Vaday Andrea – Bánffy Eszter – Bartosiewicz László – T. Biró Katalin – Gogältan Florin – Horváth Friderika – Nagy Andrea: Kompolt-Kistér : Újkőkori, bronzkori, szarmata és avar lelőhely Leletmentő ásatás az M+-as autópálya nyomvonalán (Eger, 1999)
The site of Kompolt, Kistér
361 THE SITE OF KOMPOLT, KISTÉR quantity of archaeological finds is further confirmed by field observations, concerning the depths at which Roman Period and Avar finds were encountered. 3 8 The aforementioned arguments also offer a picture on the relative chronological position of Roman Period wells. However, it may be stated only hypothetically that wells with smaller deposits are later than those which were almost entirely filled in. Graph 37 shows the size distribution of well surfaces. 3 9 The depths of the same wells are shown in Graph 38. Finally, Graph 39 clearly shows that there is no meaningful numerical relationship between the volumes and depths of these wells. This means that the dimensions of wells dug at Kompolt-Kistér were independent of the actual depth. The two shaft ovens discovered here may be considered special settlement features (Features 149 and 151). Six such shaft ovens were recovered during the course of excavations at the site of Gyoma 133. 4 0 This type of oven is composed of actually three parts. One of these is the working surface, from where the oven is heated. The next section is a shaft that forms a heating channel. Finally, the third part is a smoke chamber. The shaft ovens recovered at Kompolt-Kistér belong to the structures with so-called drilled smoke holes. They are different from the Gyoma specimens in that their smoke chambers do not look like depressions of oblong shapes: they are rather a broadening of the heating channel in the form of an elongated, oval pit. At this point, there have been only vague indications that this type of feature also existed during late Sarmatian times in the area under discussion here. For example, Feature 680 at the site of Polgár - Kengyel-köz was similar, 4 1 and the remains of a "smokehouse" found at Szihalom-Pamlényi tábla may also be cited here as an additional example. 4 2 Six fence foundation ditches were found at this settlement: Features 40, 61, 192, 202, 234 and 240. Of these, only the ditch recorded as Feature 192 could be identified as a Sarmatian ditch on the basis of its artifactual material 4 3 The others contained either no archaeological finds or yielded only artefacts in secondary positions of no dating value. These ditches are short, closed at both ends, narrow and relatively deep. No post-holes were found at their bottoms. 4 4 In most cases, the ditches are narrowing downwards. They rarely contain artefacts, this is why their dating can only be attempted on the basis of settlement structure at this multi-period site. The fill of these ditches is homogeneous, showing no stratification. The bottom fill is sometimes denser. 4 5 On the basis of their dimensions, it may be ruled out that these features would have been used for storage. Their contents unambiguously show that they were filled at once. Dense deposits near the bottom of some of these ditches, as well as the downwardly narrowing cross-section and homogeneous fills may indicate that a massive, wooden plank fence stood in them. The locations of these ditches may be related to their chronological positions as well, since all of them fit within the Roman Period settlement structure. Four open air fireplaces could be linked with the Sarmatian Period: Features 101, 130, 224 and 225. Their original forms can be seldom recognised, sometimes they were located in slight depressions. It is noteworthy, however, that considerable numbers of animal bones were found around them, at least in comparison with the sizes of these features. The bones themselves, however, were not burnt. This may perhaps indicate that the fireplaces were used during meals in warmer weather. 4 6 Two solitary post-holes, Features 164 and 299, could be dated to the Roman Period. For these, the same holds true as for the aforementioned fireplaces: there were quantities of animal bone in their proximity. The distributions of ageable bones found near the post holes may be summarised as follows: 4 7 adult cattle, adult sheep or goat, a single bone from a pig of non-identifiable age and another single bone from an adult horse. These posts stood in the open, there are no features nearby that could have been structurally related to them. On the basis of archaeological and archaeozoological finds as well as their structures, however, they are undoubtedly archaeological features. On the other hand, they cannot be considered elements of fencing either, since the distance between them is approximately 6 m! The animal bones recovered, without exception, originate from animals that played a role in Sarmatian food tradition. It may thus be hypothesised that the two posts standing in the open area were used in slaughtering, skinning and butchering animals. The two posts are located in the westernmost zone of the excavated area. There were a house (Feature 102) and two wells (Features 23 and 157) in their proximity. The environs of another well (Feature 158) also overlapped with this area, as well as that of two shaft ovens (Features 149 and 151). The presence of possible processing features as well as the proximity of water confirm the aforementioned hypothetical function of these posts. The nearest to these two post holes was a shallow feature that had practically ceased to exist (Feature 105). Again, there is a remarkable difference between the representations of the archaeological and archaeozoological material: in addition to two sherds 19 animal bones were recovered from it! Their distribution by species is similar to that mentioned in relation to the area near the post holes. In addition to the settlement features mentioned above, the Roman Period settlement included 16 locations where shallow features must have existed prior to modern-day plodding. These included Features 18, 19, 21, 25, 37, 85, 89, 90, 104, 105, 109, 117, 153, 159, 230 and 241. Major concentrations of archaeological finds were observed at ten more points. In these cases, it was not possible to unambiguously tell, whether they marked destroyed settlement features or they were natural concentrations of material on the walking surface. These spots were labelled as Features 76, 78, 79, 82, 213, 220, 223, 255, 261 and 284. Fourteen more concentrations of Sarmatian materials were detected at the northern edge
