Ciubotă, Viorel (szerk.): Mala Kopanya. Micromonografie (Satu Mare, 2009)
3. Pidszumki vivcsennja pamjatki
Roman Age. The largest and most powerful fortified settlement in the region was the fortress from Mala Kopanya. It was situated on a hill (on the volcanic top of the Husti-Rokosovo district) on the right bank of Tisa river (fig. 2). The height of the fortress platform from the water level is 85 m. The abrupt cliffs of the mountain provide protection to the eastern, southern and south-western sides of the fortress. Tisa river flows at the eastern bottom of the mountain, and the southern and south-western cliffs are softer. The soil of the plain near the fortress contains much gravel. If we consider the high level of Tisa river two thousand years ago and the structure of the soil, we may assume that the south-western river would reach the bottom of the mountain, providing a natural protection from this direction (fig. 3). The entire area of the castle had 5 hectares. It covered both plateaux of the mountain from north to south. A system of four walls was built for defence. The first wall, the main one, defended the southern plateau and passed to the margins of the steep rocks. The mountain slopes were interrupted by several embankments made of the earth taken from nearby, which contains a significant number of waste pieces with cultural value. The height of the embankment was 0.4 - 2.2 m, and the width 3.5 - 20 m. The central entrance was very well fortified. The wall contained layers of earth mixed with gravel, stones and was fit with andesite plates. The built system was thus stockaded on both sides. A supplementary wall was built in order to defense the eastern slope of the mountain (the hight to 4 m). The most impressive defence works have been found on the northern plateau. Here is a saddle between two plateaux which deepens down to 15 - 20 m, and was complemented with two walls in order to create a complex system of defence. They are disposed like two arched lines, at a distance of 60 m from each other. In the east, the walls reached the slopes, and in the west, they converged near the road that went on slope. The walls were 1-1.7 m high, and 8 - 10.2 m wide at the base. The walls were made of yellow clay and gravel and they reveal fragments of Dacians pottery. The area between the saddle and wall III (the small fortress) doesn’t contain culture layers, thus pointing to its use for defense and not for living. The sharp taperedshaped ditch was 1.5 m deep. A system of 7 walls was found in the north-eastern side of the fortress 43
