Marisia - Maros Megyei Múzeum Évkönyve 1. (2019)
Sándor Berecki, Sándor József Sztáncsuj: A Neolithic Settlement from Ernei
32 S. Berecki - S. J. Sztáncsuj animal bones were discovered grouped in the south-eastern part of the pit (Pl. II/4). On the western side the feature was slightly deeper; from this part only several stones were recovered. One of the Neolithic pottery and stone platforms (Cx. 3) had an irregular shape of approximately 3.70 x 2.40 m. From this surface together with more than 120 potshards a fragmentary chipped flint tool was found (Pl. II/5). For the surroundings of the platform further potsherds were recovered. The feature was close to the surface and it was damaged by plough and erosion, for this reason the margins of the feature could not be clearly delimited. Another pottery agglomeration (Cx. 4) with the dimensions of l. 90 x 2.10 m also had an irregular shape and it was found north-east from the earlier one (PL II/6). The oval-shaped feature Cx. 25 was 3 x 2.30 m. The pit with greyish-black fill was deepened 13-22 cm into the sterile layer of yellow clay and gravel (Pi. III). Outside the pit, around the feature several irregularly dispersed, approximately 0.25 m deep post-holes were observed. In the fill of the feature several potsherds, adobe and a few stones were found. Neolithic pottery fragments were also found in secondary position in later features, like Roman period pits Cx. 1, Cx. 2 and Cx. 11 (Pi. 1/1). Other fragments - sometimes in great number, like in the case of Cx. 28 - were found in the afferent stratum. The nature of the archaeological features, their relative location, and the fact that no traces of dwellings have been discovered in original position suggests that the excavation only affected the edge of the Neolithic settlement. The investigated features are probably the traces of some household complexes. The rest of the settlement was probably lying somewhat westward, on the lower terrace of the Mure§ River, but its exact location was not accurately determined because of the built-in area or the density of the plant cover. The scattered pottery found in secondary position proves that the human activity of later (especially modern) ages probably destroyed some parts of the site. The vast majority of finds recovered from the Neolithic site are generally small pottery fragments (Pl. IV-VI) and some tiny pieces of wattle and daub. A single fragment of a flint blade came to light from Cx. 3. The pottery can be assigned entirely to the Early Neolithic Cri§ culture. In general, most part of the material is rather poor. The fragmentation of the pottery is very high and there are no intact or reconstructed vessels, therefore it is difficult to accurately determine the shapes of the vessels. The ratio of the decorated and unornamented pottery is 6.15 % vs. 93.85 %. In terms of the technical characteristics of the pottery, it is generally of medium quality. The hand-formed vessels were predominantly manufactured from wellwashed clay, tempered with chaff and, in much less frequent cases, with sand or waster. Pit kiln firing on low- or medium level resulted usually in light red, maroon or light brown vessels with dark (grey or black) cores. The most common pottery forms are the globular vessels with wide shoulders, short cylindrical neck, outcurving rim (Pl. IV/5; VI/1, 2) and large, barrel shaped pots with slightly inverted rim (Pl. IV/9; VI/6, 7). Several thickened bases belong also to these types of vessels (Pl. IV/8; V/8). Storage jars of different forms are represented by several large, thick walled pottery fragments (Pl. IV/2, 3; V/7; VI/9). Other typical forms are conical (Pl. V/9) or biconical (Pi. IV/1) bowls, although they occur rarely. The carinated vessel with slightly profiled rim from Cx. 2 (PL IV/1) is a typical form for the Cri§ culture. The pottery from the site is also poorly decorated, ornaments consist especially of simple, oval-shaped knobs (PL IV/5), barbotine-like, finger-impressed knobs (PL V/2, 5), double knobs (PL IV/6), finger-impressed ribs (Pl. V/9), nail impressions (PL VI/4, 5), finger impressions (PL V/1; IV/5), or pinched decoration (Pl. V/3, 9; VI/9). Sometimes the applied ornaments are combined with impressed decoration. A globular vessel is decorated with finger impressions on the upper side of the rim and an oval-shaped knob on the neck (PL IV/5) while a conical bowl is ornamented with pinched motifs and a fingerimpressed rib (PL V/9). Applied barbotine is also present in a small proportion (PL V/7; VI/8). No traces of painted ceramics could be documented from this site.
