A Herman Ottó Múzeum évkönyve 49. (2010)

Koós Judit: A füzesabonyi kultúra települése Nagyrozvágyon

The remains of well-preserved timbers were recovered from the well. No traces of dovetailing, jointing or woodworking could be noted on the surviving timber remains, although it must be noted that their state of preservation was unsuitable for observing finer details. The floor of the well lay at a depth of 1 metre after the removal of the roughly 20 cm thick humus level. The form and the dimensions of the well could be precisely recorded after its excavation: an almost regular rectangle, with the two long sides measuring 2.5 m and 2.6 m, the short sides being 2.3 m and 1.8 m. The well yielded countless vessels and vessel fragments, most with a unique form and ornamentation. The find material from the well included several intact vessels which, however, fell to pieces after lifting, and some of the more poorly fired pieces disintegrated. Some of the carefully made finer vessels bear the traits of the culture's late, Bodrogszerdahely phase. In sum, the well and its finds too confirm the dating of the settlement to the culture's late phase. The best parallels to the finds can be quoted from the cemetery at Bodrogszerdahely/Streda nad Bodrogom, the late burials of the cemetery at Tiszafüred, and the classical late finds of the settlement and cemetery at Alsómislye/Nizná Mysl'a. Finds reflecting metalworking and bronze casting on the settlement also came to light. The hoard mentioned in the above contained also moulds for ribbed pins and small pendants in the hoard. Other moulds from the settlement include pieces for casting axes, heart shaped pendants and pins. In addition to the bronze artefacts, a stray find of a massive oval lock-ring of gold also came to light. Lock-rings of this type were typical ornaments worn during the Bronze Age of Central and Eastern Europe. Another rare group of finds is made up of the so-called bread loaf figurines. Six figurines of this type were found: two were fashioned from clay, four were sculpted from stone. No more than three figurines of this type were previously known from Hungary; the pieces from Nagyrozvágy mark their easternmost occurrences in Hungary. The fonn and decoration of the figurines matches than of similar finds of different cultures from neighbouring countries (Austria, Slovakia and Romania). One of the main difficulties faced in the assessment of the settlement and its finds is that there are few published assemblages from this period. The discovery and excavation of the Nagyrozvágy settlement marked a milestone in the research of this period: despite the fact that the evaluation of the finds is still in progress, it is quite clear that this site is the first professionally excavated settlement of the Bodrogszerdahely phase of the Füzesabony culture. The metalwork and the pottery finds from the settlement represent an exceptional assemblage both regarding the quantity and the traits of the finds. The analysis of the metal and ceramic finds from Nagyrozvágy indicated that the vessels, tools and implements, and jewellery items used by the Füzesabony community at the close of the Middle Bronze represented typical pieces of the Koszider period (R Br Bl). Charcoal and bone samples were sent to the Institute of Nuclear Research in Debrecen for dating. Only the samples from two features (Features 127 and 295/A) were suitable for analysis. We received the following dates for the samples: 3400±40, 3360±40, 3215±40 BP (conventional radiocarbon dates) and 1740-1630, 1740-1610, 1510-1440 cal BC. In sum, we may say the Bronze Age settlement at Nagyrozvágy is undoubtedly one of the major settlement sites of the late phase of the Füzesabony culture. Judit Koós 44