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

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

Miklós Szabó, Jean-Paul Guillaumet, Béla Kriveczky POLGÁR-KIRÁLY-ÉRPART LATE IRON AGE SETTLEMENT FROM THE 4™-3

RD CENTURY B.C. The site lies west of Polgár, on one of the "peninsulas" of the roughly 4 km long elevation on the left bank of the Király Creek. The finds from this site, indicating intensive settlement, span the period from the Neolithic to the Middle Ages. The Late Iron Age is represented by houses and their associated pits. The southeastern group of four houses was more or less arranged into a semi-circle, while the northeastern and the southern houses stood somewhat isolated from the former. One conspicuous phenomenon was that in contrast to settlement features from other periods, the La Téne settlement features lay somewhat farther from the elevation which may be taken to indicate that the water level was higher in that period. The importance of the settlement sites excavated on the outskirts of Polgár and, also, Sajópetri lies in the fact that very few settlements from the La Téne period are known in the Great Hungarian Plain. Both Celtic settlements were rural and open, without any visible remains of fortifications. This is typical for settlements in the Carpathian Basin, and also holds true for comparable settlements in the oppidum period (2nd century B.C.). Both villages were rural, agrarian settlements and their occupants were engaged in agriculture. At Polgár, grinding stones were found on the floor of house 100/80, while house 200/209 yielded an iron sickle. At the same time, handicrafts, including metal working, played an important role as shown by the burnt crucible found in house 100/80. The slag remains in the crucible suggest that it was used in bronze casting. The excavated houses represent a type common in the La Téne Age of Central Europe. They were basically oblong in groundplan and slightly sunk into the ground, a practice that can most likely be explained by climatic factors. Wood played an important role in the superstructure of these houses, being almost the single construction material used in the Carpathian Basin. The length of houses ranged between 4-5.5 m, their width between 2-3.5 m. The most common house type had a pair of wooden posts on its short side, although they were not always positioned axially. The roof or its extension above the entrance was supported by posts outside the house; these were generally erected beside the short side which offered better protection from the rigours of weather. A pair of post holes were uncovered in the two corners of the long side in house 468/630 of the Polgár settlement which, on the basis of analogies, suggests wattling. However, the asymmetrical construction is rather unusual. The finds from the Polgár-Király-érpart village reflect a dominance of the La Téne culture. The masked bead, imported from the Pontic region, suggests the presence of a wealthier layer in 180