Környezeti változások a Duna egykori mellékága mentén – Interdiszciplináris kutatás Budapest III. kerület, Mocsárosdűlőn

Mocsárosdűlő is a flatland in the District III of Budapest, in the middle of the Óbuda Bay, bordered by the Pilis Mountains, the Buda Hills, and the last remnants of the Óbuda Danube, a filled-up Old Holocene river branch, and its floodplain. In recent years, joint archaeological and geological research has been carried out there; the discovered sites played a key role in the reconstruction of the area’s history. In addition to excavations, we have carried out a geomorphological investigation of the wider area. The research included geophysical and geochemical analyses, OSL and radiocarbon dating, and a detailed topographic analysis of the collected data. Based on our archaeological-topographic and geomorphological investigations, Mocsárosdűlő and its surroundings were suitable for settlement in every historical period. The population of the early Linear Pottery culture probably found the Óbuda Danube a still flowing branch that gradually filled up later, and established their settlements on higher, flood-free areas. Most Early and Middle Copper Age find assemblages discovered in the area cannot be regarded as markers of an inhabitation related directly to the prehistoric river branch (at that time, a floodplain), except for a few Protoboleráz settlements west of Mocsárosdűlő, an era when the former river branch was almost completely filled. From that phase on, it was probably primarily exploited as a lake. The Bronze- and Iron-Age settlers probably met with similar conditions in the area, although the size and depth of the free water surface started to decrease around 3000 BC, most probably due to a gradual incision of the Danube's main branch, which caused a lowering of the water level and a eutrophication and slow filling-up of the backwaters. Intensive land use caused an increased amount of sediment settling in the basin, and resulted in a complete filling up and siltation of the area after the Iron Age.