Janus Pannonius Múzeum Évkönyve 27 (1982) (Pécs, 1983)

Régészet - Ecsedy István: Ásatások Zók-Várhegyen (1977–1982)

ÄSATÄSOK ZÓK-VARHEGYEN (1977-1982) 87 Excavations at Zók-Várhegy (1977—1982) Preliminary Report ISTVÁN ECSEDY Zók-Várhegy is the largest site of the VucedolZók Culture in Hungary. The first finds reached the museum of Pécs in 1917, with the well-known birdshaped vessel among them (Figs. 1-7Д1).

1112 The first excavation at the site was begun in 1919 under the leadership of D. B. Karapandzic,

13 the survey of the settlement was completed during the military occupation of the territory. Of the uncovered material only a few vessels have been published

14

, the documentation of the excavation is, as far as we know, rather incomplete.

15 In 1943 Gyula Török, archaeologist of the museum in Pécs carried out an excavation but only within a very limited territory so that the discovery of the complete stratigraphy of the settlement was not possible even then.

21-22 Since only a small part of the frequently mentioned but scarcely published finds of Zók has been uncovered by way of archaeological excavations (Pis. I-IV) and because, in connection with the recently arisen questions concerning the Trans-Danubian Early Bronze Age, a more thorough exploration of the site has become necessary, in the summer of 1977 we carried out a sounding excavation on Várhegy. The main aim of our first excavation was to make the stratigraphie position clear. This was followed by further campaings on the site in the years 1978, 1979, 1980 and 1982 (Figs. 8-9). Zók-Várhegy is situated some 15 kms south-west of Pécs, at the northwest of the hilly country between the Villány and the Mecsek mountains. The promontory of Várhegy is a ridge of a hill at the southern border of the wide valley of an old river (now the „Pécsi-víz" Canal) surrounded by steep downward slopes on the northern, eastern and western sides, turning into an extensive plateau on the southern side, consisting of Pliocene deposits and Pleistocene loess. Its height above sea level is 168 ms. The plateau of Várhegy stretches between the neighboring valleys on its eastern and western sides for a lenght of a kilometer,- its width being about 150 ms.

1—10 The nothern part of the plateau rises above the surrounding land and extends for 200 x 100 ms. The traces of the Vucedol-Zók Culture are restricted to this area. This northern part is covered with a characteristically ashy „settlement soil" and is bordered on the south by an east - west dip which marks the fortification ditch of the Vucedol-Zók settlement (Fig. 12, Pl. VIII/l.). Beyond this, infrequent traces of the Somogyvár -Vinkovci Culture can be found for a length of 400 m to the south. The earliest settlement discovered so far on this well défendable site which is in a favourable position in every respect, dates back to the Copper Age (Figs 13-14). The remains of the Lasinja Balaton I

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26 period are succeded by settlement remains of the Early Baden Culture (Figs 15-20) ,• following this the population of the Vucedol-Zók Culture (Figs 21-24) settled down here. Buildings from more than one period can be observed at the Vucedol-Zók site.

27-29 The latest prehistoric finds can be connected to the Somogyvár-Vinkovci Culture (Figs 25-27), the scattered objects of which can be found all over the plateau and are very different from the earlier Vucedol-Zók settlement.

28 In the course of our excavations so far pits and hearths belonging to the Lasinja-Balaton period as well as a thin layer of the Baden Culture appeared beneath the earliest Vucedol-Zók layer. The houses belonging to this earliest (first) layer of the Vucedol-Zók settlement had burnt down. Their remains and the refuse of the destruction level filled the pits which had been dug for the purpose of gaining clay for the houses' construction. Thus even within the first settlement layer one can distinguish between the earliest pits and those dug after the destruction of the houses belonging to them. The new houses were built not exactly where the earlier ones used to be, so the material of the pits found under the floors of the houses belonging to the second building phase can be clearly distinguished from a stratigraphie point of view (Fig. 10, Pis V-VIL). Though the house-floors and hearths of the later Vucedol-Zók Culture have been damaged by deep ~ ploughing, the pits starting from here and often cutting through the floors of both earlier layers, contain easily distinguishable material, so that the latest Vucedol-Zók finds of the settlement can be well demonstrated. Apart from the material of the disturbed layers near the surface, those finds of the Somogyvár-Vinkovci