A Herman Ottó Múzeum évkönyve 51. (2012)

RÉGÉSZET - TÓTH Farkas Márton: Korai szkítakori sírok Dédestapolcsány-Verebce-tető lelőhelyen

Korai szkítakori sírok Dédestapolcsány-Verebce-tetö lelőhelyen 81 EARLY SCYTHIAN AGE GRAVES AT THE SITE OF DÉDESTAPOLCSÁNY-VEREBCE-TETŐ (NE HUNGARY) Keywords: Late Bronze Age, Middle Iron Age, scythian, burial, connections Four cremation burials from the early phase of the Scythian Period were excavated at Dédestapolcsány—Verebce-tető. The paper surveys the results of the research of season 2008, and delineates the diverse connections of the community, reflected by the grave goods, stray finds and the elements of rite. A cemetery from the Scythian Period was identified at the site of Dédestapolcsány-Verebce-tető in the northern region of the Bükk Mountains (North-Eastern Hungary) by the Metal Detector Research Group of the Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest. The site was known earlier for its Late Bronze Age fortified settlement, some stray finds from the Late Iron Age and the ruins of a small fortification from the Middle Ages. During the season 2008 four cremation burials were excavated. Grave no. 1 was probably a double burial, with an unurned ashy patch and an urn beside that, the latter containing the cremated remains of at least one adult female (18-30 years). In grave no. 2 two urns were found, containing the ashy remains of two children (10-11 and 3,5-4,5 years). Graves no. 3 and 4 were unurned, containing each the cremated remains of a small child (2,5-3,5 i.e. 2-3 years old). The graves found were positioned quite randomly, and the distance between them suggest the presence of a larger cemetery (possibly up to as much as 50-100 graves) on the site. The ceramic and metal grave goods, utilitarian objects, jewellery and garment accessories found in the graves date the excavated part of the cemetery to the Ha C2-D1 horizon, i.e. to the beginning of the Scythian Period in the Carpathian Basin between the second half of the 7th - first half of the 6th century BC. The strong presence of surviving local Late Bronze Age traditions is reflected by the ceramic forms, the presence of urn rite and some garment accessories, while the metal objects (strap distributors and jewellery) show connections with the territories ofTransylvania and the forest steppe region in the first place, and some with the Hallstatt culture as well. An unique moonshaped bronze pendant, a stray find from the territory of the cemetery can be dated to the Ha C period. Its analogies are known from the Bosut and Basarabi Cultures in the Lower Danube Region. The site fits well the increasingly outlining early phase of the Scythian Period in the Carpathian Basin, represented by the cemeteries of Ártánd, Kisgyőr, Nagytarcsa, Sajószentpéter, Sándorfalva-Eperjes and the earliest graves of Alsótelekes and Csanytelek-Újhalastó. Tóth, Farkas Márton