A Nyíregyházi Jósa András Múzeum évkönyve 37-38. - 1995-1996 (Nyíregyháza, 1997)
Régészet - Josyp Kobal’: Preliminary report on the results of archaeological research on the multi-level fortified settlement of „Chitattia” (near Solotvino/Aknaszlatina, Transcarpathian region, Ukraine) by the Expedition of the Transcarpathian Museum of Local History
Preliminary report on the results... form. Its total length is 60 m. It is 50 m wide along the long axis and 10 m along the short axis. From three sides the settlement relied on natural defences: from the south and west there are the very steep, 35 m high (above the level of flood plain) banks of the river, covered today by a young (up to 20 years old) oak forest and thicket; from north there is a deep natural ditch. As to the fourth, eastern side, it was fortified artificially by a fosse and earthworks. Thus, the system of fortifications at the settlement cleverly used a combination of natural barriers and artificial structures (Fig. 6). Already during the investigations of the Moldovian archaeologists, cross-sections of the earthwork and a trench were made to reveal the character of the fortification line of the settlement. Researchers determined that earth, pebbles and fired clay were used in the construction of the earthworks which was 0.3 m high. The trench that cut from north to the south the neck of land at the end of which the settlement is situated, was 4 m wide and 1.2 m deep. It was filled with blackearth and sandy clay soil mixed with pebble deposits (NICULITE 1987.211.). The existence of the fosse and earthwork was also supported by the investigations of the Expedition of the Uzhgorod State University (KOTIGOROSHKO 1989.24.) 2 . We would like to add some further observations to these data. Beside the earthworks themselves and fosse, the defence strength of the eastern side of the settlement was supported by two protruding parts of the earthworks and escarpments located on the edges some sort of towers. Summarizing the information above, we can reconstruct the fortification system of the settlement in the following way: from three sides, from south, west and north it was fortified by natural barriers, i.e. steep bank sides (up to 35 m high) to which artificial earthworks were added. The latter surrounded the whole settlement and were constructed from earth, burned clay and large pebbles. It may have been combined with a timber construction of some kind. The earthworks are best preserved on the eastern side of the settlement, where its height reached 0.7 m on the basis of topographic maps from recent times. Agricultural and gardening activity (ploughing, tree planting) led to a significant destruction of the earthworks, but even today traces can be observed around the whole perimeter of the fortified settlement. As previously mentioned, the eastern part of the settlement was also fortified by two characteristic protrusions at the edges of the earthworks. Together with the fosse, the defence system of the settlement was complete. The soil dug from the fosse was used in building the relatively high and rather steep escarpment which is 3 ni high today. In ancient times, taking into account the depth of the fosse (1.2 m) and the height of the earthworks (0.7 m) the whole defense system must have been more than 5 m high. Besides the investigation of the fortification line of the settlement we directed special efforts toward research on stratigraphy, chronology and the cultural attribution of the site. As the result of digging a test 1 In the work referred to here the ground plan of the fortified settlemei trench as well as a test section (Fig. 6-8) in two different parts of the settlement, we have got a good, but not complete, cross-section of the cultural layers of the site. On this basis, also using the remains of houses, utility pits and stray material, we were able to identify four main cultural-chronological horizons at the settlement: the Paleolithic, the Middle Bronze Age, the 4th-3rd centuries B.C., the 2nd century B.C. - 1st century A.D. and the Early Middle Ages (10th-12th centuries). The stratigraphy of the site could be most clearly read in trench 1. Investigations revealed the following picture: 1. A thin layer of humus with the root system from gramineous plants (depth: 0-0.05 m); 2. The cultural layer in the strict sense from the settlement (depth: 0.05-0.6-.0.7 m); 3. Yellow sandy clay subsoil (depth: 0.6-1 m) 4. Layer of pebbles (depth: more than 1 m) The cultural layer at the fortified settlement can be characterized by an intensive black colour, a large number of pebbles of different size that were frequently encountered in concentrations; large amounts of fired clay and significant archaeological material such as fragments of clay vessels and in lower numbers, artifacts made of stone, iron, bronze and glass. We should add that the intensity of finds and thickness of cultural deposits was not the same in the various parts of the excavated territory, neither vertically, nor horizontally. We could clearly trace the tendency of the cultural layer of thicken towards its centre. As mentioned previously, the archaeological material from the fortified settlement is represented by several cultural-chronological horizons. The earliest of these belongs to the Paleolithic. It can be characterized by a small number of scattered chips, sometimes with the traces of retouch. They were made out from quartz, sandstone and other local minerals (Pl. 1.1-8., VIII. 15.). Paleolithic finds were encountered in the lower part of the cultural layer at the fortified settlement, in the subsoil clay that covered the pebble layer and sometimes in the wall of later features. The absence of finished artifacts and cores as well as the small number of the finds make it impossible to identify the cultural attribution and chronological position more precisely. In any case, on the basis of lithic finds from other Paleolithic sites in the vicinity of Solotvino (Belaia Cerkov/Tiszafejéregyház, Grushevo/Szentmihálykörtvélyes etc.) (TKACHENKO 1989.111-112., KULAKOVSKAIA 1989.80.ris.21 ) only more-or-less Middle or Late Paleolithic times can come into consideration. The next horizon is represented by finds from the Bronze Age. As our investigations have shown, finds from this time were spread over the whole territory of the fortified settlement, although the cultural layer and Bronze Age features were preserved to different degrees in different parts of the settlement. In the eastern part of the settlement, in trench I few but characteristic ceramic finds were dispersed over the whole excavation area but did not form any special part of the cultural layer or features. The majority of ceramic finds were found in the subsoil clay and in is distorted; the measurements and orientation of the site are incorrect. A Jósa András Múzeum Évkönyve 1997 117
