JoEG Volume 2 (2009)

The largest blown-sand area of Hungary is located on the Danube-Tisza Interfluve. Here the most significant aeolian activity took place during the Pleistocene, however the aeolian transformation of the landscape occurred also in the Holocene and even in historical times. The aims of the study were (1) to reconstruct the relief at different historical periods; (2) to determine the periods of sand remobilisation during historical times; (3) to identify the changing of climatic conditions and possible types of human activities enabling aeolian activity and (4) to specify the spatial extension of sand movements. To reconstruct the spatial characteristic of sand and palaeosoil layers a 3Dmodel of the deposits at the archaeological site was created using total station measurements and Surfer 8.0 software. In order to determine the exact time of blown-sand movement optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) measurements (6) were applied. Based on the results, the lowermost sandy-loess layer had a late Pleistocene age, on which sequences of palaeosoils and blown-sand layers were formed during the Holocene. The spatial extension of the palaeosoils and sandy layers suggest that the relief has changed significantly over historical times. The former Pleistocene blowout depression has altered because of both the climatic conditions and the human impact on the environment. Blown-sand movements in historical times filled up the blowout depression. The sand sheets reshaped the original morphology and soil properties. Today the surface is more elevated and even, the site is covered by dry and slightly humic sandy soils.

Concerning weather, weather-related extremes and catastrophic consequences, 1342 was an extraordinary year in most parts of Central Europe, even in such an extraordinary decade as the 1340s. Accounting with the seven flood events (including one Danube flood) mainly of great magnitude, at present 1342 is the most important known flood year of medieval Hungary. Moreover, in this year extraordinary weather conditions, such as a mid-autumn snowcover were also reported. However, in the eastern parts of the Carpathian basin not only 1342 but also 1343 was a significant flood year with six reports on flood events occurred in the upper and upper middle sections of the Tisza catchment. In the present study, an overview of these events is provided, based on the information preserved in the most typical contemporary, well-dated source type of medieval Hungary, namely charters. The aim of the study is, on the one hand, to draw attention to the flood and weatherrelated evidence found in charters, and to provide a methodological background for further evaluation and utilisation of this source type in historical weather and flood research, through the very typical example of the years of 1342 and 1343. On the other hand, another aim is to discuss and analyse the unique nature of these two years in medieval Hungary, and (beyond the well-known year of 1342) to draw attention to the, up to now somewhat neglected, year of 1343.