Csengeri Piroska - Tóth Arnold (szerk.): A Herman Ottó Múzeum évkönyve 54. (Miskolc, 2015)
Régészet - Tóth Krisztina–Szabó Ádám–Homoki Balázs: Archaeological research at the Twin-barrows near Onga (Northeast Hungary in 2015)
280 Krisztián Tóth—Adám Szabó—Balázs Homoki where its infill was a little bit different, more brownish. Its bottom was 80 cm deep from the top of the humus. Unfortunately, some burnt bone fragments were discovered in it {Map 10. D). During excavation we also carried out the metal detector survey in the area of geomagnetic measurement, however, only some recent scrap metal was found. Unfortunately, this short excavation could not clearly prove that the circular ditch belonged to a burial or not, and doubts remained regarding its age as well. SUMMARY The geomagnetic anomaly map published in 2014 and the archaeological excavation carried out in August 2015 proved that not only the Twin-barrows, but also the area around can be considered an archaeological site. Thanks to scientific research consummated in recent years we can certainly say that the mounds are artificial objects. The geomorphologic survey and the soil drillings clearly demonstrated that they have been ditched around and the geomagnetic survey also revealed that these ditches are opened from the south. This survey around the northern mound showed the existence of further graves which are mostly similar in structure to the biggest pile: some of the circle ditches are opened from the south. Three separate grave groups can be observed around the northern mound to the west, north and east. As the mounds have not been affected of archaeological research, it would be important to clarify some fundamental issues. In which period could have these hills been built? Can it be proved archaeologically that their circular ditches originate simultaneously with them or were they added to the mounds later? When did cemetery groups form around the barrows of the northern mound? What is their relationship to the twins and to each other? In order to clarify some of these important questions we carried out a geomagnetic survey on a one hectare surface to the north from the northern barrow of the Zsolcai-halmok (barrows of Zsolca), near the village called Onga. The measurements detected some potential graves with circular ditches and we opened two searching trenches on the northernmost ones. In these we were able to find the circular foss and the potential grave in the middle shown by the measurement. These phenomena were 35 cm deep, so one can easily explain their strong magnetic effect on the survey, because they were in the range of the penetration depth of the instrument. Mainly prehistoric pottery fragments were found in the encircling ditch, but in its northern part a red wheel made sherd was revealed. Although dating these objects can be difficult, we have an assumption about the wheel made one, as this technology was available for the Sarmatians during the Roman Period. But currently this could only be potential evidence for that the ditch framework was not built before the Roman Period. The feature unearthed in the central part showed some regularity; however, except for a few burnt bones we found little signs of a burial. Although knowing the degree of how disturbed Sarmatian cemeteries can be, we could assume that this is a highly disturbed burial. It would be worth continuing the excavation and geomagnetic survey in the future to gain clear evidence on the date of origin of the circular ditches and possible burials. The short research in 2015 can only be regarded as the first step in the study of the twins, which we want to continue in the future. As our next step, we would like to carry out a geomagnetic survey on both the barrows and their environment on a total surface of 10 hectares. In possession of this, we could see more precisely how many cemetery groups we can count around the mounds and what kind of grave structures are characteristic of certain groups. Following this, we would like to examine the burial with a quick excavation situated to the west from the northern barrow, because it shows the strongest and largest magnetic anomaly. At the same time, we also want to investigate the burial with circular trench from the eastern group that showed the strongest magnetic anomaly and an anomaly with no frame, which can also presumed to be a burial. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS We would like to thank to Tamás Bodnár (MNL BAZML) for the historical maps and Gábor Bakos (HOM) for performing metal detection. We would also like to thank the help of Borbála Mohácsi (Eötvös Loránd University), Ádám Lisztes (University of Pécs), József Simon (HOM), Ádám Juhász (HOM), Ágnes Király (HOM) and Csaba Medve (HOM). ABBREVIATIONS HOM — Herman Ottó Museum MNL BAZML - The Hungarian National Archives, Archives of Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén County MNL HML — The Hungarian National Archives, Archives of Heves County
