Praehistoria 6. 2005 [antikvár]

EDITORIAL Avas hill rises 110 m above the city of Miskolc, with its highest point at 234 m above sea level. The City Council of Miskolc planned a 428-metre-long road between the lookout tower and Perczel Mór Street 011 the hillside. The planned track crossed the area called Tűzköves, where several remains of Paleolithic flint mining, processing and camp sites were found. Extrémély valuable archaeological finds were unearthed on a 60 by 14 m surface section, which is closer to the Perczel Mór Street end of the planned road. At this site a unique type of flint mine was explored. Prehistoric people used fire for exploitation by applying a special heat treatment method to the good quality flint material. The first announcement on the special Paleolithic flint mine site in Miskolc was in our review in volume 4-5 of Praehistoria. It is a great pleasure for us, both Hungárián and international paleolithic researchers that the City Council of Miskolc realized the importance of the site, decided to abandon the road construction and supported the excavations as well as the publishing volume 4-5 of Praehistoria in an exemplary way. On 25-26 July, 2005 a scientific conference was organized for the interpretation of this outstanding flint mine, which was used through several phases from the Middle to the Upper Paleolithic period. On the first day, presentations were held in Hotel Palota in Lillafüred, near the famous Szeleta Cave, while the second day was dedicated to a professional field trip. Volume 6 of Praehistoria is devoted to this conference. On the following pages essays written based on the originál presentations are published. In addition to these studies, several more can alsó be found in this volume. K. T. Bíró and her colleagues present a new result of Hungárián obsidian provenience studies, the discovery of a red variant in Hungary and its archaeological context. I wish to thank especially Mayor Sándor Káli and Vice-Mayor Vilmos Fedor - responsible for the cultural and tourist activities of the town - for their help and cooperation in the protection and marketing of cultural heritage, and alsó thank them in the name of the Hungárián and international archaeologist and prehistorian community. For years, the City of Miskolc and the University of Miskolc have shown a remarkably positive attitűdé towards the area of Paleolithic research and towards the publication of the associated scientific results by operating the Public Foundation for the Szeleta Culture and the Praehistoria periodical.