Gyöngyössy Márton (szerk.): Perspectives on the Past. Major Excavations in County Pest (Szentendre, 2008)
(8th/7th century ВС- late 1 st century АО)-1301 AD) (1301-1526/1686) Roman villa estates in the Benta Valley near Érd 68-81 1/829 AD) (1st-4th centuries AD) The buildings of a Roman villa estate were uncovered on both banks of the Benta Stream in 2004 during the excavations preceding the construction of the M6 Motorway. The southern bank of the Benta Stream was settled in the mid- 1 st century, at the very beginning of the Roman Age, as shown by the settlement at Érd-Simonpusztai-dűlő. The Roman settlement was the continuation of a late Celtic one. The occupants lived in sunken houses with wattle-and-daub walls. Most houses had a rectangular ground plan and had two or three timbers set in post-holes dug along the longitudinal axis. Some of the ditches served for draining excess water and extended to the stream in a north to south direction. Other ditches were rectangular and enclosed certain sections of the settlement. These were generally quite deep and formed an elaborate system. In addition to the earlier grey and hand-thrown wares, the ceramic inventory includes Roman painted and household vessels, as well as imported terra sigillata, which date the settlement’s occupation from the Claudian to the Antonine period. The earliest coin finds date from Augustus’ rule, while the latest ones from the close 1 2 3 4 5 6 of the 4th century. The earlier settlement was transformed into a villa estate with stone buildings during the 2nd century, which perished during the Marcomannic wars at the close of the century. The centre of the late Roman settlement lay west of the motorway’s planned line, in an area that was not investigated. About r 230 archaeological features scattered over a roughly 25,000 m2 large area in the north-western part of the investigated territory were part of the Roman settlement. A villa estate with stone buildings was established in the late 2nd century on the northern bank of the stream in an area known as Hosszúföldek. The stone buildings lay beyond the excavated area, and only a few ditches from this period fell into the investigated settlement section. One rectangular ditch, dated by a 4th century coin, enclosed the settlement on the north-eastern side. • Katalin Ottományi 1. Animal shaped brooch 2. Vessel base with a planta pedis pattern 3. Iron pruning knife 4. Obverse and reverse of early Roman coins 5. Sunken house with post-holes 6. J£ßßi0ltiple ditch systefh
