Marta, Liviu: The Late Bronze Age Settlements of Petea-Csengersima (Satu Mare, 2009)
III. Habitation of te Suciu de Sus Archaeological Culture
The bands formed from angled notches (HD and HE) are rarely used on the pottery of the two settlements. These are also rare in other sites of the culture242, however they are more frequently used to decorate amphorae from the necropolis at Lăpuş243' The motifs HF and HG are bands in the form of a grid made by means of incising long horizontal lines and short verdcal lines (PI. 27/7). The width of the incisions gives the impression that the decoradon is formed by the network of small squares of the spaces between the lines. These ornaments are present on one vessel from the settlement. They are also rare in other sites of the late phase of the Suciu de Sus culture. This decoration is not present among the ornamental motifs from the earlier phases of the culture, but it appears on vessels with excised-incised motifs from the necropolis at Lăpuş244. A derivative of the preceding motifs is the ornament HH formed from a row of rectangular spaces within an excised horizontal band, motif HI in “chessboard” form. It is actually a result of the preceding motif arranged in several bands. It is present on a single vessel from the setdement (PI. 27/3), as it is rare also in other sites from the Suciu III phase24/ The chessboard motif is present in the Wietenberg culture246 (a part of the squares have been obtained by means of jabbing), however its absence in the earlier phases of the Suciu culture makes improbable the fact that it has been taken over by the late phase of the Suciu de Sus culture. The motifs HJ and HK are groups of 3 deeply incised elongated lines, in the second case these being arranged close to each other creating relief lines. These are used to decorate in a simple manner the bodies of some cups and bowls, but also to separate complex decorative registers. The motif HL consists of short parallel lines placed in arched triangular spaces. This motif is especially frequent in sites of the first phases of the Suciu culture247 or in the Otomani culture248. During the late phase of the Suciu culture (phase III/Bader or phase II/ Kacsó), we notice a more lively presence of this ornament in a few settlements249 250 251 as compared to the situation at Petea—Csengersima. This is another element that stands for the late dating of the two setdements. Zig-^ag lines (the I group of ornaments — Typ. pl. 3). These are obtained by carving two rows of interlaced triangles which give the space between them the shape of a zig-zag line. The zig-zag ornament can be short (motifs IA and IB), as it used to mark the space between other ornamental motifs, or they can be horizontal bands (PI. 22/1, 42/4, 54/1, 63/8). In other cases it is used as decorations surrounding vessels - motifs IC, ID and IE (PI. 22/1, 42/4, 54/1, 63/8). Motif IC is achieved by placing several zig-zag lines next to each other (PI. 67/3). Motif IE is a horizontal strip that repeats two short vertical lines united by an oblique elongated line. The frequency of zig-zag decoration is relatively great. The motif is also present on one of the few vessels with decoration on the rim (PI. 64/4). Zig-zag lines are common on the pottery from sites of the late phase of the Suciu de Sus culture (phase III/Bader or phase II/Kacsó) 280 and continue to appear also in the necropolis at Lăpuş281. Their absence in the first stages of the Suciu de Sus culture makes unclear their origin or 242 Kalicz 1960, pi. VI/10; Pop 2003, fig. 4/8; Kacsó 2005, pl. 4/12. 243 Kacsó 2001, abb. 4, 6-10. 244 Kacsó 2001, abb.5. 245 Bader 1972, fig. 7/11; Bader 1978, pl. LI/9. 246 Boroffka 1994, p. 184 (motivul VC4), typentafel 23/7; Bader 1978 pl. XXXII/15 (Pir). 247 Bader 1978, pl. XLIV/10, XLV/ 2,11, 12; XLVI/8, XLVII/8,19, XLVIII/17; Kacsó 1995, pl. VIII/10; IX/ 5; Vasiliev et al. 2002, pi. 35/1,42/3,4,9. 248 Bader 1978, pl. XVII/19,20,26,27,28; XIX/5; Németi - Molnár 2007, p. 98, p. 255-256 (Otomani II), p. 117- 118, p. 274-276 (Otomani III). 249 Kacsó 2004, abb. 2/1,5, 3/3 (Oarţa de Jos- Vâlceaua Rusului); Kacsó 2005, pl. 1/19, 5/1, 6/9 (Bicaz — Igoaie). 250 Bader 1972 pl. 16/4,6; Bader 1978, pl. L/2, LI/ 2, LII/7; Kacsó 1987, abb 14/2; Kacsó 2004, abb. 5/1; . Kacsó 2006, pl. 6/1. 251 Kacsó 2001, abb. 9; 11,23. 41
