Majorossy Judit: A Ferenczy Múzeum régészeti gyűjteményei - A Ferenczy Múzeum kiadványai, D. sorozat: Múzeumi füzetek - Kiállításvezetők 5. (Szentendre, 2014)
Patay Róbert: Középső bronzkor
been poured into the mould as soon as possible, not to let it cool under the temperature of moulding. Pulling the melting pot away from the fireplace and slightly turning it to its side, they could remove dross still in the material, and then they could pour it into the mould through the other spout. In the Early Bronze Age the surface of the ingots were shaped after moulding, and were later hammered, they tried to repair the incidental failures of moulding by cold shaping. At the bottom part of a pit excavated near Üllő two stone artifacts were found: one is the fragment of an originally triangle-shaped shafthole axe with vertical working edge and flat head, and the other one is a square rubbing or polishing stone. On the edge of the large axe the sharp traces of usage can be observed. It was broken at the shaft-hole, therefore, later a new edge was formed on it, and they also tried to drill it again. The pottery of the Makó culture is characterised by few forms, poor ornamentation, usually brushed or combed decoration. The only exceptions are the pedestalled bowls with rich decoration on their inner sides. The incised patterns of their inner sides were filled up with crushed white dust. These vessels were probably made not for everyday use, but for ceremonial purposes. At the end of the age of the Makó culture a group reached the Csepel-Island from the West arriving along the River Danube that is called the people of the Bell Beaker culture all over Europe after their artistically made and richly decorated vessels whose shape resemble a turned bell. In Western Europe in the 3rd millennium B.C. after the Neolithic the use of metal - first of all copper and its natural alloy - was linked to a widespread assemblage, the so-called Bell Beaker and some characteristic types of artifacts. The finds from Hungary show the greatest similarity with those from Moravia. It is rather characteristic of this culture that its people usually settled down along bigger rivers and on the coastlines. Their shipping knowledge was proven by those African ivory objects that were found in Bell Beaker harbours of Southern Spain, as pieces of evidence for a regular trade between these territories. At the same time, the huge amount of horse bones that were found in the garbage pits of their settlements in Hungary refers to the prominent role of horse-breeding in their culture. Being one of the most impressive vessels of European pre-history, the name-giver bell beaker was covered by a streaked-geometric design, which sometimes contained calcic incrustation, too. The vessels in some places were also painted. British scholars connected the spread of this type of vessel with the spread of beer-drinking tradition, and this theory seems to be affirmed by the latest scientific investigations in Spain. At Budakalász during the rescue excavations prior to the building of MO highway and ring-road around Budapest, a Bell Beaker cemetery was excavated with 1070 burials. In Europe this is the largest cemetery of the given culture, since otherwise cemeteries with only some 100 or 200 graves are known from Moravia and from Hungary. In 2006-2007 near Szigetszentmiklós new archaeological investigations were carried out, during which altogether 219 graves were unearthed. Consequently, the second largest cemetery of the Bell Beakers - preceded in the number only by the one at Budakalász - was also uncovered. The cemetery at Budakalász situated 200 metres far from the bank of the River Danube, while the settlement belonging to it lay directly on the riverside. Some of the graves - similarly to their Western European counterparts - were surrounded by a circular ditch. However, in contrast to other European practices, the burial ritual here mainly remained cremation following the former traditions of the Carpathian Basin, during which the ashes and the burnt bones were put in a vessel, and were provided with several funerary gifts. Beside the bell beakers found in the cemetery, protective plates for the forearm used in archery, chipped stone arrow-heads, daggers made of copper, awls, bone-buttons, some golden and silver jewels, and a few types of pottery were also excavated. Nyílhegyek / Arrowheads 24
