Folia archeologica 8.

Barkóczi László: Császárkori edényégető telep Bicsérden

82 L. Barkóczi Having opened up the kilns, we proceeded northwards with our examination. The trial-trenches were either sterile or else offered only undistinct outlines of clay pits with occasional potsherds poor in significant features though, on the whole, dateable to the second century A. D.

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3 A search in the vicinity of one of the modern dwellings, also failed to yield reliable stratigraphy though fragments of Roman tegulae pointed to the presence of a nearby settlement.

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4 North of the line of kilns at a distance of 60 metres, a clay pit was found (Fig. 19. 3) that must subsequently have been used as a refuse pit. The filling-in of the pit yielded a number of valuable sherds which helped to date the settlement and thus the age of the potter's shop, while, on the other hand, it pointed to the region to which the Bicsérd settlement belonged. The kilns were of the La Tène type just as the objects themselves have fairly preserved, on the whole, Celtic features. The Bicsérd Kiln No. 3 is very much like the pear-shaped and twin-chambered kiln of Békásmegyer,

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2 also from the late La Tène period. The types of vessels still closely resemble the La Tène wares, but the technique of the pottery is predominantly Roman. The Celtic features are clearly visible on a few fragments derived from Kiln No. 1 (Fig. 22. 3). The fragments of a deep dish from Kiln No. 2, has its parallel piece in the late La Tène finds from Békásmegyer (Fig. 22. 6 and Pl. XVII. 1), but related objects came to light from the tumuli of the Celtic Pannonian burial grounds, too. Contacts with the late La Tène period can be found in our material here among the fragments of graphite vessels (Fig. 23. 6 and PI. XXI . 8), the rims of a storage-jar and of an urn. Another type of the vessels in our present material are the so called „Pátka" pots that were crudely turned, comb-hatched and occasionally ornamented with stick-shaped and notched impressions. These objects cannot, however, be connected with the products from this region of the late La Tène period (3rd pit, No. 21 ; Fig. 24: 2, 8 and Pl. XXI . 1 — 3, 5). Next to these objects fragments of vessels came to light that had been hand-made and their clay but roughly sifted and washed. Only few specimens have been preserved with imprinted decorations in the manner of the Resatus wares. The third type of pottery at Bicsérd was of the Roman type. Though the shapes of the vessels still carry Celtic features, yet the technique appears to be entirely Roman. Fragments of urns, jugs with incised, tooth-like ornaments and red ribbons, dishes coloured gray and with inturned brims, small cups, urns with comb-hatched impressions and pots. Special mention must be made of a type of large-size vessels with painted red ribbons, incised tooth-like ornaments and angular profiles (Fig. 23. 7, 9 Pl. XIX. 6). The occurrence of similar fabrics in North Italy and at Keszthely, in South-west Pannónia, point to the way where the pattern came from and to the region to which the Bicsérd potter's wares belonged. Though these are pieces done at the spot, nevertheless their quality and technique compare favourably with other fabrics done elsewhere by the same method. The South-west Pannonian influence can, however, be detected not only in the large-sized, angular vessels of the Bicsérd fabrics, but is evident from the other types of the wares, too. The same influence is responsible for the paint-