A Herman Ottó Múzeum Évkönyve 46. (2007)

B. Hellebrandt Magdolna: Mályinka-Dédestapolcsány-Verepce-vár és Miskolc-kőlyuk I.-barlang vasleletei

16. 1). A similar knife was recovered from a tumulus burial at Süttö-Sáncföldek,

39 which has been dated to the close of the Hallstatt C

2 period (mid-7th century ВС). A knife of this type is also known from Tumulus I at Vaskeresztes-Diófás, dated to the same period.

40 Tanged knives with curved back were brought to light from male and female scattered cremation burials of the Scythian Age uncovered by Pál Patay at Alsótelekes. Knives with a curved back are typical for the Scythian Age.

41 The Alsótelekes cemetery was used from the mid-7th to the early 6th century ВС. This dating harmonises with Tibor Kemenczei's studies, according to which Scythian finds first reached the Great Hungarian Plain after the mid-7th century ВС.

42 The Alsótelekcs burial ground is one of the earliest Scythian sites in the north, lying near the iron ore deposits along the southernmost extension of the Gömör-Szepes (Slovakian) Ore Mountains. Knives with curved back were also used during the Celtic Age, as shown by finds of this type from Radostyán.

43 Tanged knives with three rivet-holes can be quoted from Somlyó,

44 and a similar piece was found in Tumulus 63 of the Hallstatt period cemetery at Frög.

45 Tanged knives with rivetholes have been reported from Scythian contexts too, e.g. from Tápiószele

46 and Alsótelekes. The dating of the pieces from Verepce-vár (Fig. 8. 22-23) is uncertain since they are stray finds. Fibula The fibula shown in Fig. 12. 3 is an early Celtic piece of the Certosa type. Comparable fibulae are known from Sopron-Bécsidomb and Kosd.

47 Its use can be dated to the La Тёпе A-B transition in the 4th century ВС. A pendant (Fig. 8. 10) and a knife fragment (Fig. 8. 15) were also made in the Celtic style. Iron raw material We uncovered fourteen lumps of iron from among the tree roots at Verepce-vár. Their weight ranges between 0.65 and 1.72 kg and totals 16.49 kg (and we know that a few pieces could not be brought to light). Ferenc Tóth, a former smelter, and Lajos Tóth, a furnace engineer, both confirmed that the finds were iron bloom with a metal content of 95 per cent without slag, suitable for the manufacture of various artefacts. Iron lumps were found at Fancsal together with Iron Age pottery sherds.

48 Several settlements of the Kyjatice culture are known in the area. Albán Balár observed several relics of prehistoric iron production during his excursions to Fiume and its broader environs to 1895. He identified a circular rampart above the Recsina Valley, where he collected various bronze and iron artefacts, as well as iron slag, and he later conducted a trial excavation, in the course of which he uncovered similar finds. Alfonz Müller noted that these iron finds represented the oldest relics of iron production and that the site was one of a chain of sites lying along the iron ore deposits between Fiume and the Krajina region.

49 A raw iron ingot from the Celtic Age was found at a depth of 60 cm on the northern slope of Mount Lovacska near Munkács, together with various other household artefacts.

50 It weighed 3 kg and its shape resembled a flattened loaf with a thickness of 3-4 cm and a diameter of 15 cm. Its surface was covered with coarse-grained sand in some spots, suggesting that it had perhaps been smelted in a sandy pit. Iron was an important commodity in the Munkács area during the Celtic Age and it therefore seems likely that the Celtic occupation of this area was motivated by the need to control the iron deposits. The richness of the area's iron deposits is reflected by the fact that iron production still played an important role in the post-medieval period in the Munkács area.

51 In addition to several iron artefacts, the Celtic Age iron hoard found at Aba-FelsőszentgyörgyÁngyihcgy contained several iron lumps,

52 resembling the bronze lumps found in many bronze hoards. Pottery The pottery finds from Mályinka-Dédestapolcsány-Vercpce-vár (Fig, 9. 1-10, 12) and Miskolc-Kőlyuk I Cave (Fig. Fig. 16. 2-7, 9-12) represent the typical wares of the Kyjatice culture. 36