A Nyíregyházi Jósa András Múzeum évkönyve 37-38. - 1995-1996 (Nyíregyháza, 1997)

Régészet - Ivan Popovich: Periodization and chronology of Kushtanovica type sites in the Transcarpathian region

Ivan Popovich For example, the study of the Carpathian sites of Holihrady type have made it possible to place their upper temporal boundary at the middle of the 7th century B.C. (SVESHNIKOV 1964.40-56., MELIUKOVA 1958.8-31., MALEIEV 1981.3-21., KRUSHEL'NIC'KA 1993.5-122., SMIRNOVA 1969.25-34.). The pre-Scythian Mezőcsát group has been separated in the territory of Hungary (PATEK 1966-67., KEMENCZEI 1980.79-92, CHOCHOROWSKI 1993.) and the pre-Kushtanovica horizon of sites of the 8th-7th centuries B.C. can be traced in Eastern Slovakia (BUDINSKY-KRICKA 1976. 119-149, MIROSSAJOVÁ 1987.107-164.) and in the Transcarpathian region (POPOVICH 1989.77-78.) The dating of the latest pre-Kushtanovica sites can be securely based on the material from the cemetery at Veliki Bereznyi/Nagyberezna (POTUSHNIAK 1958. 128-132.). In 1955, F.M. Potushniak, assistant professor of the Uzhgorod State University, investigated an Early Iron Age cemetery at Veliki Bereznyi in a modern grave-yard. Unfortunately, it had almost been destroyed by modern graves. He was lucky to find a burial consisting of four urns at a depth of 0.3 m, The urns were placed into a small burial pit on a stone base and were also surrounded by stones. South of this find he unearthed two more vessels. Twenty meter south of the first burial, four urns composing a square were found. Besides the calcinated bones, there was a dipper and a bronze fibula (Pi. 1.1) in one of the urns. Archaeological material collected during the course of rescue excavations at Veliki Bereznyi has often drawn the attention of researchers (BUDINSKYKRICKA 1976.130-148, POPOVICH 1989.75, POPOVICH 1993.280, KOBAL' 1992.177-178. ris.3), so here there is no need for a detailed analysis of the above mentioned graves. We should note that most of the finds from Veliki Bereznyi are comparable with the sites of Urnenfelder Culture and belong to HB.^ - HC

r The upper date is marked by the bronze fibula of a Santa Lucia type with two spirals (BADER 198359). Earlier, I have dated grave 4 from Veliki Bereznyi to a later time (POPOVICH 1993.280.). Usually, researchers attribute the cemetery from Veliki Bereznyi to the Cava Culture (BALAHURI 1991.103.). It seems reasonable to place it within the pre-Kushtanovica horizon at Early Iron Age sites, the cultural attribution of which needs to be determined in the future. The burial from Hust/Huszt should be dated to the first half of the 7th century B.C. In 1980, the Transcarpathian Rescue Work Expedition of the Institute of Archaeology of the Ukraine excavated material that makes it possible to deepen the existing point of view on the relative chronology of the terminal phase of the pre-Kushtanovica period. While digging a water pipe ditch for his own house, M.I.Fed'ko, inhabitant of the village of Chertiezh/ Ungcsertész (outskirts of Huszt) found a grave. Calcinated human bones had been placed in an urn and covered by a bowl. Chertiezh is situated 3 km northwest from the town of Huszt, on a hilly terrace on the right bank of the Tisza river. The terrace part of a plateau that continues to the mountains from were the peak of Shelepkiv can be seen. The southeastern side was fortified by an earthwork in ancient times but traces of the vallum can be hardly seen today. The surroundings have been built up with dwelling houses and fruit orchards. The urn was found 30 m southeast of house No. 115. In order to determine the character of the site Chertiezh a small scale rescue excavation was carried out. In test pit 1 (6x2 m) 0.5 m deep from the modern surface we identified the place where the burial was removed. Stratigraphic observations made it possible to determine the sequence of levels. At a depth of 15-20 cm there was a grass level, under it an insignificant transitional level 15 cm thick, under which at a depth of 0.35 m from the modern surface the yellow natural clay was found. The urn was placed into a shallow pit, the outline of which was impossible to trace. There were no graves found under the grass and in the transitional level. Neither did we succeed in the search for the possible cemetery, even after digging three trenches of similar size. Only in square 4 did we find traces of a cultural layer: a small oval pit, at a depth of 0.2 m under the level of the subsoil clay. In the gray fill we found ceramic fragments. However, it is noteworthy that potteiy coming from the ditches is somewhat younger than the vessels from the graves. A biconical pot was used as an urn. The widest point of the vessel is in its lower third. It has no rim. The outer surface is black polished, the inner side pink-brown. The diameter of the base is 12 cm and the maximum diameter is 27 cm (Pi. 1.2). The bowl that covered the urn has an everted, well profiled rim, the edge of which is ornamented on four opposing sides with petal-shaped knobs. Its brown surface is soapy, having been slipped with liquid clay. The clay of the vessel was tempered by chamot and sand. There is a small handle with a hole on the side of the vessel. The diameter of the rim is 27 cm, the height is 11 cm and the diameter of the base is 12 cm (PI. 1.3). Its closest analogies may be found in Eastern Slovakia in the cemetery of Voinatina/Vajna (BUDINSKYKRICKA 1976.Tab.IX.6, MIROSSAJOVÁ 1987Tab.IV. 1,8.) dated to the 8th - 7th centuries B.C., as well as in the Holihrady type finds (KRUSHEL'NIC'KA 1974. ris.57.3.). The bowl that covered the urn has enough analogies in the sites of Kushtanovica type in the Transcarpathian region (POPOVICH 1993.269.ris

. 134.1,4,7.). A similar type of bowl can be found in the Mezőcsát culture in the territory of Hungary and in Southwest Slovakia in the eastern Hallstatt burials of the Középrépáspuszta group (PAULÍK 1975.37.obr. 7,5,6,10,13,15,18,19.), but they are not found in later cemeteries, such as Vel'ká Mana/Nagymánya (PAULÍK 1975.obr.6,23.), Chotín/ Hetény (DUSEK 1966, Taf. I-LXII) and others. They are also absent in the graves of the Vekerzug Culture in Hungary, but may be found in the north-eastern group in Northwestern Roumania in the cemetery of Sanislau/Szaniszló II (NÉMETI 1982.138. Gr.l6, Gr.53,3, CHOCHOROWSKI 1985.32-35.Abb.

1,6.). However, there are local differences in the profilation of the rim of the bowl from Huszt and bowls with a petal shaped edge that are equivalent to type 6 in the Vekerzug Culture. Taking into consideration the starting date of the Sanisläu II cemetery, the middle of the 5th century B.C. (NÉMETI 1982.128.) we suggest as opposed to G.I. Smirnova (SMIRNOVA 1979-53.) that these bowls have a chronological significance. The presence of the bowl with petal shaped rim together with a black polished pot of late Gáva charac78 A Jósa András Múzeum Évkönyve 1997