Gyöngyössy Márton (szerk.): Perspectives on the Past. Major Excavations in County Pest (Szentendre, 2008)
A Middle Bronze Age urn cemetery at Szigetszentmiklós (8«h/7th century BC-late 1st century AD) (lst-4th centuries AO) (400-454AD) (454-568 AD) (568-81 1/829 AD) (895-1 301 AD) (1301-1526/1686) The site lies north-west of Szigetszentmiklós, on the site of the planned parking lot of the Auchan shopping centre, in an area called Ürgehegy on the northern side of the MO Ring Road. A Middle Bronze Age urn cemetery 1 was found on the 16,000 m2 large area investigated between April and August 2002. The entire cemetery of 525 inurned burials of the Vatya culture was excavated, together with a solitary Celtic inhumation burial and three straight ditches, probably used for draining water, whose date could not be established. The burial ground spans the entire sequence of the Vatya culture. The earliest graves date from the Kulcs phase of the late Nagyrév culture, while the latest ones can be assigned to the classical Koszider phase. The size, the age and the location of the cemetery suggest that the Bronze Age community, which buried its dead here for several hundred years, lived on the nearby ridge overlooking the Danube. A small brook flowing parallel to the Danube separated the settlement from the cemetery. The pollen samples indicated that the area was wetter and had a plant cover typical for waterlogged areas. The graves of the cemetery were sometimes aligned in rows (as in the cemetery on Csepel Island) or formed boat shaped or oval clusters (a phenomenon observed in other Vatya cemeteries too), perhaps reflecting family or social groups. The significance of the cemetery lies in that it is the second largest, professionally excavated Vatya urn cemetery in Hungary. Most graves had a stone packing, a rarely observed feature. Stone was a scarce commodity in the distribution territory of the Vatya culture (the Mezőföld region and the Danube-Tisza Interfluve) and its use in the burial rite provides valuable information. The geological analyses of the stones revealed that the community living here maintained regular contact with their brethren on the opposite side of the river since most stones were transported to the site from Sóskút, with a few originating from the Buda iß#-- »'Л''--*-,; 3. * X Ъ A. , *se» ЯЦ ———: V ‘ ж, - . г-- J Mountains. The examination of the burnt human bones will undoubtedly shed new light on the fabric of Vatya society over a period of several centuries. Aside from the usual urn, bowl and cup combination in the burials, three bronze daggers, a bone and a bronze belt clasp, as well as a bronze tore and a golden lock-ring were recovered from the burials. 1. Gold lock-ring 2. Bronze dagger 3. Oval and boat shaped grave groups 4. Urn 5. Excavated inurned burial 6. Tore rám • Magdolna Vicze
