Dani János - Hajdú Zsigmond - Nagy Emese Gyöngyvér szerk.: MÓMOSZ I. (Debrecen, 2001)

Nagy Emese Gyöngyvér: Az M3-as autópálya 6. lelőhelyének (Polgár-Csőszhalom dűlő) dokumentációja 1995-1997

EMESE GYÖNGYVÉR NAGY DOCUMENTATION ON EXCAVATION SITE NO. 6 AT ROUTE M3 (POLGÁR-CSŐSZHALOM-DŰLŐ) 1995-1997 FORMATION (PRELIMINARIES) AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE STRATIGRAPHY MATRIX The reason why I have selected the documentation of excavation site No. 6 at Polgár for demonstration was that — although we have excavated more than one sites in the area — all the useful ideas which had been accumulated in the experience of several years could be best realized and illustrated here. The archeological stratigraphy „Matrix" was invented in 1973 by an English research archeologist, Edward C. Harris. The essence of this method can be summed up as follows: to record archeological phenomena, stratification, and their interrelations (interface) observed at a given site along a sequence of figures, in which each figure indicates a new phenomenon that the archeologist carrying out the excavation considers significant. Thus, each figure contains a definition the interrelated quality of which we can also display in space by rendering the individual figures to one another. A precondition for the method is a printed form/sheet upon which the bits and pieces of information can be quickly recorded according to the question groups prepared previously. Originally, this form was used at the excavations of towns and villages dating back to the Middle Ages, where it made the recording of the spatial relations of a vertical sequence of strata (walls, etc.) possible. A few years afterwards, these recording sheets were already used successfully and even developed further, according to local requirements. By this stage, however, they were already known by two different names: „Site Recording Sheet" and „Skeleton Recording Sheet" (Museum of London), which would correspond to what we used to call grave sheet and to the data recording sheet of other sites, respectively. The Harris Matrix was first used in Hungary by Pál Raczky at the Polgár-Csőszhalom tell-settlement excavation in 1989. Here, each one of the objects corresponds to individual stratigraphie units. Nevertheless, at the larger rescue excavation sites around the motorways, the method had to be modified. The modification was necessary due to the fact that final and definitive rescue excavations had to be carried out in a large area, and during a given period of time. The new concept made it necessary to employ not just one but two sequences of figures, which conformed to the requirements of the new type of excavation work: - following the opening of large areas, the surface structures require pre-interpretation (stratigraphie figures) for commencing the excavation; - the other sequence of figures actually corresponds to the basic interpretation of the Harris Matrix: this provides an opportunity for postexcavation on-site evaluation, which we called object (evaluation) figure. It has to be noted, however, that rendering the two sequences of figures side by side enhances the possibility for errors. Nevertheless, we consider their application useful since, by rendering them side by side, the current condition of the excavation can be adequately expressed, i.e. the separated units for further processing can be more easily documented and they also facilitate a more detailed storing of information data. The stratigraphie data recording sheet that we used first can be divided into four main sections: /. Definition of space and location - basic data (excavation site, object, and stratigraphie figures) - taxonomical classification (type of object: e.g. ditch, pit, etc.) - exact data concerning the location of finding (within 100 x 100 and 20 x 20 squares)