Villany locality

K roly Hoffmann discovered in 1874 clefts filled with red clay in a quarry on the northern slope of M szkohegy (Templomhegy), the most easternly peak of the Villdny mountains ( the quarry opposite to the railway station ). Later, Loczy, Jr. collected from the large quarry on the ridge of the hill (then called the quarry of Prince Frederick ). Kormos had worked for 30 years on the material of various clefts and finally Kretzoi (1953-1955) and myself (from 1975) have carried out excavations. Of the 11 Villany localities listed by Kretzoi (1956), nos. 3, 5 and 11 will be discussed here because of their relevant age. 

Vivardli, F Giusti, G., Villani, M Campanini, R., Fariselli, P., Compiani, M. Casadio, R. (1995). LG ANN a parallel system combining a local genetic algorithm and neural networks for the prediction of secondary structure of proteins. ComputAppl Biosci 11,253-60. 

The oldest loess-like sediments referable to the Lower Pleistocene have been found in Hungary at locality no. 5 at Vill ny, locality no. 4 imbedded in the freshwater limestone of Dunaalmds and locality no. 2 at Somssich Hill. These rocks, however, cannot be considered as typical loess because originally they were situated in cracks and crevices or deposited on freshwater limestone. They thus show a somewhat intermediate character, similar to cave loess. Similarly, we may refer the Lower Pleistocene material of the yellow layers of locality no. 8 at Villany to cave loesses (Kretzoi, 1956), in which the fauna elements indicate a cool, dry environment at the time of deposition. 

The next locality by age is the upper layer at locality no. 4 of the Dunaalm s assemblage, which is readily allocated from its small-mammal finds its age is unquestionably Lower Pleistocene (the upper part of the Villany biotic zone, according to obsolete nomenclature, Giinz , Middle Villafranchian , etc.). A freshwater limestone complex at Siitto has proved to be somewhat older than this, according to a recent revision of the large-mammal fauna (see below Janossy and Krolopp, 1981). 

Three of the four vertebrate fossil localities ca. 1.5 km south of the village of Csarnota are undoubtedly of the Csarnota layer. This locality lies in the westernmost part of the Villany mountains in southern Hungary (Fig. 5), on the flat ridge of Cserhegy, and comprises pillars of red clay formed in limestone of the Middle Triassic (Anisian) which had been left by quarrymen as dead rock in small dispersed quarries. 

Fig. 5. Upper Pliocene and Lower Pleistocene vertebrate fossil localities in the Villany Mountains (after Kretzoi, 1956).

Undoubtedly, the site named as locality no. 3 is the richest of all the Villany faunas. Kormos called this locality Villany-Kalkberg-Nord (Picture 6). The site is situated on the northern wall of the eastern end of the ridge quarry. A cleft, on the average 1 m wide and lying in a direction east to west, cuts through the Lower Malm Oxfordian limestone, and is filled with red sediment cemented by secondary calcite formation. 

Fig. 7. Lower Pleistocene vertebrate fossil localities in the village of Villany (Villany nos. 1-11, and Somssich Hill nos. 1-2).

This fauna is the most important of all the animal communities of Osztramos, as far as the taxonomy of the rodents of the Lower Pleistocene is concerned. Most remarkable is the occurrence of a surviving representative of the family Eomyidae, which had been thought to have become extinct in the Miocene. This species has been described from this rich locality (Estramomys simplex Janossy, 1969b). In view of recent findings in the Villany mountains and in the Ukraine, this form is likely to be attributed strati-graphical significance in the future. 

Localities no. 3 of Villany and Osztramos contained such similar animal communities that the geological age of those faunas is unquestionably the middle part of the Lower Pleistocene (Upper Villanyian, middle Villafranchian event ). The facies differences between the two faunas are not so great as between, e.g., locality no. 2 of Csarnota and locality no. 7 of Osztramos. 

Because of its similar age in the narrow sense, locality no. 5 of Villany is described next. Kretzoi (1956) characterizes the site as follows ... right above locality no. 3, a 10-20 cm wide cleft with a corroded surface sinks into the karstic surface, which, at a depth of about 1.5-2.0 m is cut by a horizontal shift.. .. the rock of the cleft is Oxfordian limestone. .. and its direction coincides with the strike direction. ... 

Kretzoi (1956) concludes that this fauna represents the youngest stratum of Villany, with a single Allophaiomys in its cover. He did not consider that the yellowish colour of the sediment was accompanied by a change in fauna due to climatic factors. However, as we have seen already with locality no. 3 of Osztramos, considerable changes in climate have to be taken into account. 

Designated in his work as localities nos. 10 and 11 of Villany, demolished since then. 

I will now briefly describe the data of locality no. 2 of Somssich Hill (Janossy 1983), situated about 9 m east (90°) of the southeastern-eastern corner of a press-house, itself about 50 m east of elevation point 180.2 m (Fig. 1 la). The site was made up of a hollow-filling left by quarrying of Malm (Oxfordian) limestone. In contrast with similar localities in the Villany mountains, this loessy sediment was definitely light yellow in colour. Here we carried out collection by layers in a 1 by 2 m portion of the sediment in 1975. In the course of yearly excavations we reached a depth of 6 m in 1981. Disregarding stratification, the following is a preliminary faunal list, based on several thousand finds ... 

The similarly aged locality no. 7 of Villany is situated at the southwestern corner of the same quarry, and comprises a small cleft running in a north to south direction... 

The vertebrate fauna of locality no. 8 of Villany (with numbers of specimens)... 

Fig. 12. Percentile frequencies of vole species in each of the strata of locality no. 8 of Villany 1. (hatched) Mimomys sp. (small species) 2. Mimomys savini 3. Arvicola cantiana 4. Myodes sp. 5. Pliomys episcopalis 6, 7 and 8, see graph 9. Pilymys sp. 10. Microtus mvalinus-ratttcepoides group 11. Microtus arvalinus 12. Microtus cf. gregalis (redrawn after Meulen, 1973).

Of greater importance are findings of the Templomhegy-Lo wer Biharian microfauna in a number of localities from regional sediments which, in contrast with thegrassland-steppe aspect of the Villany and the forest facies of the Biikk material, represent pronouncedly aquatic, riparian aspect. 

The Lower Pleistocene is conventionally characterized in Hungary by the Vil-lanyium stage (faunal complex) (Kretzoi, 1941b). Its biostratotype is locality no. 3 of Villany (the quarry of Villdny). Here animal assemblages of definitely puszta-steppic environmental conditions are recorded, in contrast with the warm and... 

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