Szolyák Péter - Csengeri Piroska (szerk.): A Herman Ottó Múzeum Évkönyve 56. (Miskolc, 2017)
Régészet - Soós, Eszter et al.: Settlement and graves from Hernádvécse (NE-Hungary) in the 5th century AD: relation of living space and burial place in the Hun Period
Settlement and graves from Hernádvécse (NE-Hungary) in the 5th century AD 69 More sites became known lately where classical Hunnic period burials were also excavated beside presumably contemporary settlement features. The Hunnic period building from Mohács was dated by Mihály Párducz based on grainy pots and bronze tweezers. In the site not far from the building five graves were also unearthed. Párducz defined the features contemporary (Párducz 1949). Dispersed settlements and little grave groups of 5th century communities were unearthed in Ordacsehi— Csereföld and Ordacsehi—Kis töltés (Gallina 2005; Bocsi et al 2016). The graves were dug 30-80 m away from the settlement features. Zsófia Bocsi, who published the sites, drew the attention to the fact that the ceramic material can be also dated to the end of the 4th century AD without metal artefacts. However, she emphasized the topographical relations of the settlements and the grave groups as well (Bocsi et al. 2016,105—106). Not far from the above-mentioned sites a settlement consisting of a semi-subterranean building and pits was excavated near Zamárdi—Kútvölgyi dűlő. Four poorly fitted burials also came to light in the northern and eastern part of the settlement (Kiss 2007,67—71, 64. kép). In Fonyód-Vasúti dűlő 2 (Mérnöki telep) settlement remains from the 4th-5th centuries and Hunnic period grave groups were excavated between 2004 and 2006 (Gallina—Somogyi 2007, 23—26). The grave groups were situated partly between the settlement features and partly west from it, 50-60 m away from each other. The settlement was defined preliminary as late Roman, later its closer connection with the grave groups emerged as well (Straub 2014, 207; Gallina-Straub 2014, 213). At the site of Paks-LIDL a Hunnic period building with related pits and two burials oriented to north were excavated. The graves contained a cicada brooch, footwear buckles and one of the deceased had artificially deformed skull (K. Németh 2009). The phenomenon is traceable in Barbarian territories as well. In Szurdokpüspöki—Hosszú dűlő the rich female graves with carved brooches, polihedral earrings and bone combs were also located between the settlement features. The ceramic material from the semi-subterranean building and the pottery kiln in the site consists of grainy pots and S-profile bowls quite similar to the vessel forms in Hernádvécse. In the preliminary report the settlement was dated to the 4th century AD but it surely still existed in the first half of the 5th century AD based on the glazed mortarium, the double-sided combs and the long iron brooches with inverted foot (Bácsmegi-Guba 2007, 16—17, 20—25). Lately, a weapon burial from the second part of the 5th century AD was published from Tiszavasvári— Danes tehenészet. Nearby, approximately 70 m away late Sarmatian features were unearthed as well, Zsolt Körösfői suspects their relation with the burial (Körösfői 2016b, 150). In the site Szilvásvárad—Lovaspálya (Salamon— Török 1960) preventive excavations were done until 2016 where in addition to prehistoric and Roman Age features a Hunnic period female burial oriented to southwest including a cicada brooch was also unearthed. Approximately 150 m away from the burial, a settlement part consisting of pits, above-ground and semi-subterranean buildings was also excavated, which could be inhabited from the turn of the 4th—5th centuries AD based on the grainy pots, several bell-shaped and double-sided combs and many late Roman coins. A bigger buckle spike curved on the buckle ring came to light from a pit, on the basis of which the settlement was subsisted to the middle third of the 5th century AD25. It is noteworthy that the late phase of the settlement Jakuszowice in Poland starting from the period C3 could be also dated to the middle third of the 5th century on the basis of the same buckle fragments with the spike curved on the buckle ring (Kaczanowski-Rodzinska- Nowak 2008, 186, Abb. 4-5). At the above-mentioned sites, the graves were located between the settlement features or 30—120 m away from them. Their connections will be proved only after the complex evaluation of the settlement remains. The topographical relation of settlements and burials in the Hunnic period needs further research. As research proceeds, the complex analysis of the more uncharacteristic settlement materials will be unavoidable. Since the items of everyday use from the settlements have only a little in common with grave goods, consisting of mainly dress items, cross-dating is not feasible in many cases. An important step forward would be the cross-check of the results and assumptions with alternative scientific dating methods.26 4. CONCLUSIONS In Hernádvécse—Nagy rét Site No. 4 a settlement part and two burials from the first half — middle third of the 5th century AD were excavated in 2004. 25 Csilla Farkas pers. comm. 26 For example the well-known Moravian site Zlechov ascertained archeologically in period C3/D1 proved almost 50 years older by radiocarbon analysis (Stadler et al. 2008, Abb. 9—10).
