Budapest Régiségei 36. (2002) – In memoriam Rózsa Kalicz-Schreiber (1929-2001)
T. Bíró Katalin: New data on the utilisation of Buda hornstone in the early bronze age = Új adatok a budai szarukő korabronzkori hasznosításáról 131-143
KATALIN T. BÍRÓ UTHIC DEPOT FINDS IN THE PREHISTORIC MATERIAL, WITH SPECIAL ATTENTION TO BRONZE AGE MATERIALS Depot finds constitute a very special instance among the archaeological evidence. This special type of find accumulation has primary importance in the study of metal, coins and anything valuable for the person who collected and deposited/hid, sheltered them for possible further use. There is always a story behind the facts and perhaps this is why depot finds are specially important for us. Stone tools are rarely considered as something valuable by archaeologists, with the exception of such striking examples like the huge obsidian cores of Nyirlugos 16 or the spectacular large blades from Kalló. 17 Quantity or find circumstances may indicate value indirectly In case of the Boldogkőváralja depot find, the 567 limnoquartzite blades found in a clay vessel 18 were obviously prepared to be traded downstream along the rivers Hernád and Tisza towards the Alföld region, poor in lithic resources as well as expertise in working the extremely rigid limnic quartzite into regular blades. The Szegvár depot find 19 represents another type of use: the careful housewife kept the "family silver" together in a pot, made probably locally from far-fetched (Bakony) raw material, used according to its function (as knives) and putting them back to its place together. Some more recent depot finds from, e.g., Csabdi 20 comprise raw material lumps, pre-cores for further processing. The above presented stocks made of Buda hornstone may be best compared to this type of utilisation, for further processing on the settlement. Though the Bronze Age is much better known from depots of other character, mainly the eponym metal, it is not unparalleled among the finds of the period. The first bronze age chipped stone depot was published by Amália Mozsolics. 21 A new publication with detailed description of the lithic material was presented recently. 22 This depot find is different from both the Albertfalva and the Csepel-Rákóczi street stocks in character, as it contains mainly heavily used artefacts, already shaped into tools (typically small saw blades). Another depot find of blades made of two, partly refutable blade cores was presented in the same publication from Dunaföldvár, also from Middle Bronze Age context. The three Early Bronze Age depots from Budapest environs have all essential features in common: they were made on local Buda hornstone, comprise half-products possibly for further processing. They can be best interpreted as a technological stock, workshop activity with special expertise (heat treatment?) CONCLUSIONS The depot finds described in detail indicate that Buda hornstone was a regular element of the material culture at the settlements of the Bell Beaker Culture Csepel group: Its extraction and use, probably also enhancing its qualities by heat treatment were part of the everyday life. The depots as well as the lithic material of the Albertfalva site further strengthen the connections between the Early Bronze Age population and the oldest extraction site known from the territory of Budapest. 23 * HlLLEBRAND 1928 17 PATAY 1960 * VÉRTES 1965 v BIRÓ-REGENYE 1995, http://wwwace.hu/szentgal/angd.html 20 Excavated by J. Antoni (ANTONI 1982) and mentioned in BÍRÓ 1998a; not published in details ^MOZSOLICS-HEGEDŰS 1963; MOZSOLICS 1967 22 BÍRÓ 2000 ^Internet resources of information used: http://theflintknapper.com/heat.htm http://spot.colorado.edu/~sheetsp/lithic.html 134
