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

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

Quadrate 103, pit "XXX". The shape of the pit is not described by the excavator. Its depth, measured from the discolorification was 0.21 m. Quadrate 102, pit "XXXI". The patch indicating the pit was observed on the floor of grave 114 (Scythian). Quadrate 72, pit "XXXIII". Shallow pit with rounded bottom. Its dimensions and shape are not recorded in the excavation diary. Quadrate 99, pit 'XXXVI". According to the excavation diary, this pit was more or less circular in form and had a diameter of 1.60 m. Its fill yielded Szakálháttype pottery fragments as well as fragments of burnt wattle and daub. A burnt layer was observed on the floor of the pit by the excavator, from under which were recovered "numerous delicately patterned sherds". Quadrate 99, pit "XXXVII". The diameter of this circular-mouthed pit was 1.55 m. The diameter of its slightly rounded bottom was a mere 0.40 m. Its greatest depth, measured from the first discolorification, was 0.40 m. Fragments of a vessel with a human face representation are mentioned by the excavator. Pit "XXXVIII" (in house 4). No mention is made of the dimensions of the pit; its shape is described as being slightly beehive-shaped and having an even floor. Settlement features, houses One complete house, parts of three houses and a total of 56 steep-sided, mostly shallow refuse pits yielding Neolithic finds were excavated in 1979—1980 at Csanytelek

—Újhalastó. On the basis of house 1, the other houses of Csanytelek show striking similarities to the buildings of the Linear Pottery culture of Western and Central Europe as regards their groundplan and building technique (Fig. 3). On the basis of the present evidence it would appear that the longhouses of the Linear Pottery culture — disregarding differences in dimensions and orientation — are surprisingly uniform as regards their building technique within the distribution territory of this cultural complex from Belgium through South Holland and the Rhine region, in South-West Germany, Central Germany and Czechoslovakia

5 and, as shown by the house at Csanytelek, also in the Carpathian Basin. The length of these houses ranges between 10 and 40 m; their width appears to be more constant, being 6—7.5 m on the average. These houses share numerous characteristic features, namely that these large rectangular buildings were erected around a framework of vertical wooden posts and their walls were supported by five rows of posts : the first and the fifth ensuring the rigidity of the long walls, the inner three serving to support the roof. The three rows of posts aligned along the longitudinal axis of the house were usually more massive (having a diameter of 0.4—0.5 m) and were dug deeper (sometimes to a depth of 1.4 m) than the posts ensuring the rigidity of the walls.

6 The extant, smaller posts which were dug to a shallower depth supported the wattle and daub walls which were plastered with clay both on their inner and outer side

7 and were occasionally also whitewashed.

8 5 Stieren, A. : Bandkeramische Grossbauten bei Bochum und ihre Paralellen in Mitteleuropa. BRGK 33 (1943—50) 79. 6 Soudsky, В., The Neolithic Site of Bylany. Antiquity XXXVI (1962) 197. 7 Schlette, F., Die ältesten Haus- und Siedlungsformen des Menschen. Ethn. Arch. Forschungen 5—6 (1958—59) 83. 8 A house of the Linear Band Pottery culture excavated at Herkheim had whitewashed walls. Germania 8 (1924) 82, Germania 16 (1932) 187 and Germania 17 (1933) 181. See also Dehn—Sangmeister, Die Steinzeit im Ries. (1954) 34. 16