The Palaeolithic is the earliest period of the history of Humankind, from the beginnings to the end of the Pleistocene Ice Age. I deal mainly with the Middle Palaeolithic and the Early Upper Palaeolithic in Europe (ca. 250-30 thousend years before present). I am interested mainly in the study of developmental processes: the changes of the culture in relation to the climatic-environmental conditions and to the human cognitive evolution (cultural adaptation, cultural evolution). Especially fascinating is the question of the role of Neanderthals in the human cultural evolution and in the cultural diversity of the European Early Upper Palaeolithic. My archaeological field works concentrate on the regions of Northern Hungary.

Knapped stone tools played a role in the everyday life of prehaistoric humans from the Palaeolithic to the Bronze Age. The aim of my research is to reconstruct the technological behaviour of prehistoric people through their knapped stone tools. From this point of view, it is extremely important to clarify the influence of the cognitive abilities and of the cultural traditions on the stone tool production. My research is based on the methodology of the technological reading and on the application of the palaeoethnological approach, and use the experimental archaeology too.

Siliceous rocks represented one of the most important natural resources for people in the Stone Age. Their knapped stone tools were made from these rocks as raw materials for their subsistence activities. The lithic economy was influenced by numerous factors, starting from the characteristics of the natural environment through the technical system of the human groups to their cultural traditions. Therefore, the research of this problematics needs a complex approach. To identify potential raw material sources and to verify their accessibility geological and geomorphological data are to be studied. The analysis of the archaeological lithic assemblages allows us to reconstruct past human technical behaviour. Comparing the detected raw material use in tool production and the accessible raw material sources, the choice made by past humans can be demonstrated and the practical or cultural reasons can be estimated.