Angi János – Lakner Lajos (szerk.): A Debreceni Déri Múzeum Évkönyve 2014 (Debrecen, 2014)

Régészet - Bajkai Rozália: Késő avar kori település Hajdúnánás határában

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BAJKAI ROZÁLIA

VIDA 1996

Vida Tivadar: Avar Period settlement and graves at the site of Gyoma 133. In: Cultural and landscape changes in South-East Hungary II. Ed.: Sándor ßökönyi. Budapest 1996,323—364.

VIDA 1999

Tivadar Vida: Die awarenzeitliche Keramik I. VAH 8. Berlin-Budapest 1999. VIDA 2011

Vida Tivadar: Sütőharangok és sütőfedők - régészeti adatok Dél- és Közép-Európa étkezési kultúrájához (Backglocken, Backdeckel und Backhauben. Archäologische Angaben zur Ernährungskultur Süd- und Mitteleuropas). In: Sötét idők falvai. 8-11. századi települések a Kárpátmedencében. Tempora Obscura. Szerk.: Kolozsi Barbara - Szilágyi Krisztián Antal. Debrecen 2011,701-817.

RÖVIDÍTÉSJEGYZÉK

ArchÉrt

ActaArchHung

BiMÉ

CommArchHung

DMÉ

FontArchHung

JAMÉ

MPK

VAH

Archaeologiai Értesítő (Budapest)

Acta Archaeologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae (Budapest)

A Bihari Múzeum Évkönyve (Berettyóújfalu) Communicationes Archaeologicae Hungaricae (Budapest)

A Debreceni Déri Múzeum Évkönyve (Debrecen) Fontes Archaeologici Hungáriáé (Budapest)

A Nyíregyházi Jósa András Múzeum Évkönyve (Nyíregyháza)

Mitteilungen der Prähistorischen Kommission der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften (Wien)

Varia Archaeologica Hungarica (Budapest)

Rozália Baj kai

Late Avar-age settlement on the fringe of Hajdúnánás

In 2005, the Institute of Archeology, Lóránt Eötvös Univerity (ELTE) unearthed part of a late Avar-age settlement on about an area of 1 hectare in Hajdúnánás (Mácsi dűlő). Due to the large area, several interesting habitation-structures were observed: the absence of ditches indicated that a sort of "village centre" dominated by dwelling buildings was uncovered.

On the eastern fringe of the settlement a row of (storage) pits were found in north/north-west - south/south-east direction. Here was the only pit that could be identified as the single well of the settlement, which was used as a garbage pit in a later phase of the late Avar age. On the basis

of the available data it is impossible to decide if the well was dug during the Avar age or in the 4th or 5th century. The exploration site yielded a building structure dating possibly from the 4-5th centuries and some pottery fragments from the pits of the same time. The functional division of the one-time settlement is indicated by the settlement structures set apart by their use.

Based on the findings it is assumed that there lived a self-supplying community who delt with leather processing (bone awls, scrapers) and working iron on a basic level (simple everyday iron tools).

The amount of the pottery findings was most suitable for anayses and chronological conclusions. The vessels of oldtime households were mostly composed of cooking pots, small pots, and - to a lesser extent - of bowls and baking bells. Considering technological aspects, I have created 7 pottery groups and 3 sub-groups. The various technological groups represent themselves in different proportions in the structures, but it is pottery made on the slow potter-wheel that undoubtedly dominates over the hand-shaped one.

As for the inner, relative chronology, I could establish two lines: on the one hand I observed the inner structure of the items, on the other I analysed the pottery findings in terms of differences in technology, shape, and decoration. Regarding the inner structure, the grouping of the houses and their territorial distribution was striking and led to the conclusion that they may have been fields owned by families or smaller communities. The younger generations may have built the new buildings in a 25-30-year rotation. Two super-positions were identified, while renewed coloumns, demolished fireplaces highlight a changing settlement structure.

When examining the pottery remnants, special attention was devoted to the proportion of slow potter's wheel made and hand shaped ceramics within the given structure. As we proceeded from the east towards the south, the former technigue appeared more and more dominant.

Regarding the relative chronology of the settlement, I relied on the occurence of vessels made on the potter's wheel that were round-bodied with a definite back-leaning edge and sharp angle at the neck (Ceramics group Li). Based on analogies, I consider these attributes characteristic of the vary last period of the late Avar age. I have distnguished two phases of the settlement, where the first one dates from the 8th century, and the second from the end of the 8th and the 9th centuries. House no. 32 belongs to the first phase with its hand-shaped vessels with horn-like mouth. They were ornamented with diagonal carvings and fingerprint patterns at the edge, and horizontal prints on the body. Phase 2 includes vessels with the above technological and formal characteristics, also ceramic items of group Li, and those that were dominated by the slow potter-wheel technology over that of the hand-shaped one. The majority of these objects, however, resisted a more precise classification within the 8-9th centuries.