Archaeological Theory in Hungary since 1960: Theories without theoretical Archaeology

This chapter discusses the various archaeological theories and research directions in Hungarian archaeology, and also that theoretical ideas from the international literature have made some sort of impact. The traditional archaeological schools of most European countries generally emerged around local museums or universities, and sooner or later they usually began to follow one particular methodological approach and theoretical framework. The archaeological and historical libraries in Hungary faced great financial difficulties in acquiring the newest scholarly literature, and thus the private libraries of prominent scholars built up. Hungarian archaeology has traditionally been strongly influenced by German schools. This can be observed both in the methodological literature and in the system of university training. Gyula Laszlo, Andras Mocsy and Istvan Bona, all three professors at the University of Budapest, communicated their theoretical ideas on archaeology in their university courses. 'Archaeological ethnography' introduced by Gyula Laszlo was a response to the inflexibility and closed system of the typological school.