Selmeczi László szerk.: Szolnok Megyei Múzeumi Évkönyv (1982-83)

Cs. Siklódi: An early Copper Age settlement at Tiszaföldvár

Cs. Siklódi: AN EARLY COPPER AGE SETTLEMENT AT TISZAFÖLDVÁR In April 1979 a rescue excavation had to be conducted near Tiszaföldvár, on a site lying SW of the village on a levee of a former, dried-out watercourse of the river Tisza (PI. I.). Surface finds indicated settlements of the Kőrös and Tiszapolgár cultures lying about 300 m from each other. The rescue excavation was undertaken at the later and a total area of 181 m

2 was uncovered. A surface house, an infant burial, an oven and several pits were excavated at this site, which consisted of a single habitation level, assigned to the Kisrétpart group. • Description of the settlement features

: House 1 (PI. 2.): The presence of a one-roomed stucture approximately 5 x 4 m with a NW-SE orientation was indicated by pottery fragments and animal bones on a beaten earht floor. No traces of post holes were observed on either side of the house. The house was destroyed by fire, the burnt debris was subsequently disturbed by pluoghing, but remaining fragments of burnt wattle-and-daub showed clear a impression of plaited branches. The inner surface of the house was smoothed and subsequently coated with a fine plaster occasionally decorated with impressed circles (PI. 8:8). No ovens or hearths were observed within the house. Two groups of pottery covered by burnt wattle-and-daub were unearthed in the northern part of the house. One group comprised large storage vessels, the fragments of which were found at the depth of 70-110 cm, i.e. they were originally dug into the floor to a depth of about 60-70 cm. Cooking pots were found west of these vessels. With the exception of barrel-shaped vessel, all were broken. These vessels were porbably broken when the walls of the house collapsed, but it is also possible that they fell off a shelf. This latter possibility would also explain why one of the vessels was found upside down. These two groups of vessels were probably the household pottery that the inhabitants had not been able to rescue from the fire. An E-W oriented skeleton of a dog along with an obsidian blade were unearthed on the southern side of the house beside the floor (under the wall?). This animal burial can perhaps be regarded as a foundation deposit. A similar practice was also observed at other sites, for example Branc in Slovakia

2 and Herpály

3

, the sacrificed animal being a dog in both cases. An oven was unearthed at a distance of 11 m from the house. Its fire-pit was on the western side. The platform was plastered with characteristic sherds of the Kisrétpart group in order to increase its heat preserving capacity. It was possible to assemble a bowl from these sherds (PI. 4:2). Portions of the side walls of the oven were fairly well preserved and it was thus possible to reconstruct an oval, domed oven of about 1,3 x 1 m. An open-air hearth lay between the house and the oven, at a distance of 3 m from the house and 8 m from the oven. This had not been renewed at any time and its firing platform was also plastered with sherds. A grinding stone and fragments of several cooking pots and barrel-shaped vessels were found beside it. This implies that grinding and the preparation of meals was done outside the house. A roughly cylindrical pit with a diameter of 1,2 m yielding extremly rich ceramic material was also unearthed in the course of the excavations. The pit had a depth of 0,95 m and narrowed slightly towards its bottom. Pottery fragments were intermixed with burnt clay. A 20 x 20 x 15 cm stone slab, one side of wich was reddened with ochre, lay at the bottom of the pit. This can perhaps be taken to imply that this was not a simple refuse bin, but a sacrificial pit (bothros) into which offerings were placed from time to time. The fact that the finds within the pit were "stratified", i.e. sterile layers of earth were observed between the pottery fragments, also supports this possibility. Similar bothroi were excavated within houses at Branc, in layer assigned to the Lengyel IV-Brodzany-Nitra phase. Two large sacrificial pits were found beside a large storage building.

4 This gives some indication of the hierarchy of cults and communal practices. Individual families probably made offerings within their own houses, but special rites on the occasion of a larger festivity were performed in the name of the entire community beside the building in which the grain supply of the community was stored. The contents of pit, assigned to the Cucuteni Ab period, unearthed at Traian were interpreted by the excavators a

s the remains of a similar festivity, a "ritual feast". A layer of shells and a large amount of animal bones lay in ashy layer at the bottom of the pit into which were placed numerous vessels, as in the graves unearthed nearby. According to H. Dumitrescu this was a sacrifice to ensure the fertility of the land.

6 The appearance of bothroi in settlements of the Carpathian Basin definitely indicates some sort of cultural change.

7 Comprehensive analyses and comparative studies can most definitely contribute towards a better understanding of the spiritual life of prehistoric ages.

8 Grave 1: An E-W oriented infant burial was unearthed north of the house. A tulip-shaped chalice whit an encrusted pattern and an obsidian blade was found beside the badly preserved skeleton lying in a contracted position (PI. 4:1). The shape and ornamentation of the rich ceramic material unearthed in the course of the excavations assign it to the Kisrétpart group of the Tiszapolgár culture. Since a fairly large number of vessels have been assembled, our knowledge of settlement pottery has been greatly increased as far as vessel types, new shapes and composition are concerned. It is especially important that the pottery assemblage of an individual household can now be reconstructed. This comprises mainly cooking and storage vessels, but richly decorated fine ware is also represented. The 36 vessels found in the house can be assigned to the following types

: 7 storage vessels (PI. 3:1-4); 5 biconical pots with cylindrical or funnel-shaped necks (PI. 5:5-6); 4 pots with a slightly better finish and slightly marked in profile (PI. 5:3-4); 5 barrelshaped vessels (PI. 6:4-5); 3 truncated conical bowls standing on low pedestals or ring bases (PI. 6:3 and pi. 5:1); 4 biconical vessels with cylindrical necks and a low pedestal with rich encrusted pattern (PI. 4:3-4,6); 2 pedestalled conical bowls with encrusted decoration (PI. 4:5); 1 coarser undecorated pedestalled vessel

; 4 small bowls with out-turning rims (PI. 5:2) and 1 dipper (PI. 6:2). The five larger storage vessels had a total capacity of 350 1, and since there were at least two more large storage vessels 28