Somogyi Múzeumok Közleményei 17/A. - Régészet (2006)

Fábián Szilvia: Őskori tömegsír Balatonkeresztúr-Réti-dűlő lelőhelyről

88 A Prehistoric Mass Grave at Balatonkeresztúr-Réti-dűlő SZILVIA FÁBIÁN The site of Balatonkeresztúr-Réti-dűlő is located on the left side of the road to Balatonújlak, along the E-W oriented planned route of motorway M7, reaching the edge of the swamps of Nagyberek (Fig. 1:1-2). During the two-year campaign an area of 50,000 m2 was fully excavated, yielding material from a number of cultures of five major archaeological periods (Copper Age, Bronze Age, Iron Age, Migration Period, Middle Ages) (Fig. 2). In the western part of the site the remains of the Middle Copper Age Balaton-Lasinja and Boleráz cultures were found. The Early Bronze Age occupation was limited to this area as well. The features of the Somogyvár-Vinkovci and Kisapostag cultures appeared scattered throughout the western half of the excavated area forming smaller clusters of features. In the eastern half of the site, in the area of a pasture, the original topographic features were better preserved, just like the occupation layers from the various archaeological periods. This area was occupied among others by the Late Copper Age Baden culture. A few sporadic Middle Copper Age and Early Bronze Age pits were uncovered here as well. Beside the Copper Age material the remains of a La Tene C-D settlement, of the sixth-century Langobards and of an Árpád Period and late medieval village were excavated. Around the middle of the pasture, on a natural elevation, a few pits and human and animal burials of the Baden culture were found. From the fortyone graves of the site so far only nine could be connected with some certainty to the Late Copper Age occupation, eleven inhumations probably belong to the Early Bronze Age. According to our preliminary observations, the Copper Age and Bronze Age graves were always located within the settlements, or at least in an area previously utilized as a settlement. A feature with eight human skeletons may also have been a prehistoric burial. Three adults and a child were placed in a more or less crouched position on the bottom of a beehive-shaped pit, while four children were buried in the bulging southern and southeastern side of the pit, into the yellow sterile loess, without any grave-goods (Fig. 3). Since multiple inhumations are known from the material of more cultures whose remains were found at the site, and no diagnostic pottery was placed in the grave, the dating of the mass grave of Balatonkeresztúr-Réti-dűlő is problematic. It can be attempted only with the help of archaeological parallels and physical anthropological analysis. Pit 938 was found ca. 20 m from the features of the Baden culture on the top of the hill, where human burials and regular beehive-shaped pits with complete animal skeletons were uncovered. From the Copper Age we know of similar mass graves with a large number of skeletons from the settlements of the BalatonLasinja and Baden cultures. Consequently, the mass grave of Balaton-keresztúr is compared to mass graves from the Middle and Late Copper Ages. At the same time, however, in the close vicinity of the pit a few sporadic Early Bronze Age features were found as well, so the multiple burials of the Somogyvár-Vinkovci and Kisapostag cultures are reviewed as well. Based on the characteristics of these analogies, such as the position of the pit within the settlement, the position of the interred within the pits, this mass grave can be connected most closely to the Late Copper Age Baden culture. Similarly to Balatonkeresztúr, at the site of Balatonőszöd-Temetői-dűlő Late Copper Age burials formed smaller or larger focal points within the settlement of the Baden culture, and were surrounded by other features and phenomena that may be connected to the sacral sphere. The mass graves of the Baden culture containing a large number of skeletons are always found within settlements. Cemeteries, e.g. the one at Budakalász, have multiple burials containing at most three skeletons in one grave. In could be observed a number of times in the case of the mass graves of the Baden culture that the adult skeleton(s) lay on the bottom of the pit, while the children were often laid around them. The ratio of children among the dead is usually significantly higher than that of adults. All these characteristics can be observed in Balatonkeresztúr-Réti-dűlő as well. It is conceivable that the members of a family or people close to each other were buried in such a way. The placement of the dead directly above each other does suggest such close relationships (Fig. 4:1-3). Although the fill of the pit in Balatonkeresztúr contained almost no finds at all, both the placing of the dead on the bottom of the pit and the children dug into its side suggest that these eight people were actually buried and not just thrown into the pit as a sacrifice. Furthermore, we did not find any trace of special sacrificial ceremonies, like exceptionally rich deposits of objects, traces of fire, signs of violence, ashy fill, animal skeletons in the pit, or partial burials (e.g. deposition of skulls). In such cases it may be suggested that the death of those interred in the mass grave was caused by some kind of a disease, e.g. an epidemic, and they had to be buried fast. Perhaps that is the explanation for the eight burials of Balatonkeresztúr as well. To sum it up, we may say that in lack of grave-goods the mass grave of Balatonkeresztúr can be probably connected to the Late Copper Age Baden culture. The burials are special since the physical anthropological characteristics of one of the persons buried here (S-17) are different from those buried in other parts of the settlement and at other sites of the Baden culture. This does not exclude the possibility of dating the assemblage to the Early Bronze Age, nor does the fact that similar mass graves are not known from the SomogyvárVinkovci and Kisapostag cultures. The issue will probably be decided by further scientific investigations and radiocarbon dating, and the absolute dates will enable us to place the assemblage firmly into either the Copper or the Early Bronze Age.