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

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

Ivan Popovich There were 64 potsherds found in this trench. Most of the fragments come from kitchen pots. Only 5 fragments belong to black polished vessels. Unfortunately none of them had expressive features making it possible to determine the form of the vessels. However, judging from the clay and technology, all the pottery fragments from this trench must be dated to the Hall statt Age. At the rest of the test trenches we did not succeed either in finding the continuous cultural layer. We made a 40 m

2 large sector 60 m south-west from the cross-section of the mound. Here we investigated 3 features. Feature 1 (PI. V) is a shallow, round pit, the diameter of which is 1 m, the depth is 0.18 m. The walls of the pit are oblique, its bottom is even. In the gray fill of the pit we have found 5 pottery fragments. Four of the fragments have expressive features of the Hallstatt ceramics. One fragment belongs to a Mediaeval pot made on wheel. Feature 2. (PI. V) This is a utilitarian construction. Its investigated part has the shape of an irregular ovoid with its axis directed east-west. The western part of the feature was not investigated because it went under the wall of the square. In the eastern part of the features we observed a concentration of stones of middle size, among which pieces of mud-flakes were met. We can suggest that they come from a construction of a demolished feature. A similar concentration was traced in the southern part of the feature. In the gray fill deepened into the subsoil 20 cm deep we found 24 potsherds, 8 of which belong to Slavic Late Mediaeval finds. They were made on wheel. Two fragments are decorated by parallel lines. Characteristic fragments represent pots with a prolonged rim, well expressed neck and roundish body. On one of them there is a nail ornament (PI. V. 1-3,5). The rest of the ceramic material can be dated to the Early Hallstatt times. Among this pottery we have to mention a fragment of a black polished bowl decorated by a flute ornament from the interior side (Pl. V.4). Another characteristic fragment represents a rim of a pot with knobs under the edge and that of a tulip shaped pot. Taking into account that Slavic pottery was situated almost on the surface of the concentration, and the majority of the ceramic finds can be dated to the Early IronAge, 8th-7th cent. B.C., we suggest that the feature belongs to this time. Feature 3. (PI. V) This is a typical stone oven built outside the dwelling house. The walls of the rectangular oven were laid out of stones. It is 1.1 x 2 m large. Its bottom is strongly burnt, it is 10-12 cm thick. The 0.4 m deep pit of the oven is round, its diameter is 0.95 m. Its walls are slightly oblique, the bottom is plain. The pit was filled with a thick layer of coal and burnt pieces of clay. In the course of the cleaning the oven, 39 pottery fragments have been found. Seven of them belong to the Slavic times, all of them are wheelmade. Most of the fragments belong to the Hallstatt Age (32), but only one of them has characteristic features. It comes from a pot with conical rim decorated by flutes (PI. VI.

8). Pottery is the only kind of material for determining the cultural-chronological attribution of the oven. Taking into consideration the characteristic features of the oven and its analogies among the Slavic finds we - despite of the large number of Hall statt pottery - have to date the feature to the Late Middle Ages. So, the analysis of the archaeological material coming from the investigation of the Lower Settlement makes us think that it was constructed as a fortified place in the Hall statt Age. It could be used also in the old Russian times. Future studies can give us further material to make a more precise and deep determination of the different horizons of the site. At the Upper Settlement we succeded in finding more space suitable for excavations. We made a 300 m

2 large section 40 m west of the gates connecting the Upper and Lower Settlement. In the northern part of the sector we have found a pit, 40 cm deep from the modern surface (PI. VII). It was ovoid, oriented lenghtwise east-west. It was 20 cm deep from the level of the cultural layer. The sizes of the pit were 1.9 x 1.6 m. Walls of the pit were oblique. A small deepening was observed near the eastern wall. The light gray fill contained a significant amount of pottery. Judging from the character of the fill and taking into account the small depth of the pit, we have to classify it as a garbage pit. There were 128 pottery fragments found in the features. Among them 76 pieces belong to simple, 52 pieces to black polished vessels. Simple vessels are represented by common and tulip shaped pots, the black polished ones by bowls, simple pots, cups (PI. VII. 1-6, VIII.1-14). At the same square, after uncovering the humus layer at a depth of 15-20 cm, in the central part we have found a 16-18 m

2 large space filled with iron dross conglomerates. Sometimes we found strongly burnt pieces of blowing furnaces with the remains of iron dross. After the thorough cleaning of the space from the dross pieces we had the opportunity to assume that on this part of the settlement an iron ore enrichment centre was established. At the industrial space 30 furnaces were built. The upper part of the furnaces was disturbed. The strongly burnt walls of furnaces the thickness of which reached 3-4 cm, 142