A Debreceni Déri Múzeum Évkönyve 1997-1998 (Debrecen, 1999)

Utak a múltba - Kivonat az M3 autópálya nyomvonalán feltárt régészeti leletek kiállítási katalógusából

Pál Raczky, Alexandra Anders, Emese Nagy, Béla Kriveczky, Zsigmond Hajdú, Tamás Szálai POLGÁR-NAGY KASZIBA COPPER AGE BURIALS FROM THE LATE 5

TH MILLENNIUM B.C. Polgár site 12 lies on an elevation beside the eastern bank of a former meander of the Tisza river, at the edge of an oxbow called Kengyel Creek. Beside finds of the Tiszadob-Bükk group of the Alföld Linear Pottery, artefacts from the Early Bronze Age Makó group and the Late Bronze Age Gáva culture were also found, as well as settlement features of the Sarmatian and Late Medieval period. The Copper Age is represented by four burials which can be assigned to the Tiszapolgár culture, representing the early phase of this period. The graves included a male and a female burial, as well as two child burials. This grave group can be seen to represent the burials of one family. It seems likely that this grave group was part of a larger cemetery that fell beyond the planned line of the future motorway. The graves were without exception northeast to southwest oriented. The male burial (Feature 39) which was the most lavishly equipped lay in a slightly irregularly shaped grave pit. The slightly contracted skeleton lay on its right side. Altogether eleven pottery vessels were found in the region of the head and feet. The lower mandible of a boar, found behind the skull and near the shoulder blades, is a distinctive grave good of male burials in the Csöszhalom area and, also, of the Late Neolithic burials in the Tisza region. Polished and chipped stone artefacts lay near the skull and beside the body. Beads ground from Spondylus shell lay scattered in the grave. A tubular copper bead was also found. Two polished bone tools were discovered in the region of the head, together with bones from small ruminants, most likely the remains of a food offering. Compared to other known graves from the period, this Copper Age burial can be seen as the grave of an outstandingly wealthy male. The female burial (Feature 38) found in close proximity to the above grave contained a skeleton that lay extended on its back. The twelve vessels were similarly found in the region of the head and the feet. A row of Spondylus shell beads, most likely the remains of a belt, lay in the region of the waist, but beads were also found scattered on the grave floor. Observations made during the excavation of Late Neolithic graves at the Polgár-Csőszhalom site suggest that the throwing of beads into the grave pit was part of the burial rite. One of the child burials, containing the skeleton of a 7-10 years old girl, was slightly disturbed. The skeletal bones which lay in their original position suggest that the slightly contracted skeleton was laid on its left side. Four pottery vessels were found by the head and in the region of the waist. Beads ground from Spondylus shell lay scattered in the grave, again suggesting that these beads were thrown into the grave as part of the burial rite. These beads, which were originally strung into a necklace, were apparently thrown into the grave before the corpse was lowered into it since some of them lay under the bones. The sheep or goat bones found by the skull attest to the placing of food into the grave. One of the most valuable grave goods 170