Change and transformation during the transition from the Middle to the Late Bronze Age along the capital region of the Danube: Settlement structure analyses based on particular sites from the Vatya III – Koszider Period and the Early Tumulus Culture

Abstract

Review article of the PhD dissertation submitted in 2024 to the Archaeology Doctoral Programme, Doctoral School of History, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, and written under the supervision of Gábor V. Szabó.

This study examines the transformation of settlement structures and material culture during the transition from the Middle to the Late Bronze Age in the Carpathian Basin, focusing on two large, single-layered sites along the Danube: a Middle Bronze Age settlement at Budapest-Királyok útja 291–295 and the Late Bronze Age site of Rákoscsaba-Majorhegy. Based on spatial data and ceramic analyses, the research reconstructs internal functional zones, explores inter-settlement connections, and identifies broader regional interaction networks during the Koszider period. The results show both continuity and change: while typological and decorative traditions demonstrate strong Middle Bronze Age roots, transformations in vessel function, storage capacity, and craft specialization reflect shifts in social and economic organisation. Least-cost path and viewshed analyses reveal that Middle Bronze Age settlements formed dense, interlinked networks, whereas Late Bronze Age communities were more dispersed and loosely connected. The emerging patterns indicate reorganisation of landscape use, household structure, and production strategies, with growing differentiation in metalwork. The study highlights the Koszider period as a key transitional phase marked by both cultural persistence and innovation, bridging the Vatya and Tumulus cultural spheres within an evolving, regionally varied system of social and spatial organisation.