A Nyíregyházi Jósa András Múzeum évkönyve 41. - 1999 (Nyíregyháza, 1999)

Régészet - Ivan Popovich: Study of the Early Iron Age sites in the Transcarpathian region

Study of the Early Iron Age sites in the Transcarpathian region The fortified settlement is situated at the top of hill Stremtura. It belongs to the fortifications the natural conditions of which in themselves supply a good defence from the attack. First this fortified settlement was registered as an archaeological site by T. Lehoczky (LEHOCZKY 1892.). After the Second World War the site was investigated by P. Sova. However, these researchers have not left us detailed characteristics of the fortification system and that of special features of the cultural layer. Due to the thorough investigation of the site we can assume that the fortified settlement occupies a territory of 8 hectares. It has a prolonged ovoid form, lengthwise it is oriented E-W. The length of the surrounding mound is 1200 m. The settlement is divided by the mound into two parts: the Upper and Lower Settlement. There are four gates providing the entry into the fortified settlement. The connection between the Upper and Lower parts also went on across the gates. To-date the territory of the fortified settlement became significantly forestated. At the range of the mound and on the both sides there are trees. The surrounding mound can be well traced in certain parts, in other places it was devastated. During the construction of a high voltage electric line crossing the fortified settlement, a part of the mound was demolished at the northern part of the site. The modern height of the mound in different places is 0.5-2 m. The mound of the surrounding fortified settlement was cut by a test trench, 40 m from the eastern gate. This profile from the top to the basis gave us a chance to get a significant material for the determining of the character of the interior structure of the mound and special features of its construction. The length of the trench cutting the mound was 14 m. The present height of the mound at the trench is 1.8 m. The soil of the mound covered a 0.4 m thick layer of humus. The soil of the mound consisted of red, obviously strongly burnt sandy clay. The height of the mound layer at the range was 1.4 m. At the level of the burial surface a wooden construction was built. Its remains - timbers strongly burnt in a fire - could be well traced with the red burnt soil in the background. In the cross-section of the mound we could trace the remains of at least 3 timbers. The interior part of the mound had a stone support at the ancient surface level. Obviously we have to assume that there are two construction periods, but we did not succeed in the observation of the clear difference between them at the narrow part of crosssection. Soil from the interior part of the settlement was used for the building of the mound, which is evidenced by the pottery in the mound. One fragment belongs to a black polished bowl with an inverted rim (PI. VI.

9). We have to conduct further excavations in order to determine the character of the defence construction. Investigations in the fortified settlements of the Early Iron Age in the Transcarpathian region have shown the existence of stone construction in the mounds (SMIRNOVA 1966., BALAHURI 1972.35). That corresponds to the stone construction found in our profile. The presence of wooden construction in the mound was observed in the fortified settlement near Bilki (DZEMBAS 1991.106). Studying the system of defence fortifications in the Eastern Carpathians Iu. Maleev also has drawn attention to the stone construction in the fortified settlements of the Holihrady cultural group (MALEEV 1992.198). We have to underline that the majority of fortified settlements with wooden construction in the Eastern Carpathians is connected by most researchers to the ancient Russian building horizons (SULIK-BANDRIVS'KI 1993.134-141). However, the Hallstatt dating of the mound construction of the Irshava fortified settlement has analogies in Transylvania. In the fortified settlement of Magura belonging to the HC period, the ancient building horizon had a wooden-earth construction of mounds reminding a palisade (VASILIEV-GAIU 1980.31). This construction must had been demolished after the appearance of new population groups known in the special literature under the name of the Transylvanian group ofAgathyrsos (VASILIEV 1980.). Without jumping to conclusions we have to underline that the cease of life on the Stremtura must be connected to the appearance of Kushtanovica type sites in the Transcarpathian region. It is evidenced by the finds unearthed during the investigation of the site. The new period in the life of Stremtura belongs to the beginning of the Late Medieval Age. We made 8 test trenches in order to study the character of the cultural layer and the chronological determination of the site at the Lower Settlement. As we have mentioned above, the settlement was strongly afforested and that limited the space suitable for excavations. Test trench 1 was started 20 m east of the gate connecting the Lower and Upper Settlement from each other. This trench was 16 m

2 large. The grass layer was 0.15m thick. In the humus and at the level of the ancient surface found 0.4 m deep from the modern surface, we did not succeed in finding a continuous cultural layer except for some ceramic fragments. 141