Körös

(also Hármas Körös), a river in Rumania and Hungary; left tributary of the Tisza. Length, 580 km; basin area, 27,500 sq km.

The Körös rises in the mountains of Western Rumania (the Bihor massif and the Metalici range) in two sources—the Cri§ul Alb and the Cri§ul Negru. From their confluence to its mouth the Körös flows through the Alfold plain. Within this plains sector the riverbed has been straightened and channeled, locks have been installed, and dikes have been erected. There are flash floods during the warm part of the year, and the least flow takes place in the winter months. The average water discharge at the river’s mouth is 100 m³/sec. The principal tributaries are the Sebes Körös and the Hortobágy. Canals that drain the swampy sections of the Alföld empty into the Körös. There is navigation in its lower course. The cities of Brad (Rumania), Gyula, Békés, Gyoma, and Kunszentmárton (Hungary) are located on the Körös.

(also criş), an early Neolithic archaeological culture that was widespread in the second half of the sixth millennium and in the first half of the fifth millennium B.C. in what is now Hungary (in the basin of the Körös River) and Rumania. The population lived in huts or woven framework smeared with clay and engaged in stock raising (cattle, goats, sheep), farming, hunting, and fishing. Their pottery comprised globular and hemispherical vessels on circular supports or four-petaled bases and also flasks that were flat on one side and convex on the other and had several lugs. Painted vessels are also encountered. The Körös culture is part of the historical-cultural region Starcevo-Körös-Karanovo I of the most ancient ceramic Neolithic of southeastern Europe.