Tálas László szerk.: The late neolithic of the Tisza region (1987)

Vésztő-Mágor (K. Hegedűs and J. Makkay)

K. HEGEDŰS-J. MAKKAY The other possible reconstruction of the fragments (a) and the remains of item (16) as an anthropomorphic vessel of the cult assemblage. H: about 73 cm 19] served. The deceased were usually wrapped into a mat, or some sort of textile or leather. The number of vessels deposited beside the deceased ranged between 1 and 12: these burials also yielded 3 copper artefacts, while belts strung of limestone beads (one of these was composed of 202 beads) were recovered from three burials. The northern part of the tell was again abandoned sometime during the later phase of the Bodrogkeresztúr period, and remained uninhabited throughout the Late Copper Age, in the Baden and Pitgrave (Yamna) period, as well as in the Early Bronze Age, as indicated by the accumulation of buried soil C that is thicker than buried soil B and is also surprisingly even. This evenness, however, may be due to surface levelling and landscaping by the Gyulavarsánd population that occupied the mound from the latter half of the Early Bronze Age or the beginning of the Middle Bronze Age. The stamped clay floor of the Gyulavarsánd houses was covered with reed mats. Occupation levels associable with this culture were observed in trenches IV to VIII at a depth of 200,150 and 100 cm resepctively (levels 7-8—9). A 'granary' was uncovered in level 7 that was dated to around 1750 using the C

14 method (Berlin laboratory). The uppermost level (9) was strongly disturbed. One outstanding find from the Gyulavarsánd period is a clay wagon model found on the southern side of the mound in a secondary position. THE CULT ASSEMBLAGE It has been mentioned in the above that the buildings uncovered in the 4 lower levels of trenches IV to VIII were practically superimposed and that their orientation was also identical: southeast to northwest. In spite of minor differences in their dimensions and architectural features, it is quite obvious that these remains represent five successive renewals: the buildings of levels 1, 2a and 2b in the Szakáihát period, and those of levels 3a, 3b and 4 in the Tisza period. This phenomenon underlines the continuity in occupation from the Szakáihat to the 92