Hungary

Biological anthropology or physical anthropology (in Hungarian: embertan), is a science dealing with the study of the evolution and the variations of hominids. In Hungary, historical anthropology is responsible for analysing the human remains discovered during archaeological excavations; thus we will focus primarily on historical anthropology in this chapter. The first initiatives of Hungarian anthropology can be found at the end of the 17th and the

beginning of the 18th centuries, among others in the writings of János Apáczai Csere, a leading Protestant scholar and writer, and in the works of Mátyás Bél, a Lutheran pastor and polymath. The first Hungarian writing in the field of anthropology was published in 1807 by György Fejér, under the title of Antropológia vagyis az ember ismertetése (‘Anthropology or the Study of Man’). Sámuel Scheiber had an outstanding role in the foundation of Hungarian anthropology, as well as in the intellectual preparation of the International Conference on Hungarian Prehistory held in Budapest in 1876. He suggested the establishment of an association, a university department and a museum of anthropology in his works Pro Memoria and ‘Hon’ (‘Homeland’). That conference had a decisive effect on the further development of anthropology in Hungary (Table 17.1). In 1878 the National Association of Archaeology and Anthropology was founded. The Institute of Anthropology of the University of Budapest was established in 1881, and

was the fourth institute of its kind in Europe. Its leader was Professor Aurél Török, who acquired his knowledge in anthropology by attending Paul Broca’s courses. He even planned the creation of a university collection and the foundation of an anthropological association. The anthropological research founded on the groundwork of natural sciences was continued in the 1930s. Lajos Bartucz, who was Aurél Török’s student and would later become his successor as head of department, summarized in his book A magyar ember (‘The Hungarian Man’), published in 1938, the results that had been reached by then in the field of Hungarian anthropological research. In 1936 Bartucz became the acting director of the Museum of Ethnography and in 1938 he became the director of the museum. In the mid-1930s, the collection of findings deriving from excavations was also assisted by the leading board of the capital city. They entrusted the Budapest Institute of Anthropology with the examination of the findings, report writing and funding for the completion of the analysis. As a matter of fact, the obligation to write a report

Table 17.1 Milestones in the history of physical anthropology in Hungary

Year Events

1802 Foundation of the Hungarian National Museum (Magyar Nemzeti Múzeum), Budapest 1807 First Hungarian book on anthropology: Antropológia vagyis az ember ismertetése (‘Anthropology

or the Study of Man’) by Gy. Fejér 1821 Foundation of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest 1847 The Department of Ethnography became independent from the Hungarian National

Museum, and is named Museum of Ethnography 1872 Interim Committee for Historic Monuments (MIB) 1876 International Conference on Hungarian Prehistory, Budapest 1878 Foundation of the Hungarian Archaeological and Anthropological Society (Magyar Régészeti

és Mu˝vészettörténeti Társulat), Budapest Aurél Török visited the World Exhibition and International Anthropological Congress in Paris and met Paul Broca.