Kovács Tibor - Stanczik Ilona (szerk.): Bronze Age tell settlements of the Great Hungarian Plain I. (Inventaria Praehistorica Hungariae 1; Budapest, 1988)

Judit TÁRNOKI: The settlement and cemetery of the Hatvan culture at Aszód

Material Amphorae are represented by a textile-impressed tunnel handle (PI. 2:19) and sherds with scored or textile-impressed surface and/or ribs ornamented with fingernail impressions not illustrated here. The similar, but thinner sherds, as well as a fragment with incised decoration (PI. 2:4), may have belonged to pots with wide mouth (PI. 2:14). Most sherds came primarily from broom-stroked ('Besenstrich') coarse pots of various size. They are mostly barrel-shaped with slightly outward-leaning rim (PI. 2:3, 10). One type of pot is easily identifiable by its characteristic pattern: vertical scored lines on the neck and curving scored lines covering the ovoid body of the vessel (PI. 2:9, 14). A fragment with a ribbon handle can be assigned to an S-profiled cup (PI. 2:13). A so-called Tokod-type cup

5 is represented by the incrusted rim and neck fragments (PI. 2:16, 17). Typical settlement finds include the sherds with perforations belonging either to strainers or fire guards (PI. 2:15), as well as the spindle whorls made of pottery sherds sometimes with uncompleted perforation (PI. 2:5). The most characteristic find of this level is the fragment of a violin shaped idol

6 (PI. 2:11), a miniature clay axe of quadrangular cross-section broken at the perforation

7 (PI. 2:2) and a wheel-model fragment

8 (PI. 2:6). Four polished bone implements (Pl. 1 :1—

4) were also found in addition to the pottery finds. Level I -0.5 m (Fig. 3.2) This uppermost level was disturbed by ploughing. A well-preserved, plastered oval hearth of great size (1.8x1.9 m) was uncovered here (Fig. 4) which may have belonged to a house similar to the previous ones. The surrounding area was heavily burnt, the hearth itself was replastered three times. The various plastered surfaces were divided by layers of sand. The well plastered part of the floor with a storage vessel (amphora) on it survived around the hearth. In the western half of the sounding there was a floor part of yellow, stamped clay with an ashpit, 1.2 m in diameter. Judging from the house of level II it can be assumed that the two floor fragments of level I belonged to the same large-sized house. The western half of the sounding contained many sherds and animal bones which suggest a 'street' or 'alley' corresponding to the outlay of the earlier levels. Pit 1 cutting through the whole sequence and deepening into the original humus was dug from level I. It is 1.6 m deep, beehive-shaped with multiple plastering on the bottom. It appears to have been a storage-pit judging from its ashy clay fill, its shape and plastering. Material Amphora with rounded body, two tunnel-handles on the carination line. The neck is missing. The lower part is ornamented with textile and cord impressions. Amphora fragments: with tunnel-handle (PI. 3:16), with textile-ornaments and pseudo-handle (PI. 3:2—17), textile ornamented and scored sherds (PI. 3:8-9) and fragments with incised net pattern (PL 3:14). The fragments of funnel-necked vessels with flaring rim may have belonged to amphorae and jars with wide mouths as well. There are sherds of typical Hatvan jars among them (PL 3:3, 6, 10, 12). The pot with incised rim (PL 3:1) with undecorated or scored surface (PI. 3:4, 11) is fairly common in the Middle Bronze Age. A rim fragment with a flat knob also belonged to a pot (PI. 3:5). A knobbed body fragment and a ribbon-handle represent cups (PI. 3 :7). The inside-profiled, outside smoothed rim may have belonged to a small hemispherical bowl (PI. 3:13). The most frequent ornament in level 1 is scoring ('Besenstrich'); the combed and textile-impressed surface, as well as the net pattern also occur. A stone celt (PI. 3:15) and a worn grinding stone were also found. The area of the site is ploughed, thus a lot of sherds were found on the surface and in the ploughed layer. These finds were grouped under the headings 'humus' and 'subhumus'. The material of the subhumus layer Amphora fragment with incised rib on the carination line (PI. 4:8), sherd of a typical Hatvan jar (PI. 4:14), fragments of knob-ornamented (PI. 4:11, 15) and incised pot rims (PL 4 :5). A fragment of the upper part of a pot with wide mouth was also recovered (PL 4:16). The body fragments with knobs and channeled decoration can be regarded as sherds of amphorae with ornamented shoulder or those of pots with wide mouth (PL 4:3, 7, 10). The inside-profiled rim fragments represent small hemispherical bowls (PL 4:1, 4). A base fragment was incrusted (PL 4:9). This layer also contained the fragment of a fish-frying pan (PL 4 : 6) and the coarse, thick grid fragments of a portable fire-place. The material of the humus layer Amphora fragments: with appliqué ornament (PI. 5:13); with textile ornament and pseudo-handle (PI. 5 :10); with incised ribs (PI. 5:9). Sherds of amphorae and/or jars with wide mouth: with flaring rims (PI. 5 :2, 18); with knob-decoration on the shoulder (PL 5:11). Pot fragments include sherds with ribs under the rim (PL 5 :4); with divided lugs (PI. 5:7) and with incised rims. Cups are attested by a sharp-profiled fragment (PI. 5:15); a knob-decorated sherd (PL 5:16); fragments with turban-shaped decoration (PI. 5:8) and an ansa lunata handle (PI. 5 :14). Fragments of hemispherical bowls: with perforated knob on the rim (PL 5:12) and sherds of similar rims (PL 5 :5, 6). A deep bowl is also attested (PI. 5:19).