A Herman Ottó Múzeum évkönyve 53. (2014)

Régészet - B. Hellebrandt Magdolna: Zökkenők a régészeti kutatásban

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B. Hellebrandt Magdolna

and Hunyady’s (Hunyady 1957,154—161) work. E.g. the Hellenistic bronze kantharos was found in grave no. 10 according to Hunyady, while Horváth locates it in grave no. 1.

Grave no. 2 excavated at Rozvágy by Sándor Gallus (Gallus 1957,181-182) is mentioned in Hunyady’s study (Hunyady 1942—1944, Fig 6A). In the attached illustration, the pottery finds are depicted as placed around the hip. Only a drawing of this grave has been preserved in the collection of the National History Museum (Hellebrandt 2012, 1615). This shows that the five vessels were, in fact, deposited by the Celts at the feet of the person buried.

Locating archaeological sites on maps may be a source of error. In his comprehensive book on Eastern Celtic coin finds, Karl Pink located Felsőkelecsény in Tolna County. However, Felsőkelecsény is situated in Borsod County according to the gazetteers (Hellebrandt 2004, 115; 2005, 325).

Similar or identical site names may also result in mistakes. Bábony is an example of this problem. Note no. 2252-92 in the archaeological archives of the Herman Ottó Museum reports on the discovery of a pair of anklets decorated with three balls. According to the note, these were recovered by a notary, János Sáfár, and sent to the museum by a noble judge called Gábor Horváth. Hunyady described the find in her study (Hunyady 1957, 114, no. 19.1886.1-2) but she located the site in Pest-Pilis-Solt-Kiskun County. This piece of data is repeated by Szabó (Szabó 1971, Plate 52). In the original inventory book it was noted (at the year 1886, p. 209) that the find was, in fact, sent by Gábor Horváth, the noble judge of Tab, to Ferenc Pulszky. Horváth attached a cover letter which is now kept under inventory no. 54/1886.b. This cover letter was mistakenly sent to Miskolc, because there is a settlement called Bábony in Borsod County. However, the precise name of this town is Sajóbábony. It seems that the pair of ball anklets kept under inventory no. 19/1886.1 -2 was originally discovered at Bábonymegyer, in the region of Tab in Somogy County. The cover letter of the find, that is, the document kept under no. 2252-92 in the Herman Ottó Museum, was brought to Miskolc by mistake.

The site of Csányi—Kavicsbánya (Borrow Pit) between Abaújvár and Kenyhec (Kechnec, Slovakia) has been forgotten in the secondary literature, although locals remembered it even in the 1970s. I was able to locate the material unearthed from here in the site inventory of the Hungarian National Museum. The finds arrived at the museum May 19,1900, and 23 objects were catalogued under accession no. 46. A summarizing description of these finds was provided by József Hampel in the journal Archaeologiai Értesítő (Hampel 1901, 187). The catalogue, the inventory and Hampel’s description suggest that five graves were excavated at the site. Grave no. 6 was recorded in the inventory as unearthed during an excavation at Szina (Abaújszina, present-day Sena, Slovakia), under no. 35/1900.1-3. However, the sword, knife and spearhead from this grave were, in fact, found at Csányi—Kavicsbánya. Szina (Abaújszina) is the neighboring village of Abaújvár and Kenyhec.

Identifying this site in museum registers posed a problem. Hampel located Szina in Borsod County. On Hunyady’s map (Hunyady 1942—1944, map of archaeological sites), Szina (no. 472) is incorrectly shown northwest of Muhi (no. 312). This location, however, corresponds neither to Szina (next to Kenyhec, no. 233), nor to the village of Szin (Hunyady 1957, 184), which is located by the upper section of the Bódva River, on the northern bank of the Jósva Stream. However, there is no borrow pit at Szin, and the archaeological site associated with this village is not Celtic. Therefore it seems that both K. Végh (K. Vegh 1969, 77) and I (B. Hellebrandt 2004.115; 2005, 325) mistakenly cited Szin as a Celtic site. The Celtic site in question is, in fact, located at the borrow pit of Csány, next to the settlements of Abaújvár-Kenyhec (Kehnec, Slovakia) and Szina (Abaújszina, present-day Sena, Slovakia) (Fig. 3.1). Based on the Celtic finds, this mixed-rite burial dates to the 3rd c. BC.

The Celts migrating from the west crossed the Danube in the Danube Bend region at the turn of the 4th-3rd c. BC, and moved eastwards at the feet of the Mátra and Bükk mountains, on the fringes of the Great Hungarian Plain. The finds unearthed from the sites of Szikszó, Forró, Méra (Felsőméra), Novajidrány, and Abaújvár-Kenyhec (Kehnec) - Szina (Sena) suggest that they turned northwards and followed the course of the Hernád River (B. Hellebrandt 1997, 69). The Celtic conquest aimed the acquisition of new lands, as well as the expolitation of metal deposits in the Slovak Ore Mountains and the extremely rich iron resources around present-day Munkács (Mukacheve, Ukraine).

As it has been demonstrated, it is crucial to use the original objects and documentation during research in all cases, if possible. [Translated by Kyra Lyublyanovics]

B. Hellebrandt, Magdolna