Gyöngyössy Márton (szerk.): Perspectives on the Past. Major Excavations in County Pest (Szentendre, 2008)

Leather working on the Copper Age settlement at Törökbálint

(8th/7th century BC- late 1st century AD) (1st-4th centuries AO) (400-454AD) (454-568AD) (568-81 1/829 AD) (895-1 301 AD) (1301-1526/1686)

A trial excavation commissioned by the Pannon GSM company was conducted by Éva Maróti in the southern section of the Égett Valley in 2005, followed by a salvage excavation from Autumn 2006, directed by András Rajna.

The finds from the trial excavation indicated that the site can be assigned to the Proto-Boleráz period (3800-3500 BC), a lesser known period of the Copper Age. The excavation conducted over an extensive, 1.5 hectares large area yielded many remarkable novelties for the research of this period. A small stream flowing across the woods on the valley’s eastern side provided the settlement’s occupants with water. It seems likely that the abundant evidence for leather working can in part be explained by the favourable environmental conditions, and in particular by the prevalent wind direction and the proximity of water. A chain of tanning pits extending from the stream towards the hilltop was uncovered. The site’s occupants were principally engaged in stockbreeding; the pastures and watering places provided an ideal setting for stockbreeding. The analysis of the animal bones will undoubtedly enrich our knowledge of the period’s subsistence patterns. 1 2 3

1. Vessels with lime encrusted Furchenstich patterns and their reconstruction

2. Aerial view of the tanning pits

3. Section of a tanning pit

The elegant, polished bowls decorated with lime encrustation are proof of advanced potting techniques and, also, of trade contacts. Pottery of this type was recovered from one of the major pit clusters, one of which contained the remains of an oven. The pits yielded an abundance of pottery typical for this period. The ceramic assemblage included sharply carinated bowls and vessels with vertically perforated handles, as well as the fragments of pottery wares decorated in the Furchenstich (“stab and drag”) style, which have been found in small numbers on other sites of this period too.

• András Rajna