Budapest Régiségei 23. (1973)

TANULMÁNYOK - Kőszegi Frigyes: Adatok Zugló őskori településtörténetéhez : későbronzkori település a Budapest XIV. ker. Vízakna utcában 9-37

FRIGYES KŐSZEGI DATA TO THE HISTORY OF PREHISTORIC SETTLEMENTS IN ZUGLÓ In the autumn of 1967 rescue excavations were executed in the 14th district (Zugló) of Budapest, in Vízakna Street, where remnants of Late Bronze Age settlements have come to light on a minor mound. Such mounds were much more numerous in this region before the levelling of the ground, made in the last decades. Though this mound is relatively far from the present watercourse, it was situated by the water once, along a side branch of the age-old Rákos brook. Although we could not measure the whole extension of the settlement, it does not seem to have grown over several hundred m

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. We cannot say too much of the settlement itself; it was no standing one in all probability. Judged by the unearthed very modest objects, it consisted of simple pit dwellings, one of which could be observed. In a depth of 80 cm we found a pit of an irregularly angular shape; we uncovered it only in part, since the adjoining house and fence hindered our work. In the same depth we could fix three post-holes roughly in a line; the diameter of each was 20 to 25 cm and they pierced the soil to the depth of 8 to 10 cm. Two holes were at a distance of one m, the third was at a distance of three and half metres from them. In and around the pit below the 40 cm thick humus there was a gray, grained, 20 to 30 (at places 40) cm thick layer rather mixed with ashes; it was the latter which yielded the finds, sherds and bones. This ashy layer seems to have been the original walking level; the same could be noticed on the neighbouring plot in a thickness of about 20 cm. The simple pit dwelling deepened into the soil seems to have been covered by a trussing placed on posts, while the side walls were made of wickerwork or wattle fence. Since we found very little mud-flake in the area, we do not think that the walls and the floor had been plastered over with clay. The settlement seems to have been temporary or seasonal, frequented by its inhabitants at certain occasions, perhaps in certain seasons. It may well be that the settlers of the river beds of the unfar Gödöllő hill region, more suitable to agriculture, had visited the region along the Rákos, useful for the grazing of their animals and giving ample opportunity for fishing and hunting. Among our finds uncovered in Vízakna Street the life of the settlement is the best characterized by a casting mould of two parts. It shows the existence of handicraft besides the basic activity for living, the supply of provisions. The matrix has been uncovered set together; the one-time bronzesmith seems to have hidden it intentionally, hoping that he might continue the casting of bronze axes the next time. At the north-eastern edge of the settlement we observed a minor ditch, serving probably the quick deduction of precipitation from the mound. The cultural and chronological definition of the archaeological material of the settlement is no difficult problem, since the sherds may be connected to a group of the tumulus builders unequivocally. Nor does the type of the axe of the matrix contradict this statement; it is common knowledge that the large-size, cornered axe of the so-called Czech type is a feature of the Middle and Late Bronze Age, namely to the beginning of the latter. A large portion of ceramics is represented by the roughly or less roughly worked household pottery. Simple, pot-like vessels with finger-imprinted rib ornament (Fig 12 nos 1, 12, 15, 16, Fig 13 nos 5,15, Fig 14 nos 10,11, Fig 15 nos 9, 13, Fig 16 nos 3, 7, 8, 10), major, tankard-like vessels (Fig 16 nos 6, 9) may be enlisted here. Handled specimens are a special variety (Fig 13 no.l, Fig 15 nos 2, 3, Fig 16 nos 4, 5). The pots with spouts directed downwards on the rims are very important, since they allow a more exact datation, namely to the Middle and the Late Bronze Age (Fig 12 nos 5, 6, 9, Fig 14 no. 9, Fig 15 no. 11). Some hemispherical bowls with straightly cut rims are rather frequent forms both in the Bronze Age and during the Urnfield period (Fig 13 no. 8„ Fig 14 no. 7, Fig 16 no. 2). The bowls with contracted rims remained in use from the Middle Bronze Age to the Iron Age (Fig 12 no. 10, Fig 13 no. 2). Among the bowls with splayed rims the pieces the rims of which are decoreted by several snouts, directed upwards as a rule, deserve a special attention. These are known from the tumulus builders of the Late Bronze Age, extending to the beginning of the Urnfield period at the best. This type is represented by numerous pieces in our settlement (Fig 12 no. 7, Fig 13 no 7, Fig 14 nos 1-5, Fig 16 no. 1). There are only a few pieces of the urn-shaped vessels with globular bellies, cylindrical necks and usually straightly cut rims which have become general in this form from the Late Bronze Age (Fig 13 no. 4: straightly cut rim ; Fig 15 no. 4: splaying rim). In the Vízakna Street material we find a few of the jars with globular bellies and funnel-shaped necks (Fig 12 nos 3,13, Fig 13 no. 3). Mugs with splaying rims (Fig 12 nos. 4, 8, 14), jugs with compressed globular bellies (Fig 14 nos 2,13), the fragments of 35