A Nyíregyházi Jósa András Múzeum évkönyve 48. (Nyíregyháza, 2006)

Régészet - János Makkay: The Late Bronze Age hoard of Nadap

János Makkay According to the brief remarks of Mrs. Fitz-Petres / was helping her in collecting the hoard.

4 Here I should make clear: during the whole investigation made in Nadap, her presence only hampered my work. The draft of my letter, dated to 12 February 1985, and sent to the editor of the annual Savaria, the late Gábor Bandi, simply summarized this question in telling that Mrs. Fitz-Petres participated in ca. 2 % of the whole of the Nadap operations. Participants of the Linear Pottery Symposium - the first meeting of Linear Pottery experts during the century-old history of Linear Pottery researches! - arrived to Székesfehérvár in these days (the Symposium was held at 20-22. May of 1970). They were welcomed in my room with the whole hoard spread over on a long desk. Among scholars having had an early look at the hoard, were Imma Kilian-Dirlmeier, Berthold Hansel, and George Eogan. A few days later in May we conducted a small test excavation, and found around 15 pieces in the already disturbed trench.

5 A field survey in the neighbouring area showed the presence of rich Urnfield pottery on the surface, a large settlement of the same culture, probably derived from newly planted forest made excavation impossible. I remember well that in the close neighbourhood of the area of the hoard we found fragments of bronze slag associated with typical Urnfield ware. Finishing this work, when climbing down from the hill, I found a small duck-shaped object lying on the pathway; this was part of the sieving bowl (No. 311 - Plate XXX). After the successful restoration and the conservation of the hoard, brilliantly carried out by Ákos Csépány, we agreed with each other about a common publication of it (PETRES-MAKKAY 1971.). Later Mrs. Fitz-Petres surprisingly refused an invitation of L. Castiglione, then editor of the Acta Archaeologica Hungarica, to write and publish a preliminary report on the discovery of the hoard. It was a bolt from the blue when I recognised in 1983 her article, reporting about the defensive armours of the hoard (PETRES 1983.). Later on, she gave permissions to colleagues to publish further parts of the hoard, without informing me (MOZSOLICS 1971.). A few years later she published the vessels of the hoard as a co-author of P. Patay, without my knowledge. The editor of the Series Prähistorische Bronzefunde, dr. A. Jockenhövel correctly asked for my agreement, and he got it. This is the short and true story of the discovery of one of the largest Late Bronze Age hoards ever found in present Hungary. The number of the individual pieces (including slags, melted bronze, fragments of later restored vessels, as for example the sieving bowl, etc.) was 713+80 (small unidentifiable fragments) (MAKKAY-PETRES 1970., PETRES-MAKKAY 1971. 10.). After restoration, the total number was above 550 (PETRES 1983. 57.), according to my counting 567 or 568. Most part of the hoard is broken or fragmentary, with a few exceptions, especially the implements belonging to the tool-kit of a bronzesmith. Now, more than 36 years after the discovery, my intent simply is to make some information about this famous hoard available to the scholarly work. Since I did a long and exhausting, but delightful work when my good friend, the excellent artist Ágoston Dékány prepared his brilliant drawings of the pieces, I feel that it is an urgent need to publish these drawings (partly using the originals, and partly their xerox copies) before I pass away. Mrs. Fitz-Petres did not take part in the year-long work of preparing these drawings. I only hope that the other part of the original drawings is kept in the collections of the Székesfehérvár Museum. On the other hand, as I have seen during my repeated visits to the Stores of the Museum, the careful storing of the hoard that I had made after the restoration was now inadequate. Readers, having further interest for the hoard, should, of course, turn to the staff of the Museum. Early records also contain the weight of the individual PETRES 1983. 77., note 1: 'János Makkay war mir im Sammeln des Fundes behilflich'. Field reports or any other documents of these works are not to my disposal. See PETRES-MAKKAY 1971. 138