Investigating Compositional Variation of Ceramic Materials during the Late Neolithic on the Great Hungarian Plain – Preliminary LA-ICP-MS Results

: Investigations have been undertaken to assess the extent to which compositional analysis can be used to determine trade and interaction on the Great Hungarian Plain during the Late Neolithic. Ceramic and clay samples in the Körös and Berettyó River Basins were analyzed at the Elemental Analysis Facilities (EAF) at The Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, IL, USA. With the use of laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS), the aim of the project was to ascertain if micro-regional or site-specific compositional signatures could be determined in a region that is typically characterized as highly geologically homogenous. Identifying site-specific signatures enables archaeologists to model prehistoric interactions and, in turn, determine the relationship between interaction and various socio-cultural changes. This paper focuses on the preliminary compositional results of materials analyzed from three different sites across the Plain and the methodological implications for future anthropological research in the region.