Marta, Liviu: The Late Bronze Age Settlements of Petea-Csengersima (Satu Mare, 2009)

IV. Habitation of the Lăpuş II-Gáva I Archaeological Culture

characteristics specific of the local Suciu de Sus pottery (the low occurrence of striations) are arguments that suggest that there is a local transfer of storage jars in the Plain of Satu Mare as well.

Portable cooking vessels

These are pots that have an “attached” support formed of two legs united by means of side arches. The pots that are part of them have out curved rim and arched body. The majority of examples were made from coarse or intermediate clay however there is a small number of examples made from fine clay. Having a frequency of 11,07%, cooking vessels may be considered a widely used pottery form in the Lăpuş II—Gáva I settlement.

The arches that unite the legs are very narrow compared to the vessels of the Suciu de Sus culture. On the basis of their form two types were established. The first is represented by vessels with simple arches (PI. 28/6, 49/4), while the second type comprises vessels with double arches (PI. 28/5, 38/8). Cooking vessels are present in Gáva I type finds from the region of Carei440 and the north-east of Hungary441. The cooking vessel is a pottery form well represented also in the finds of the Lăpuş group442. The vessels from the necropolis at Lăpuş belong to type 2 (with double arches) 443, a type absent from the Suciu de Sus pottery. Other common elements of vessels from the Lăpuş II—Gáva I habitation at Petea—Csengersima and to the one contemporary from the Lăpuş group are represented by the narrowing of the arch that unites the legs and the almost complete disappearance of the perforations on these. In both regions perforations were frequent in the Suciu de Sus culture. However in the cultural horizon that follows this culture the perforations are no longer applied to the vessels from Petea-Csengersima while at Lăpuş these are present only on a few examples which were found in one of the Tumulus groups444 445.

If in what concerns the general form there are noticeable parallel changes, common to both vessels from the Plain of Satu Mare and those from the Lăpuş Depression, a very different situation is encountered in what concerns the decoration of cooking vessels. Alongside some common elements there are also ornaments specific of each region, having the possibility to link both cases with the specific local inherited traditions. The cooking vessels from Petea—Csengersima are fitted with different types of knobs (motifs AA, AD, AE, AF, AJ) and are decorated with striations or in one case with appliqué rib decoration (BE). However striations are present only on 6,45% of the examples from the settlement, unlike the necropolis at Lăpuş where striations adorn each example443. The cooking vessels from the settlement at Petea—Csengersima lack in appliqué rib decoration and fingerimpressed or incised crests which are some of the ornaments usually applied to vessels of the coarse pottery of the Lăpuş group (including cooking vessels) 446.

The Lăpuş II-Gáva I cultural horizon represent the final period of employment of cooking vessels in the region of the Upper Tisa Basin and the northern region of Transylvania447. It is likely that its abandonment from use is linked with the transformation of

440 Németi 1990, p.42, fig.3/3, 8/13 (Berveni).

441 The vessel of the Kurd type bronze deposit at Debrecen-Fancsika is attributed to the Gáva culture (Patay 1996, p. 75-85, taf. 1/1; Mozsolics 1985, p. 110; Fischl - Kiss — Kulcsár 2001b, p. 133, abb. 5/3.

442 Kacsó 1975, p.51, 53, fig. 9/1-3 (Lăpuş); Kacsó 1990, p. 80, fig. 9/1-3 (Libotin); Kacsó 2003, pl. XIII/8-10 (Lăpuş — Cioncaş).

443 Kacsó 1975, fig. 9/1-3.

444 Kacsó 1981, p. 48.

445 Kacsó 1975, p. 51; Kacsó 1981, p. 48.

446 Kacsó 1975, p. 51, 59; Kacsó 1990, p. 81; Kacsó 1993, p.30; Kacsó 2003, pl. XVI/11, XVlI/6,8, XVIII/6, XIX/7 (Lăpuş).

447 The interpretation of a pottery fragment attributed to the Gáva habitation (2nd phase) at Tăşad as part of a cooking vessel is questionable (Chidioşan 1983, p. 140, fig. 6/4).

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