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

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

VÉSZTŐ-MÁGOR Horns of consecration (15) of the cult assemblage. Tisza culture. H: 26 cm [14] An irregularly shaped, roughly quadrangular pit filled with burnt wattle and daub fragments was uncovered in the western room of the house. Two oval patches of plastering were preserved in fairly good condition in the eastern room, and an oval pit was noted in the western room. It is not known whether the two (or perhaps three) pits had been dug from the floor level or from an overlying level. No traces of a doorway were detected; it probably lay in the western end, and may have been destroyed when the grave pits for two Tisza burials were dug (graves 39 and 38, two infant burials) and which also cut into the western wall of the house. The excavation records make no specific mention of unusual finds recovered from the floor of the house in level 3a. It would appear that the walls of the house had not been completely rebuilt in level 3b, but rather that minor flaws in the wall had been repaired and that the floor had been replastered (even though according to HEGEDŰS 1977, 21, the radiocarbon date for level 3a was 4300 b.c. and 4200 b.c. for level 3b). The remains of the house lay between a depth of 530 and 520 cm. An internal partitioning wall or low bench was observed in this level as well, and also a heavily burnt hearth positioned near the partitioning wall, but in the eastern room. A burnt clay rib divided the hearth; one half was burnt to a bright red colour, while the other half was extremely charred. The hearth of the western room was also renewed in this level. Two roughly quadrangular pits and a rectangular one filled with small fragments of burnt daub and charcoal specks had been dug into the floor. Remains of burnt debris whose origins could not be defined Large storage vessel (6) of the cult assemblage. Tisza culture. H: 33 cm [15] lay on the floor of the eastern room. According to the July 8, 1975, entry of the excavation diary numerous artefacts lay on the floor, including an altar leg with incised and painted decoration, and a small quadrangular vessel. The remains of three wooden planks laid side by side were unearthed in the southwestern corner, by the southern end of the western short wall; these had formed the threshold to the doorway. The length of the building in level 4 was about 13 m, its internal width was about 5.3-5.5 m. It was oriented southeast to northwest and lay exactly above the buildings in levels 3a and 3b, and also levels 1, 2a and 2b. The foundation trenches of its walls lay 30 cm deeper than the floor (that was found at a depth of 488—490 cm, measured in the southwestern corner of trench IV). This house had been constructed using a different technique: its walls were reinforced with a framework of wooden posts interconnected with a wattling of branches and twigs that was then daubed with clay. However, no traces of these posts were detected in the bedding trenches. The burnt remains of this house were first noted at a depth of 445 to 450 cm in the western section of trench IV; its thickness was 40 cm at the meeting point of trenches IV and V. This debris layer thinned out towards the northwest and the southeast, perhaps indicating the ends of the house. The burnt daub fragments preserved imprints of rough-hewn posts, halved timbers and branches trimmed of smaller twigs. The daub covering this wooden framework was thick and uneven on the outer side, and thinner and carefully smoothed on the inside. The thickness of the wall was 20 cm on the average, and was generally preserved to a height of 20-25 cm (even though some sections 95