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

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

Zsigmond Hajdú, Ibolya M. Nepper, Márta Sz. Máthé, Pál Raczky, Béla Kriveczky, Marietta Csányi, Judit Tárnoki POLGÁR-KENGYEL-KÖZ SARMATIAN SETTLEMENT FROM THE A.D. 3

RD-4™ CENTURY About 2.5 ha of the 28-32 ha large area was investigated and a total of 876 features were uncovered. 31 of these were prehistoric (14 from the Neolithic, 8 from the Copper Age and 9 from the Early Bronze Age), 17 were modern, with the remaining 828 features representing the Sarmatian or the Late Roman, Imperial period. The Sarmatian settlement uncovered at Polgár-Kengyelköz is one of the most extensively investigated sites from this period in the Great Hungarian Plain. The excavated area showed a consciously planned settlement from the Sarmatian period, lying parallel to the elevation beside the watercourse and protected by an intricate system of ditches and fences. There was a double ditch running in a N-S direction which, on the basis of its excavated sections and aerial photos, was part of a complex, about 600-700 m long fortifications system. The other side of the settlement was unprotected. This suggests a fortifications system similar to the one observed at Polgár-Csőszhalom-dűlő: the settlement was protected with an intricate system of ditches and fences on the side facing the watercourse which also offered natural protection, while the settlement part lying farther from the watercourse was open. A total of 22 rectangular sunken houses were uncovered. The houses were erected around a framework of wooden posts and had gabled roofs. Eight of these houses were aligned parallel to the watercourse and formed a regular street. The size of the houses ranged between 6-6.5 m by 44.5 m. Little is known about their internal furnishings. Regular pits were associated with these sunken houses, usually on their western side. An additional thirteen sunken structures were uncovered which probably had some economic function. The Sarmatian settlement uncovered at Kengyel-köz formed a conspicuously closed unit, with the closely spaced houses - often lying no more than 3-4 m from each other - allowing the reconstruction of a village-like unit. One of these houses had a central function, indicated also by its unusual size. One of the economic structures, a 5 m by 3.5 m large and 180 cm deep pit covered with a gabled roof apparently served as the place where the vessels manufactured in one of the pottery workshops were dried. The most common settlement features were round, beehive shaped pits used for storing grain. Some of these pits yielded unusual finds which can be interpreted as sacrificial assemblages. A series of amorphous pits were found beyond the ditch, near the former floodplain, and along the eastern periphery of the settlement. These were originally used for the extraction of clay and secondarily reused as refuse pits. A handful of deep cylindrical pits uncovered near the floodplain can be interpreted as wells. Other pits, measuring 5-6 m by 1 m which were V-shaped in section 191