A Herman Ottó Múzeum évkönyve 53. (2014)

Régészet - Tóth Krisztián: Noteworthy Findings of the Roman Age and Early Migration Period from Borsodszirák, Northestern Hungary. First Investigations

Noteworthy Findings of the Roman Age and Early Migration Periodfrom Borsodszirák

165

a total number of 114 sherds came to light, whereof 41 pieces could be dated to the Roman and Early Migration Periods. Another 19 got into the museum in 1999; 10 of them belonged to the periods expounded in this paper. In 20121 collected 55 ceramic fragments with my colleague, whereof 26 pieces are the subject of this article. In 2013 only 9 fragments were collected and 7 could be dated to this periods. I discuss some of them according to the type of form determined by function. Furthermore, I intend to shed some light on their parallels to a possible extent without the attempt to be comprehensive. For the descriptions of the ceramics I used the guideline of the Prehistoric Ceramic Research Group (PCRG 2010).

Hand-made pots

Several hand-made pottery fragments were discovered at the site. All of them were collected in 1998. Unfortunately, there is no available data regarding their exact location within the site.

1. It is a handmade, bended over, tapered, bevelled rim fragment of a pot. In its poorly prepared basic material a common amount of well-rounded, mixedsized sand can be found, and it is rich in mica. Its outer and inner surface is dark grey, while its fraction surface is black so it is burnt in an oxygen-reduced atmosphere (Fig. 4. 1). The thickness of its wall is 6 mm, while the diameter of the rim is 14 cm.

2. It is a handmade, slightly bended over, tapered rounded rim fragment of a pot. In its poorly prepared basic material a sparse amount of well-rounded, mixed-sized sand can be found, and it is rare in mica. Its outer and inner surface is greyish-brown, calcite crust can be found on its fraction surface, while it is probably burnt in an oxygen-reduced atmosphere (Fig. 4. 2). The thickness of its wall is 6 mm, while the diameter of the rim is 15 cm but uncertain.

3. It is a handmade, slightly bended over, tapered rounded rim fragment of a pot flaring beneath it. In its poorly prepared basic material a sparse amount of well-rounded, mixed-sized sand and a sparse amount of mixed-sized pebble can be found, and it is rich in mica. Its outer surface is black, its inner surface is greyish-brown, its fraction surface is black, while it is burnt in an oxygen-reduced atmosphere (Fig. 4. 3). The thickness of its wall is 1 cm, while the diameter of the rim is 18 cm.

4. It is a handmade, slightly bended over, tapered, rounded rim fragment of a pot. In its poorly prepared basic material a moderate amount of well-rounded mixed-sized sand can be found, and it is rich in mica. Its outer, inner and fraction surface is dark grey, while it is burnt in an oxygen-reduced atmosphere (Fig. 4. 4). The thickness of its wall is 9 mm, while the diameter of the rim could not be measured.

5. It is a handmade, bended over, rounded rim fragment of a pot. In its poorly prepared basic material a sparse amount of well-rounded, mixedsized sand can be found, and it is rare in mica. Its outer and inner surface is dark grey, calcite crust can be found on its fraction surface, while it is probably burnt in an oxygen- reduced atmosphere (Fig. 4. 5). The thickness of its wall is 8 mm, while the diameter of the rim is 15 cm but uncertain.

6. It is a handmade fragment of a pot with stamped four-petal flower motifs. In its poorly prepared basic material a sparse amount of well-rounded, mixedsized sand can be found and it is rare in mica. Its outer and inner surface is greyish-brown, calcite crust can be found on its fraction surface, while it is probably burnt in an oxygen reduced atmosphere (Fig. 4. 6). The thickness of its wall is 6 mm, while the diameter of the rim is 15 cm but uncertain.

These pots with S-profile were all made by a similar technology. The mixed grain-size sand and the sparse or sporadic large pebbles were probably naturally included the poorly prepared basic material used for making them. It is probable that only a few amount of energy was invested into the preparation of these vessels, hence the borders of the area supplying raw materials was also narrow; they may have used clay from the surrounding one-kilometre area (Arnold 2005, 17). In the shaping of their rims rounded, rounded and slantwise cut in, or rather bevelled design can also be observed.

Hand-made pottery can be found in large quantities in the Roman Period settlement material of Northern Hungary (K. Végh 1975, 87). The material excavated in Peder contained a pot with slightwise cut off rim similar to the fragment of Fig 4. 1, which was dated by the author to the Late Roman Period (Schmiedlova 1969, Abb. 38, 7). Vessels similar to the fragment of Fig 3. 2. are known from Pányok (K. Végh 1975,

XIX. tábla 4) and from Sajókeresztúr, from the sand mine near the Sajó River (K. Végh 1975, XXII. tábla 1).