A Móra Ferenc Múzeum Évkönyve, 1982/83-1. (Szeged, 1985)

Régészet - Hegedűs Katalin: The Settlement of the Neolithic Szakálhát-Group at Csanytelek–Újhalastó

The foundations of a narrow wall which ran into the left long wall of the house were observed in the posterior part of the house (Fig.3. ). This was interpreted as an inner partitioning wall. The depth of the bedding trench was a mere 15 cm the grey clay filling of the trench showed up well against the yellow subsoil. Even though traces of inner partitioning walls could not be observed elsewhere in the house, the possibility that the almost 20 m long building was originally divided into three rooms cannot be excluded. Four postholes lying roughly in a row were observed between pits 15 and 12, and the entrance of the house. If another traverse partitioning wall had originally been constructed, it could only have been at this point. These inner partitioning walls to which hardly any static function can be ascribed were probably not embedded as deeply as the main walls of the house. Neither the debris, the habitation floor, nor the possible hearth of the house were to be observed. Only features which lay beneath the house (erected over the surface) could be clearly discerned: the foundation trench and the postholes of three rows of posts. In spite of these deficiencies, the house can be regarded as a characteristic Linear Pottery building. The lack of a floor and debris, the relatively shallow depth of the four graves

2 unearthed in front of the entrance can be attributed to the fact that the surface of the peninsula extending into the floodplain had been heavily eroded during the subsequent millennia. The following conclusions can be drawn as regards the features inside and near the house, namely pits filled with refuse. Even though two pits which yielded no finds whatsoever damaged the long walls and, with the exception of grave 1, burials did not cut into the walls, it would nevertheless appear that the house is, earlier than the graves and certain pits. This assumption can be verified in the case of those pits which almost reach or border on the foundation trenches, or in the case of those pits, the lower part of which flares into a beehive-shape which outs into the lowermost part of these trenches (pits 6, 14 and 16). It is the opinion of the author that the pits which cut into the house, and grave 1 which damaged the gable wall, postdate the house, similarly to the four shallow graves which formed a loose semicircle facing the entrance of the house in the same level as the main walls of the house. The position of pits 1, 2, 3 and 5, and pits 7, 8 and 9 which were dug alongside the southern long wall of the house perhaps implies that these pits were coeval with the house. Pit 1. The roughly circular discoloured patch indicating the pit was observed 2.60 m NE of grave 1. The floor of the beehive-shaped pit was flat. Its greatest depth, measured from the first appearance of the discolorification was 1.45 m. Its fill consisted of brownish or dark grey earth and yellow lumps of clay. The fill was occasionally speckled with charcoal and tiny fragments of burnt wattle and daub. The fill also yielded numerous Szakálhát-type sherds and a rich zoological material. This pit was probably used for storing foodstuffs and later reused as a refuse pit. Pit. 2. Steep-sided pit which narrows step-like; dished floor. The pit was slightly globular and a smaller, shallow pit adjoined it on its north-western side. Its greatest depth, measured from the first appearance of colorification, was 1.75 m. The pit was filled with dark brown sandy earth and bright red fragments of burnt 2 The levelling was carried out by Gábor Rózsa, a geodetic surveyor. The measurements of depth marked on the ground plan are interpolated and are adjusted to the highest point of the peninsula rising out of the floodplain. The work machines only removed the surface vegetation ; the features shown in Fig. 3 lay at a depth of с 25—30 cm from the present surface. 9