A Móra Ferenc Múzeum Évkönyve: Studia Archaeologica 5. (Szeged, 1999)

Florin GOGÂLTAN: The Southern Border of the Otomani Culture

resents an almost Baroque style, even if decorative techniques are not too varied. Such ornamentation occurs at Cornes,ti (Fig. 10. 3-4) and Foeni (Fig. 13. I, 3-4; Fig. 14. 2-5) as well. Unfortunately, it is practically impossible to assemble an exhaustive catalogue of these decorations. Even though many decorative motifs, such as garlands, hatched triangles, different types of channelling, etc., are similar, we rarely find the same combination of motifs. Many of the fine wares are decorated to the extent of suggesting that the potters of the Middle Bronze Age had a real horror vacui. In any overview of the elements which link the Socodor tell to the southern cultural environment, one must also consider the differences in relation to this area. The most prominent difference is the decorative style. The various types of incised spiral patterns, as well as some combinations of lines (Fig. 8. 3-5) are not typical for the Corne§ti-Crvenka group. During the analysis of the unpublished assemblages in the Museums of Cluj and Arad, as well as the study of the finds published by D. Popescu (POPESCU 1956a, Fig. 9. 16, Fig. 15. 2. Fig. 28. 6-8), I noticed that incised spiral patterns were not characteristic of Socodor either. D. Popescu also noted that "the spiral rarely appears on the pottery from Socodor, the most common decorative motif being irregular incisions at first and, later, arcs forming garlands" (POPESCU 1956a, 63). This only appears in the upper layers (POPESCU 1956a, 48, 53, 62-63). On the neighbouring tell at Vär§and, spiral patterns often adorn cups, bowls and larger vessels (POPESCU 1956, Fig. 64. 1-3. Fig. 65. 1-2, Fig. 76. 9. Fig. 71.3, Fig. 72. 5, 7. etc; BONA 1975, PI. 132. 16, PI. 134. Pi. 135, etc.). It is therefore unnecessary to discuss its presence in the find assemblages from the tells in the Berettyó (Barcäu) valley because it represents one of the most important decorative motifs of the so-called Gyulavarsánd culture. This is why I. Bona labelled the Gyulavarsánd and Füzesabony cultures "die Kulturen der Spiralbuckelgefäße" (BÓNA 1975, 121-170).

17 Last but not least, I have to mention that one of the most common pottery types — the so-called 'Swedish helmet' shaped bowl (BONA 1975, 128; BADER 1978, 53-54) — is missing from the Socodor assemblage. In contrast, it appears at Värsand (ROSKA 1941, Fig 5. 5; POPESCU 1956, Fig. 65. 3; BONA 1975. Pi. 139. 1-7, 10-12), as well as among the finds from the Békés tell (BANNER-BÓNA 1974, Pl. l. 2. Pl. 2

1. 15, Pl. 27. 6) and the tells in the Berettyó (Barcäu) valley: Berettyóújfalu-Herpály (MÁTHÉ 1984, 155, Fig. 3. 6) and Berettyóújfalu-Szilhalom (MÁTHÉ 1988, 31, 34. Pl. 25.3, Pl. 26. 3). The relative chronology of these tells has been often discussed, and I shall therefore not deal with this issue here; moreover, various charts showing the development of the most important sites in eastern Hungary and western Romania have also been published (MÁTHÉ 1988, Fig. 21; BRONZEZEIT 40-41). The beginning of occupation at the Socodor settlement is marked by the appearance of broombrushed and textile impressed pottery. In establishing chronological connections between this tell and the Corne§ti, Varçand, Békés tells, as well as the tell settlements in the Berettyó (Barcäu) valley, one also has to consider the imports of the Wietenberg culture (CHIDIOSAN 1974; CHIDIO§AN 1980, 85-95; BOROFFKA 1994, 286-287. Maps 3-5). The currently available evidence indicates that at Socodor such imports appear in the upper layers (POPESCU 1956a, 73, Fig. 33. 2-3). A similar phenomenon was noted at Cornesti which yielded a bowl with 'Zahnstempelung' decoration, typical for phase III of the Wietenberg culture (SOROCEANU-RADU 1975, 38-39). Even though the stratigraphical contexts of the Wietenberg imports from Varçand are unknown (BONA 1975, PI. 138. 6, PI. 139. 9), the contemporaneity of these two tells is generally accepted.

18 Wietenberg sherds with similar decoration have also been found at Békés (BANNER-BÓNA 1974, Pl. 19. 6-8, Pl. 44. 14-15) and at Berettyóújfalu-Herpály (MÁTHÉ 1984, 157, Fig. 7. 13-16, 18, Fig. 9. 2^1. Fig. 10. 7). The Socodor tell is thus later than the Gornea-Orlesti group and it was abandoned when early groups of the Tumulus culture appeared. In the new chronology of the Middle Bronze Age of southwest Romania, this is the Middle Bronze Age I

—III phase. In terms of the Central European chronological framework, the Socodor tell spans the Bz Al-Bl phases (GOGÂLTAN 1998a, 197-200). The problem of the cultural context of the Socodor-Cäväjdia tell has been often debated. Many researchers assigned it to the Otomani culture which corresponds to what Hungarian archaeologists call the Gyulavarsánd culture. One inter17 For a detailed discussion, cp, BÓNA 1975, 126-127; BADER 1978, 45-46; CHIDIOSAN 1980, 57-59; MÁTHÉ 1988, 32, 34, 37; BOROFFKA 1994, 182-184, 189-190, 192, 194; etc. 18 See also MÁTHÉ 1988, Fig. 21. Another argument for contemporaneity is the occurrence of "Vatina" type amphorae.