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
362 THE SITE OF KOMPOLT, KISTÉR of the surface, near a spot where water washed other phenomena away. These included features 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 80, 83, 84, 86, 97, 275, 276 and 277. Finally 21 features from other periods with Sarmatian finds must also be mentioned. These spots may be best characterised as localised stray finds. They included features 5, 12, 22, 29, 34, 35, 60, 65, 67, 77, 98, 107, 121, 131, 143, 175, 183, 185, 189, 246 and 249. Moving from west to east, the following observations were made over the excavated surface: The environs of shaft well recorded as Feature 158 was found 2 m east of the house identified as Feature 102/103 with a long axis oriented southsouthwest/northnortheast. A protuberance of the site plan at the side of the group of settlement phenomena labelled Feature 158 leads into a round pit in a step-like manner. A deeper post-hole was found within this latter feature. The ditch of a plank fence was found stretching between the house and the well's environment. Another well (Feature 23) was found 2.5 m southeast of this latter area. A third well (Feature 157) was located further away, at a similar distance. The structures of these wells are different. The ground plans of wells 23 and 157 were round, while that of 158 was rectangular. The fill in either of these wells contained Roman or Germanic material. The house, on the other hand, yielded Germanic finds. North and northeast of the environs of Feature 158, the shaft well, two shaft ovens were found (Features 149 and 151). It is noteworthy that structural elements of these two shaft ovens are located in opposite directions. The firing area of Feature 151 is located in the northeast, while that of Feature 149 is in the south. In the area north and east of the well, several working surfaces were recognised in the direction of the shaft ovens. This part of the settlement is closed by the ditch of a plank fence in the east (Feature 202). House 152 belongs to the settlement's next section. Its long axis was oriented in a way similar to that of House 102. Feature 148, a well, lay two meters northeast of House 152. Neither of these features contained Roman or Germanic material. It may be hypothesised, that a well (Feature 145) and its environs, located 10-11 m to the north, used to belong to this house as well. The fill of this well, on the other hand, yielded Germanic material. A 10 m empty band was discovered east of these features. This was followed by a 60 m section covered by pits and a Sarmatian habitation surface. Two other wells were found at the western edge of this group of pits, Features 111 and 266. These contained Germanic material as well. A zone of water erosion was found in the northern part of the excavated area, in which Sarmatian, Germanic and Roman sherds were found, localised at several points. Well 69 was discovered near this humid depression, while Well 20 came to light within the same zone, on the southern side. The features became densely distributed east of the wells. Sporadically located pits were found within the 60 m broad zone. This indicates that the edge of another section of the settlement was encountered here. Further away from the relatively empty surface, a smaller house (Feature 121) and a well (Feature 182) were found. Twenty meters Southeast of these features another house (Feature 211) was found. The orientations of these buildings are identical to those of the aforementioned houses. East of this area only small pits occur sporadically, sometimes with secondary Sarmatian materials in Avar features. However, neither Germanic, nor Roman materials were found in the eastern section of the excavated area. The aforementioned phenomena indicate that the settlement structure was loose, the houses and adjacent features had not been arranged in along a system of streets 4 8 as was the case at the site of Polgár. The environs of wells as well as shaft ovens are indicative of industrial activity at the settlement. However, it still remains to be explained, why there were so many wells at this site. Altogether six wells were recovered at Gyoma 133, but the industrial character of that settlement was fundamentally different from the phenomena observed at KompoltKistér. 4 9 Numerous wells were also found at the neighbouring site of Kompolt-Kistéri tanya. It is possible that, since the river was located far away, a number of wells, sometimes several around the same house, 5 0 were dug at the settlement in order to provide water for livestock. Meanwhile, it may be hypothesised that only a few wells could be dated to the same, short period of time, that is, not all of them functioned at the same time. Excavations of Sarmatian settlements along the M3 Motorway show that in this area, which was rather densely populated during the Roman Period, numerous forms of settlements coexisted. Conclusions concerning the way of life may be drawn in part on the basis of the character of settlement features and from the archaeological as well as archaeozoological find material. At the site of Kompolt-Kistér, the character of settlement features is most reminiscent to those of Phase A at the Gyoma 133 site. That part of the Gyoma settlement was of agricultural character. No typical refuse and features associated with bone manufacturing or metallurgy were found at the site of Kompolt-Kistér. The animal bone material, on the other hand, offers positive evidence. Its quantity and composition is indicative of a settlement whose main function may have been agriculture and animal husbandry. 5 1 When the chronological identification of the settlement was carried out, no visible superposition was noted between features of the Sarmatian Period. In most cases, the dating of features was carried out on the basis of find materials recovered from them. The materials found in houses and wells do not represent the original material associated with these features, since they were all deposited in the form of secondary fill after the feature had been abandoned. These fills are stratified, thus total synchrony may be ruled out. In the cases of wells, several phases of accumulation may be observed, that
