Marisia - Maros Megyei Múzeum Évkönyve 31/1. (2011)
Articles
ARCHAEOLOGICAL LINDS BELONGING TO THE LATE HALLSTATT AND LATENE PERIOD ERŐM CÄMIN/KÁLMÁN D-KRASZNAPART, SATU MARE COUNTY JÁNOS NÉMETI Museum of Carei, RO The region situated on the place of the former Ecsed Marsh is very rich in archaeological sites. From the great number of discoveries from several periods the most well represented are the Early and Late Iron Age finds. The materials were unearthed on a small region from several sites; some of them came to the surface due to the drainage works, while other settlements were investigated by rescue excavations. The materials evidence important Scythians and later Celtic settlements in the region, completing the archaeological image of the last five centuries of the last millennium BC. Keywords: Early Iron Age, Scythians, Late Iron Age, Celts, settlement, pottery, workshop The village Cämin (Hu. Kálmánd) situates in the wider, plain territory that came to exist on the place of the former Ecsed Marsh (PL 1). The marsh was inhabited from early periods of history, some of the studies about its geology also reflected about the probable landscapes of human habitations. O. Hermann ‘sailing’ on the marsh from the nearby Berveni mentioned a ‘mountain, the so called Rákóczi earth mound. According to the archaeological observations, it is known that albeit it is an important archaeological site, the earth mound has nothing to do with the famous prince of Transylvania (Németi 2002,13-28). During the works of drainage - by digging channels and building dams - on the islands and other parts of the marsh the archaeologists discovered many settlements, cemeteries and graves from the prehistoric to the medieval period. The first archaeological finds were rescued by the engineers working on the drainage. Unfortunately, they did not make notes about the “green coloured” bronze objects, the fragments of ceramics, burned dwellings and hearths. The first archaeological find was the bronze hoard from the boundary of Cäpleni and Cämin. The work carried out in order to provide adequate drainage for floodwaters was done in several steps. First, there was a drainage ditch constructed along the dike on the right side of the river. Than channel no. 2 - presently known as ‘Crasna River’ - was widened; and finally the earth was bulldozed along the left riverbank so that an outer dike was erected approx. 30-35 m from the river. A drainage ditch was constructed on the inner side of the new dam facing the village. Due to all these ground works important archaeological finds were uncovered, providing information for the reconstruction of those settlements that were destroyed during the constructions. MARISIA XXXI, p. 121-153
