Report of the complex geoarcheological survey at the Ecse-halom kurgan in Hortobágy, Hungary

Abstract

The Ecse-halom is a burial mound (kurgan) in the Hortobágy region of Hungary. Built in the Late Copper Age/Early Bronze Age by nomadic people from the east, it now stands on the border between two modern settlements. A road of medieval origin runs along this border and cuts deeply into the body of the mound. The southern half of the mound was plowed and used as a rice field, and later a military observation tower was built on top of it. Despite this disturbance, the surface of the mound is in decent condition and provides a home for regionally significant, species-rich loess steppe vegetation. The mound comprises two construction layers as indicated by magnetic susceptibility and thin-section micro-morphological analysis. Examination of organic compounds and carbonate content at various levels showed different values, which suggest a variety of natural and anthropogenic stratigraphic layers. Mid-sized siltstone fraction is dominant in the section. The layers originate from the immediate vicinity of the mound, but have different characteristics than present-day soils. These mounds contain a valuable record of cultural and environmental conditions occurring at the time of their construction, and also serve as a refuge for ancient loess vegetation; therefore their conservation is highly recommended.

Iron age burial mounds as refugia for steppe specialist plants and invertebrates – case study from the Zsolca mounds (NE Hungary)

“…In particular, significant differences were observed in the soil temperature and the moisture of the northern and southern slopes. The diversity of the plant species increased with increasing heterogeneity of the habitats, as was also described in the case of the Ecse mound and the Csípő mound (Bede et al 2015, Barczi et al 2006, Joó 2003.…”

“…Among the arid lowland grasslands, the Pannonic loess steppic grasslands (Festucion rupicolae Soó 1940) are of crucial conservational importance in the European Union, since the extent of these habitats has decreased dramatically over recent centuries (Biró et al 2018, Zólyomi & Fekete 1994. Due to the large-scale agricultural intensification, the last remnants of species-rich loess grasslands remain in just a few nature reserves, and in sites that were not used for crop production, such as roadside verges (Csathó 2011), old cemeteries (Molnár V. et al 2017(Molnár V. et al , 2018 and ancient burial mounds (Bede et al 2015, Deák et al 2016b, Dembicz et al 2016. The mounds contain habitats with special ecological conditions due to their shape, small extent and isolatedness (Deák et al 2016a(Deák et al , b, 2017.…”

Cultural heritage and biodiversity conservation – plant introduction and practical restoration on ancient burial mounds

“…Ancient burial mounds called 'kurgans' can serve as ideal objects for such projects. Kurgans are earthen burial mounds built by nomadic tribes from the Late Copper Age to the medieval period (Sudnik-Wójcikowska et al 2011, Bede et al 2015. They are iconic landscape elements of the Eurasian steppes and have a considerable role in the life of local people as historical and sacred places , Sudnik-Wójcikowska et al 2011.…”

Eurasian Kurgan Database – a citizen science tool for conserving grasslands on historical sites

“…Fortunately in recent years the number of studies focusing on the vegetation and ecology of the kurgans shows a continuously increasing trend (Rowińska et al 2010, Pető & Barczi 2011, Sudnik-Wójcikowska et al 2011, Lisetskii et al 2014, Tóth et al 2014, Bede et al 2015, Deák et al 2016a,b, 2017, Wódkiewicz et al 2016, Godó et al 2018, Valkó et al 2018b). In most cases for supporting conservation actions even some byproduct (such as the presence of invasive species, land use or cover of woody vegetation) of these studies would be informative which does not affect the success of the scientific publication or pose threat of revealing the essential parts of the data collected.…”

“…The kurgans are important monuments of our historical heritage, as they are one of the oldest constructions of the human civilisation in the steppe region, which have been preserved till present days, and in many cases they also hold the artefacts connected to the burial rituals (Gimbutas 2000, Bede et al 2015. Every kurgan should be considered as an archaeological site, even a completely ploughed and disturbed kurgan might hold the original central pit grave.…”