Janus Pannonius Múzeum Évkönyve 38 (1993) (Pécs, 1994)

Régészet - Katona Győr Zsuzsa: Római villaépület Komló, Mecsekfalui úton

80 Excavation of a Roman Villa at the site Komló, Mecsekfalui út (SW Hungary) Zsuzsa KATONA GYŐR Archaelogical excavation was performed in Komló at the Western side of the Mecsekfalui út in 1984 and 1985. The site is localized on a low hill. In the findspot we found the remains of a building from the Roman Period (Fig. 2-6, Table 1, Pictures 1 and 3). The building is from one period, small sized, Northwest-Southwest oriented. It consists of 9 rooms (Fig. 8). The lenght is 26 m and its area is 382 square metres. The 1st and 2nd rooms are covered with terrazzo floor. Under the floor the heating system was found (Table 1, Pictures 1 and 2, Figs. 9-12, 13-14, Table 2, Pictures 1-5). The walls of the 3rd-9th rooms were remained only at the level under the floor (Table 1, Figs. 13-14, Table 3, Pictures 1 and 2). A quadrangular fireplace was built to the Western wall of the 7th room on its outer side. It is supposed that inhabitants used the fireplace for the melting of led too, because around of a fireplace we also found led (Fig. 8, Table 3, Picture 4). The archaelogical findings found in the building and on its surroundings are: I. coins (Table 1, cat. 1-6), II. bronze, jewelry (cat. 7-11), III. iron objects (cat. 12-51), IV. ceramics (cat. 52-71), V. bricks (cat. 72-89) and VI. glasses (cat. 90-92) The above mentioned objects are stored in the Janus Pannonius Museum at Pécs (inventory numbers: R 92.1.1. -R.92.

1.202.). The trial trenches around the building were empty and the small hill on the South-west part of the findspot was also without archaeological findings. We haven't found any remainings of other buildings. In spite of this we think that the found building was a mansion belonging to the agricultural complex. This is proven by some of our findings: the building was fitted with heating system, 1st and 2nd rooms were suitable for living in winter time in it. The 3rd room in which we found the owen could have been the kitchen. The function of 4th-9th rooms cannot be found out. Comparing our building with the one was found in Komló area earlier (Mecsekjánosi, Közüzemi völgy, 1953-54) which is big, we see some differences concerning the area. The two building could not have belonged to the same economic unit due to the distance between them (Table 2). Our building also cannot be compared with the othrs excavated nearby (Kővágószőlős, Hosszúhetény, Szilágy, Nagyárpád). But we can compare the building with the one in Budakalász. The base area is the same and both of them are fitted with heating system. The houses like this used to be adjacent buildings of one economic unit. According to our opinion it oculd have been a Villa Urbana of small latifundium. The findings are dated to the 4th century A.D. In the graves from the same period the bone bracelets decorated with concentric rings are frequent (cat. 11) and also the bronze bracelets (cat. 9) Typical finding from the 4th century A.D. is the half-ball shaped glass (cat. 90). Glass fragments with incised decoration (cat. 91) were used in the second half of the 4th century A.D. The greenish glazed pottery is characteristical for the Late Roman period and common not only in Sopianae but also in other findspots of Pannónia around the 4th century A. D. We found only 6 coins during the excavation. Apart from the coin of cat. 1 all the others are originated from the ruins of the building. It means that this is dated to the demolition of the building. Four of the coins is from the Valentinians period (364-375), one is from the Constantin's period and one is Valens coin. The building excavated in Mecsekjánosi is dated to the 2nd-4th century A. D. according to Burger A., but later studies are proving its younger age. Our building is dated to the 4th century A. D. based on the archaeological findings. Probably its golden age was in 300-370. The closing year of the coins is 375. Around this year the use of the building ceased. Because of the poor finding we think that the inhibitants moved taking their goods with them. The building was not fire stricken. The open and empty house went down. After the year 375 other places in Pannónia were also left. The houses were emptied by their inhabitants and the decline of the Province began.