts of composite body
gaederopus L. 1758) or Dentalium (Dentalium
decoration from anklets, to bracelets, to
L. 1758). Some ornaments, however, were
girdles, to necklaces and to headbands may be
composed of beads made from hard osseous
identical or mixed in their size, shape and raw
materials such as red deer (Cervus elaphus L.
material (Dubin 2009). Beads can be strung in
1758) canines or antler, or beads made from
a series on a thread, sewn individually onto
clay.
clothing, or traded as separate objects that can
All the beads correspond to the Class I
be counted. They can be dismantled from
objects of the manufacturing continuum
garments and body ornaments and shared
described by A. Choyke (Choyke 1997a).
between individuals or given from the living to
The raw material selection is very strict, no
the dead as part of burial ritual. Pendants are a
mixing of raw materials was tolerated. The
type of bead that is perforated at one or both
manufacturing chain may have been shorter
ends rather than symmetrically through the
as in the case of the real red deer canine beads
middle (Kenoyer 1991). They also can be part of
or more complex, as at the small beads made
a series of similar objects strung together on a
of shell, stone or pottery. The final product is
filament of sorts or one of a kind, meant to be
uniform in shape and size. Manufacturing
accentuated in a special way." (Choyke and
marks are only scarcely visible since these
Bar-Yosef 2017)
objects were worn and usewear covers the
surfaces.

Figure 2. Limestone and red deer

canine necklace from Grave 35
(Photo: J. Kardos).

385
 Beauty and the eye of the beholder: personal adornments across the millennia
Stone beads occur in 12 graves. There was a
single grave (Korek 1989: Pl. 30, 31:4, 41:6)
where altogether 44 marble beads were found.
The other 11 graves contained limestone
beads in different numbers. They occurred
irrespectively of the age or sex of the deceased
(Siklósi 2013: Fig. 117). These stone beads were
always mixed with Spondylus shell beads, the
limestone beads outnumbering the shell ones.
Form and shape, as well as dimensions of the
stone and shell beads, are so similar that the
limestone disc-shaped beads can be regarded
as imitations of the beads made from
Spondylus (Siklósi 2013: 140).
Spondylus beads were found in seven
graves. They belonged to the small and thin
disc-shaped bead variety. Only one larger,
cylindrical bead was found in Grave 36 (Korek
1989: Pl. 41) together with a Dentalium bead
possibly part of a largely Spondylus bracelet.
This grave contained the body of an older man
(46-50 years, Korek 1989: 44) and was rich in
grave goods. The same burial contained a
threefold divided shell bead, the only example
of this bead type from the site which lay right
next to the other Spondylus bracelet. The
small, disc-shaped shell beads were found
mixed with beads made from various raw
materials and combined with perforated red
deer canines. Shell beads were only found in
the northern part of the excavated area
(Siklósi 2013: 141).
Other typical personal adornments include
bracelets and pendants made mainly of
Spondylus and Glycymeris shell. Altogether,
8 Spondylus bracelets were found at Kisköre-
Gát placed in five graves; three graves yielded
two pieces each, and two graves, one piece
each (Siklósi 2013: 141, Fig. 119). The remaining
28 graves did not contain this find group. The
bracelets correspond to the typical Late
Neolithic type; they are thin with oval cross-
sections. Perforations connected to repairing
the bracelets can be observed in several cases
(Fig. 5). Deliberate fragmentation and placing
the fragments into different features were not
observed at the site (Chapman-Gaydarska
2007). These objects were found in two male,
386
two female and a child’s grave. The paired
bracelets came from a male burial (Grave 36)
and two female graves (Grave 1 and 21: Fig. 4),
while in a male (Fig. 7) and a child’s grave
(Grave 4, Fig. 3) one piece was laid. The
Spondylus bracelets, similarly to the Spondylus
beads, were found concentrated in the
northern part of the excavated area, (see
Siklósi 2013: Map 32) excluding grave Group A
and grave Group B on the south.
The best parallels were found at Aszód
(Kalicz 1985; Siklósi 2013, 207), Kenézlő-
Szérűskert (Kiss 1939: 7, Pl. 1), Polgár-
Csőszhalom (Choyke 2001; Raczky and Anders
2017), Bodrogzsadány-Akasztószer (Bánffy
2008), Hódmezővásárhely-Kökénydomb
(Horváth 1987) and Öcsöd-Kováshalom
(Kalicz and Raczky 1987).
Glycymeris pendants (Gylcymeris
glycymeris L. 1758) were found in two graves.
One was found in Grave 21, the richest grave
from the cemetery, belonging to a 23-37 years
old female (Fig. 4). The pendant formed part
of the necklace. Three other pieces were found
in Grave 18 alongisde a child of about 8 years
of age (Fig. 6). Two pieces lay by the neck and
the third was placed by the pelvic region
(Korek 1989: Pl. 25:18, Pl. 26:21). Interestingly,
although Grave 21 was the richest at the site in
terms of grave goods, Grave 18 contained no
other grave goods at all. These two graves lay
within different grave groups, so no spatial
observations can be made.
Other shell finds (Fig. 8) include a
Dentalium (Dentalium elephantinum L. 1758)
bead found in Grave 36 and 16 perforated cone
snails (Conus L. 1758) found in Grave 9. The
snails belong to at least two different species
indicated by their size and form of the shell.
One of them is the group of cone snails, and
the other possibly is terrestrial snail (Zebrina
detrita Müller 1774). The cone snails were
sawn off at one end (Fig. 9). The traces of
sawing are fresh, clearly visible on the cut
surface. The terrestrial snails were then
perforated near the aperture always at the
same spot. The manufacturing traces visible
on the perforation edges suggest that they
 Beauty and the eye of the beholder: personal adornments across the millennia
were artificial. Both Grave 9 and 36 contained
remains of 46-50 year-old males.
Grave 9 is outstanding in another way, too.
There were two lake mussel shells found
(Fig. 10) as grave goods, lying by the right
upper arm. Another lake mussel shell was
found between the legs of the individual lying
in Grave 6 (Korek 1989: 40) together with
animal bones. However, J. Korek suggested
that these bones were not grave offerings but
rather intrusive finds from the Late Neolithic
settlement. This is possible in the case of the
terrestrial snail and the Unio shells as well:
they might have originally not been placed
among the grave goods, but were later
intrusions from the settlement in connection
to the earthworks.
Two graves contained some fired clay
beads as well. Their form is cylindrical,
sometimes divided with notches mainly
placed around the middle. They occured in the
same way as the beads made from any of the
other raw materials and were mixed with
other bead types defined by shape and
material. They are not typical for the Tisza
culture material. However, J. Korek (1989: 56)
suggested they might have been imported
pieces at the Kisköre site. This type of pottery
bead appeared in two burials. Grave 1 (Korek
1989: Pl. 31:3) belonged to a 23-35 year-old
woman. The bead was placed by the pelvic
region and was strung together with limestone
beads. Additional grave goods from this burial
included two Spondylus bracelets. Grave 9
(Fig. 10) belonged to a 42-46 year-old man.
The clay, limestone and antler beads formed
part of the belt. If we treat these beads as
imitations, it is likely that the dividing notches
often visible on the beads played a certain role,
symbolizing the aspect of the original raw
material and making these clay beads appear
like small, disc-shaped shell beads stuck
together. It must be emphasised though, that
this is only a hypothesis. It is common to find
beads decorated with notches all over a wider
geographical region and throughout this time
period. According to the descriptions, there
was a third burial, Grave 6 (Korek 1989: 40),
387
where a necklace made of clay and limestone
beads combined with animal teeth were found
together with the deceased, a woman of 41-45
years. This find is not shown in the tables, nor
is it mentioned in the later evaluation by
J. Korek.
There is a single bead, made from red deer
(Cervus elaphus L. 1758) antler, mixed among
the clay beads of Grave 9 (Fig. 10). Its form is
cylindrical with rounded edges and a notch in
the middle. It resembles two small beads stuck
together. This single antler bead was
combined with the long, tubular clay beads
and the very short and thin disc-shaped
limestone beads. Some of the other beads in
the same belt display the same central,
decorative notching as the cylindrical antler
bead. Today, most component beads in this
necklace, except for the thin limestone beads,
have different shades of brown, without any
significant colour differences. It is, thus, no
surprise that the raw material of the antler
bead was previously incorrectly identified
since it closely resembles that of the other
beads. It is possible, indeed likely, that the
antler bead together with the limestone beads
were originally much lighter in colour than the
clay beads, thus creating a decorative effect.
Red deer canine beads
Perforated red deer (Cervus elaphus L. 1758)
residual canines played a significant role in the
personal adornments of the Late Neolithic in
Hungary. At Kisköre, such beads were found in
nine graves. Three graves were containing only
two red deer canine beads each, while in the
other graves these beads appeared in greater
numbers, with Grave 21 containing 29 (Korek
1989: 42, Figure 4), the maximum encountered
number. This type of bead never appeared
alone but was always combined with stone and
shell beads. In adult male graves, they appeared
in low numbers (according to the observations
made at Polgár-Csőszhalom, Raczky and
Anders 2017), and in other cases, higher
numbers were found in female or children’s
burials (Siklósi 2013: Fig. 120).
 Beauty and the eye of the beholder: personal adornments across the millennia

Figure 3. Offerings from Grave 4. Unusable and unmodified red deer canine beads. A peg-like red
deer canine bead imitation made of animal bone. Spondylus bracelet and limestone beads (Photo:
J. Kardos).

Figure 4. Offerings from Grave 21. The attractive limestone, shell and red deer canine belt, the
Glycymeris pendant from the headdress and the Spondylus bracelets (left and right images of the
last three artefacts are mirrored-images) (Photo: J. Kardos).

388
 Beauty and the eye of the beholder: personal adornments across the millennia

Figure 5. Traces of re-drillings at one Spondylus bracelet.

Figure 6. The Glycymeris pendants from Grave 18 (different views) (Photo: J. Kardos).

389
 Beauty and the eye of the beholder: personal adornments across the millennia
Red deer canine beads are Class I objects
based on Choyke’s (1997a) quality
classification. The raw material preference is
exclusive: the residual canines of red deer. The
manufacturing chain is simple but very
characteristic. The chaîne opératoire observed
at Kisköre corresponds to what has been
observed by me at other Late Neolithic
Hungarian sites. After the extraction of the
canine from the deer mandible or maxilla, the
root’s end was either sawn flat or left in its
natural state. The root was then thinned and
perforated from both sides with a flint tool. The
thinning and perforation left characteristic
striations, forming an ovoid depression
(thinning) and a biconical perforation. In some
cases, mainly at the re-drilled exemplars, the
inner striations of the drilling are still visible.
There are cases where beads that were no
longer usable because the hole was worn
through and could not be renewed, were also
placed as grave goods. This custom seems to
represent a special case of recycling as
discussed in detail below.
Red deer canines had special social and
maybe some economic value, underlined by
their appearance in hoard finds mainly from
present-day Romania - such as the 80
perforated canines from Cucuteni-Ariuşd
(László 1911; Sztáncsuj 2007), the 190 pieces
from Brad (Ursachi 1991), and the 22 pieces
from Hăbăşeşti (Dumitrescu 1957), and
Moldova - the 124 pieces from Karbuna
(Sergeev 1963). In Karbuna bone imitations
were found together with the real items
(Chapman 2000b: 117). Some pieces are known
as well from Selevac, Serbia (Russell 1990: Pl.
14.7a-b) found together with an imitation
made from antler.
The deer canine beads used as personal
adornments at Kisköre had special social value
and thus, were worn over many years. Many of
the beads display heavy wear at the perforation
as well as re-drilling (Fig. 12). Similar usewear
has been observed on deer canine beads at
other sites. The canines do appear irrespective
of the age and sex of the deceased, although
mainly in the graves of adult men and women,
390
as well as in some children graves. The number
of deer canine beads is always low in male
graves and highest in adult female graves. The
red deer canine beads are combined in strings
with beads made of other raw materials, such
as limestone and Spondylus, and often found
together with Spondylus bracelets.
Zs. Siklósi studied the occurrence of red
deer canines in graves during the Late Neolithic
period (Siklósi 2013: Fig. 182). The best parallels
to the adornments found at Kisköre were in
Grave 12 at Bodrogzsadány-Akasztó (Bánffy
2008) and Polgár-Csőszhalom (Choyke 1997b,
2001; Raczky and Anders 2018). At Polgár, both
the excavations by I. Bognár-Kutzián and the
later excavations of P. Raczky yielded such
finds. Red deer canines were found in two
burials from the 1957 excavation of Ida Bognár-
Kutzián. Grave 2 was that of a child and
contained, according to the publication,
bone beads (most probably an inaccurate
identification) together with 66 perforated red
deer teeth (Bánffy and Bognár-Kutzián 2007:
195, 197, Fig. 175, 216). A man was buried in
Grave 6 (Bánffy anf Bognár-Kutzián 2007: 203,
205, 217, Fig. 182). Red deer canine beads were
found there as well. The new excavations
between 1988 and 2000 yielded large numbers
of such combined beaded ornaments (Choyke
2001; Siklósi 2013: Fig. 194; Raczky and Anders
2017) with many deer teeth as well. Such
perforated deer canines were found in 13 graves.
Eight came from burials of women, three from
burials of men and two from child burials. Red
deer canines were found in largest numbers in
the graves of adult women and always in lower
numbers in men and children graves.
In Late Neolithic times, the use of
perforated red deer canines prospered,
indicating the increasing role, appreciation and
significance of hunting (Siklósi 2013: 223). The
use of perforated red deer canine beads in
composite necklaces and other ornaments
concentrates in the northern regions of
Hungary, where they are found in large
numbers at multiple sites, chiefly in burials.
In contrast, they may be found only
sporadically in the southern parts of the
 Beauty and the eye of the beholder: personal adornments across the millennia
Hungarian Plain (Siklósi 2013: 225). This
contradiction cannot be resolved by simply
looking at the archaeozoological data because
red deer bones appear in the faunal
assemblages of both regions so that the
population had access to the raw material. The
proportion of hunting does only slightly
expand in this period according to the
archaeozoological data (Raczky et al. 2014)
but never reaching the subsistence level. Red
deer takes probably rather on a symbolic
significance, and the finds can indicate rather
an increasing cultural and symbolic pressure.
Probably the complex position of this animal
and the social narrative connected to it are the
reasons women and children may have
received such ornaments (Choyke 2001).
The custom of placing personal adornments
made of red deer canines, limestone and
Spondylus beads already had deep, traditional
roots into the early ALPC, at least on the Polgár
Island, a loess-covered lag surface rising above
a former floodplain, covering some 60-70 km2
at the outskirts of Polgár, as demonstrated by
other investigations (Raczky and Anders 2018).
Unmodified canines and unusable
canine beads
There are burials where unmodified red
deer canines were given to the deceased as
grave goods. They were not perforated, so we
cannot call them personal adornments since
they were not worn as beads. Most probably the
red deer canines were valued as raw material,
symbolizing an important wild animal lending
them social and symbolic meaning. Thus, as
raw material for beads they were valuable
enough, in and of themselves, to form part of
the grave accessories. All the burials where
unmodified deer canines were found were
burials of children so the custom of placing
unmodified deer canines as grave goods may
have been linked to this age group, perhaps as
a symbol of the unfinished nature of a child's
social position?
Grave 28 (Fig. 13) (according to the
inventory book of the HNM, these finds belong
to Grave 24) the burial of a 9-10 years old child,
contained two possibly broken beads or
391
fragments of bead raw material. The root is
shorter than usual and there is no sign of
perforation or root thinning and the break had
been smoothed (Korek 1989: Pl. 35:6-7). Grave
4 (Korek 1989: Pl. 23, Fig. 3) was that of a 2.5-3
years old child. A Spondylus bracelet, an
armband composed of limestone beads and
several separate red deer canines were found in
the grave. Five of the canines were perforated
but were no longer usable as beads because the
hole was damaged and no new hole was drilled.
In some cases, the hole was worn on one side,
and in other cases, the tooth was broken
halfway through the perforation. These latter
pieces do not show traces of having been
repaired but were placed with the deceased in
this unusable state. There is a single red deer
canine where no perforation is visible at all. It
seems to be an intact and unmodified deer
canine, although the length of the root suggests
that part of it broke off, whether from
anthropic or natural causes. The final find in
this grave is a peg-like object, a piece of bone
shaped roughly into the shape of a red deer
canine. It may be considered an imitation
although not a very sophisticated one.
Red deer canine bead imitations
There were two burials where a unique
bead type was found: imitations of red deer
canines. One was made from Spondylus and
the other from animal bone.
The red deer canine bead imitation found
in Grave 9 (Figure 7 and 11) was strung in
between two real red deer canines together
with limestone beads. Other grave goods such
as bracelets comprising small disc-shaped
Spondylus and limestone beads, and a
Spondylus bracelet accompany this unique
find. An adult male was buried in the grave.
The raw material of the imitated red deer
canine bead was inaccurately identified by
J. Korek (1989: 41, Taf. 35: 3) as one of the red
deer canine beads from the necklace.
However, the inventory book in the
Hungarian National Museum describes the
find as a Spondylus pendant. Thus, the raw
material seems to have been correctly
identified, but not the relevance of the bead
 Beauty and the eye of the beholder: personal adornments across the millennia

as a canine imitation. The find was finally
correctly identified both in terms of raw
material and relevance by Zs. Siklósi (2013:
141). The piece is not unique, but there are only
rare parallels. There is a piece published from
Mezőzombor from Grave 49 (Csengeri 2004:
69, Fig. 3.11.). The form is not that close and
not as carefully shaped as that of the Kisköre
find, but undoubtedly imitates the form of red
deer canines. The chosen raw material for the
imitation is again the highly valued,
prestigious Spondylus shell.

Figure 7. Objects from Grave 9 (Photo: J. Kardos).

Figure 8. Dentalium shell, cone snails and terrestrial snails from the graves.

392
 Beauty and the eye of the beholder: personal adornments across the millennia

Figure 9. Sawn off top of a cone snail.

Figure 10. Large necklace from Grave 9 made from mostly clay beads with less shell beads and a
single antler bead. Detail of the antler bead and a typical clay bead. Two lake mushel shells from
the grave (Photo: J. Kardos modified by the author).

393
 Beauty and the eye of the beholder: personal adornments across the millennia
This piece belongs to the type 2 imitations
according to A. Choyke's definition (Choyke
2008). The imitated object is made of an
exceptionally valuable raw material, in our
case the Spondylus shell thus emphasizing the
special value of the original. Both the red deer
canines and the Spondylus shell are prestige
raw materials in the Late Neolithic period.
The red deer canines are accessible in the
Carpathian Basin, contrary to the Spondylus
shell. These correspond well to the
exceptional social and symbolic value of both
raw materials.
There was another, peg-shaped bone
imitation of a red deer canine found in Grave
4 together with worn, unusable beads recycled
as grave goods, and an unmodified red deer
canine (Fig. 3). The manufacturing striations
are visible on the object because final shaping
was carried out by abrasion, although these
beads are covered with light usewear,
rounding and polish. This object is not as clear
an imitation as the previous one in terms of
shape, and belongs to type 1 imitations in
Choyke's system (Choyke 2008), those made
of an easily accessible raw material.
The best parallels for the imitated red deer
canine beads can be found at Polgár-
Csőszhalom (Choyke 1997, 2001, 2008)
although the propeller-shaped and drop-
shaped beads are morphologically different
from those uncovered in the Kisköre burials.
The “ivory” object
Grave 37 (Korek 1989: 44, Pl. 36:4) of a 13-14
years old child, contained a pendant that
J. Korek described as being made from ‘ivory’.
The inventory book of the Hungarian National
Museum refers to the object as a bone pendant
made of either boar tusk or ivory. The
reexamination of the object showed that it was
made from animal bone, most probably from
the long bone diaphysis fragment of a large
mammal. Its cross-section is circular and there
is a hole at one end for suspension. The form
394
is common in ornaments of the respective area
and time period. It was used not only for
pendants but also for pointed objects used as
common tools in everyday activities. The Tisza
culture burials only very rarely contain such
tools from the daily life. It thus seems certain
that this object is a pendant and not a utensil.
Conclusions
Revising old collections, even though they
had already been evaluated by many scientists
with a variety of different views, can be very
useful. There is always room for additional
information and discoveries. In this case, the
raw material identification of the individual
beads needed to be revised, especially of those
made from clay and red deer antler, the latter
being a raw material not represented before in
the worked hard animal materials used
for personal adornments at the site. The
correction of the inaccurate raw material
identification of the “ivory” pendant is an
important step as well for understanding
Late Neolithic burial customs. Since the
assemblage has never been studied previously
by a specialist in worked hard animal
materials, the confirmation of the correct raw
material identification of the Spondylus
imitation of a red deer canine bead by former
researchers studying the assemblage from the
social archaeological aspect, is a significant
issue. New meanings were revealed about
the aesthetics and social value of different
raw materials of the beads and pendants
(comprising beaded necklaces and
ornaments) in the northern regions of the
Great Hungarian Plain. The role of the two
red deer canine imitations is outstanding,
shedding new light on the different aspect and
types of imitations at the time. The imitation
made of a more accessible raw material
(Choyke 2008) is more understandable, but
the unique transformation into an even more
prestigious raw material, the Spondylus shell is
clearly outstanding.
 Beauty and the eye of the beholder: personal adornments across the millennia

Figure 11. Spondylus imitated red deer canine Figure 12. A redrilled red deer canine from
bead from Grave 9. Grave 2.

Figure 13. Finds from Grave 24 with two unmodified red deer canines.

Manufacturing and usewear observations homogeneity shows that a common

always bring additional new data to analyze
and think about. In the case of Kisköre-Gát,
the observations on the manufacturing
striations as well as the usewear traces
correspond to those observed at other
Late Neolithic sites, such as Polgár 6. This
manufacturing tradition in the treatment of
these beads existed over the northern
Hungarian Plain. Such manufacturing
traditions tend to be quite conservative and
reflect the deep cultural and socio-symbolic
connections between settlements in the

395
 Beauty and the eye of the beholder: personal adornments across the millennia
region. The manufacturing striations
demonstrate a common manufacturing
sequence used to produce the red deer canine,
shell and limestone beads. Only minor
variations were observed in the production
schemes of these artefact types between
different sites. The red deer canine bead
imitations are so low in number at Kisköre
that they are regarded as individual objects,
lacking a fixed production sequence.
Although there are only rare examples of
imitations at Kisköre, the role and questions
raised by imitation and raw material values
arise in connection to the worked hard animal
material assemblage found in the burials. The
red deer imitation bead made from Spondylus
is close to the anatomical form of the canine
beads. It is not only an imitation but more a
translation into another highly valued raw
material (Choyke 2008). Since fresh Spondylus
shells would not have been readily accessible
in Hungary, the place of production becomes
a really interesting issue. Since the custom of
placing perforated red deer canines and/or
imitations of such beads into the graves is
concentrated on the northern part of the Great
Hungarian Plain, it may be assumed that this
unique object was also produced in this
geographical area. This fact, together with the
find from Mezőzombor, suggests that
Spondylus shell and red deer canines were
socially and probably symbolically valued raw
materials. They were either interchangeable or
the translation of the red deer canine form
into the Spondylus one emphasized the
intrinsic value of the former, although red
deer canines were from our modern point of
view much more easily accessible raw
materials compared to the Spondylus shells.
The composition of the beads made from
different raw materials seems to reflect the
individual aspects of the Late Neolithic people
found in these special burial features.
As seen at other sites as well, these personal
adornments seem to follow only general
compositional schemes. The actual adornment
mirrors the taste and social position of the
dead owner as seen through the eyes of the
396
living people who laid the dead to rest and
composed the burials.
Placing unmodified red deer canines and
unusable beads into the graves of children is
an important issue in the evaluation of the
Kisköre burials. It is likely that this burial
custom was also practiced over the whole
of this geographical area, but represents a
rather neglected, unpublished topic in the
evaluation of such finds. The various bead
types, nicely strung together and worn as
personal and representative adornments have
been prioritized in the study and evaluation of
the Late Neolithic cemeteries, but the custom
of recycling unmodified canines and unusable
beads as grave goods, although less
significant, is important.
Detailed examination of worked hard
osseous materials is critical to gain a proper
understanding of the social, symbolic,
aesthetic and practical place of these objects
in the lives of people from the past.
Acknowledgements: The study of several
Hungarian Late Neolithic sites in terms of the
worked hard animal material assemblages was
part of the research grant NRDIO P121128. I am
grateful to the Hungarian National Museum for
permission to examine these objects in detail.
Erika Pásztor-Kovács and József Puskás were of
great help in the research service. András Markó
made my study fluent through access to the
inventory books and guiding the arrangements.
I appreciate the beautiful photographs taken by
Judit Kardos at the studio of the HNM.
Alexandra Anders and Pál Raczky were very
generous and made it possible to compare
Kisköre with Polgár, the richest assemblage from
this period in Hungary. An ELTE-FH mobility
grant made it possible for me to attend the
conference. Last but not at least I would like to
thank Monica Mărgărit and Adina Boroneanț for
their hard work in organizing the meeting and
taking up the hard task of all duties and patience
necessary to produce this publication.
References
Bánffy, E. 2008. The deer tooth necklace
from Grave 12 at Bodrogzsadány. Acta
Archaeologica Academiae Scientiarum
Hungariae 59, 163-169.
 Beauty and the eye of the beholder: personal adornments across the millennia
Bánffy, E., Bognár-Kutzián, I. 2007. The
Late Neolithic tell settlement at Polgár-
Csőszhalom: the 1957 excavation. BAR
International Series, Central European Series
4, Archaeolingua.
Chapman, J. 2000a. Tension at funerals.
Micro-Tradition Analysis in Later Hungarian
Prehistory. Archaeolingua Series Minor 14,
Budapest.
Chapman, J. 2000b. Fragmentation in
Archaeology. People, places and broken objects
in the prehistory of southeastern Europe.
Routledge, London-New York.
Chapman, J., Gaydarska, B. 2007. Parts and
wholes. Fragmentation in prehistoric context.
Oxbow Books, Oxford.
Choyke, A.M. 1997a. The bone tool
manufacturing continuum. Anthropo-
zoologica 25-26, 65-72.
Choyke, A.M. 1997b. Polgár-Csőszhalom
dűlő csont-, agancs és agyartárgyainak
vizsgálata – Investigations of the bone, antler
and tusk objects from the site of Polgár-
Csőszhalom-dűlő. In: Raczky, P., Kovács, T.,
Anders, A. (eds.), Utak a múltba. Az M3-as
autópálya régészeti leletmentései. – Paths into
the past. Rescue excavations on the M3
motorway. Budapest: 157-159.
Choyke, A.M. 2001. Red deer canine beads
and their imitations. In: Choyke, A.M.,
Bartosiewicz, L. (eds.), Crafting Bone – skeletal
technologies through time and space. BAR
International Series 973, Oxford: 251-266.
Choyke, A.M. 2008. Shifting meaning and
value through imitation in the European Late
Neolithic. In: Biehl, P.F., Rassamakin, Y.Ya.
(eds.), Import and imitation in archaeology.
Schriften des Zentrums für Archäologie und
Kulturgeschichte des Schwarzmeerraumes II,
Langenweißbach: 5-21.
Choyke, A.M. 2010. The Bone is the Beast:
Animal Amulets and Ornaments in Power and
Magic. In: Campana, D., Crabtree, P.,
DeFrance, S.D., Lev-Tov, J., Choyke, A.
(eds.), Anthropological Approaches to
Zooarchaeology: Colonialism, Complexity, and
Animal Transformations. Oxbow Books,
Oxford: 197-209.
397
Choyke, A.M., Bar-Yosef Mayer, D.E. 2017.
Introduction. In: Bar-Yosef, D.E., Bonsall, C.,
Choyke, A.M. (eds.), Not Just for Show: The
Archaeology of Beads, Beadwork, and Personal
Ornaments. Oxbow Books, Oxford: 1-7.
Csengeri, P. 2004. Spondylus-mellékletes
középső neolitikus temetkezések
Mezőzomborról és Mezőkövesdről – Middle
Neolithic burials with Spondylus shell
ornaments from Mezőzombo and
Mezőkövesd. In: Ilon, G. (ed.), MΩMΩΣ III.
Őskoros kutatók III. Összejövetelének
konferenciakötete. Halottkultusz és
temetkezés. Szombathely-Bozsok, 2002.
október 7-9, Szombathely: 65-90.
Dubin, L.S. 2009. The History of Beads:
From 100,000 B.C. to the Present. rev. ed.
Abrams, New York.
Dumitrescu, V. 1957. Le dépot d'objets de
parure de Hăbăşeşti et le probleme des
rapports entre les tribus de la civilisation de
Cucuteni et le tribus des steppes pontiques.
Dacia N.S. I, 73-96.
Horváth, F. 1987. Hódmezővásárhely-
Gorzsa. A settlement of the Tisza culture. In:
Tálas, L., Raczky, P. (eds.), The Late Neolithic
of the Tisza Region. A Survey of Recent
Excavations and Their Findings:
Hódmezővásárhely-Gorzsa, Szegvár-Tűzköves,
Öcsöd-Kováshalom, Vésztő-Mágor,
Berettyóújfalu-Herpály. Szolnok. Kossuth
Press, Budapest: 31-46.
Kalicz, N. 1985. Kőkori falu Aszódon –
Neolithischer Dorf in Aszód. Petőfi Múzeum,
Aszód.
Kalicz, N., Raczky, P. 1987. Berettyóújfalu-
Herpály. A settlement of the Herpály culture.
In: Tálas, L., Raczky, P. (eds.), The Late
Neolithic of the Tisza Region. A Survey of
Recent Excavations and Their Findings:
Hódmezővásárhely-Gorzsa, Szegvár-Tűzköves,
Öcsöd-Kováshalom, Vésztő-Mágor,
Berettyóújfalu-Herpály. Szolnok. Kossuth
Press, Budapest: 105-125.
Kenoyer, J.M. 1991. Ornament Styles of the
Indus Valley Tradition: Evidence from Recent
Excavations at Harappa, Pakistan. Paléorient
17(2), 79-98.
 Beauty and the eye of the beholder: personal adornments across the millennia
Kiss, L. 1939. Fiatalabb kőkori telep és sírok
Kenézlőn (Jüngere Steinzeitliche Siedlung
und Gräber von Kenézlő). Folia Archaeologica
1-2, 7-12.
Korek, J. 1973. A tiszai kultúra. PhD
dissertation. Hungarian Academy of Sciences,
Budapest, Manuscript.
Korek, J. 1989. Die Theiß-Kultur in der
mittleren und nördlichen Theißgegend.
Inventaria Praehistorica Hungariae, Magyar
Nemzeti Múzeum, Budapest.
László, F. 1911. Háromszék vármegyei
praemykenaei jellegű telepek - Stations de
l'époche pré-mycénienne dans le comitat de
Háromszék. Dolgozatok az Erdélyi Nemzeti
Múzeum Érem- és Régiségtárából 2, 175-259.
Raczky, P., Anders, A. 2017. The chosen
ones: unconventional burials at Polgár–
Csőszhalom (north-east Hungary) from the
fifth millennium cal BC. In: Bickle, P.,
Cummings, V., Hofmann, D., Pollard, J. (eds.),
The Neolithic of Europe: Papers in honour of
Alasdair Whittle. Oxbow Books, Oxford: 63-81.
Raczky, P., Anders, A. 2018. The woman,
the pot and the cattle figurine. New
materiality of an early ALP burial from Polgár-
Ferenczi-hát. In: Valde-Nowak, P., Sobczyk,
398
K., Nowak, M., Źrałka, J. (eds.), Multas per
gentes et multa per saecula. Amici magistro et
collegae suo Ioanni Christophoro Kozłowski
dedicant. Jagellonian University, Krakow: 317-
328.
Russell, N. 1990. The bone tools. In:
Tringham, R., Krstić, D. (eds.), Selevac - A
Neolithic Village in Yugoslavia. Los Angeles:
521-548.
Sergeev, G.P. = Cepгеeв, Г.П. 1963.
Paннетpипoльcкий клaдуc. Kapбyнa.
Coбemcкaя Apхeoлoгия 7(1), 135-149.
Siklósi, Zs. 2013. Traces of Social Inequality
during the Late Neolithic in the Eastern
Carpathian Basin. Dissertationes
Archaeologicae ex Institutio Archaeologico
Universitatis de Rolande Eötvös nominatae
Budapestinensis provenientes Series IV
Volumen 3. Eötvös Loránd University,
Budapest.
Sztáncsuj, S.J. 2007. Az erősdi kora rézkori
kincslelet. Dolgozatok 12, 49-66.
Ursachi, V. 1991 Le dépot d'objects de
parure énéolithique de Brad, com. Negri, dép.
de Bacău. In: Chirica, V., Monah, D. (eds.), Le
Paléolithique et le Néolithique de la Roumanie
en contexte européen. Iaşi: 335-386.