Vaday Andrea – Bánffy Eszter – Bartosiewicz László – T. Biró Katalin – Gogältan Florin – Horváth Friderika – Nagy Andrea: Kompolt-Kistér : Újkőkori, bronzkori, szarmata és avar lelőhely Leletmentő ásatás az M+-as autópálya nyomvonalán (Eger, 1999)
The site of Kompolt, Kistér
363 THE SITE OF KOMPOLT, KISTÉR were deposited once the well was no longer used for its original function. Chronological identification is more difficult in the case of refuse pits, since in relation to their function they are filled in by layers, during more extensive periods of time. For the time being it is not possible to separate pits that could be associated with individual houses, and those which were used only subsequently for the same purpose. The occurrence of Roman materials of foreign origins offers additional information for the purposes of dating and elucidating the settlement's life. Germanic materials did not cover the entire surface, they came to light only in the western section of the excavated surface: the fills of House 102, adjacent wells, pits and destroyed features all contained Germanic finds. Roman export ware occurred over a smaller surface, within the distribution area of Germanic materials. On the basis of terra sigillata finds, these fills (but not the features themselves!) may be respectively dated to the second third of the AD 3rd century and the first half of the same century. 5 2 The facts that the features under discussion here were located within a well defined, smaller area and that their secondary fills could be dated to the second third of the 3rd century mean that this section of the settlement had been actively inhabited at an earlier time. Synchronous or near coeval deposits fills indicate that this part of the settlement was abandoned as well. No signs of destruction, however, are apparent in the features, it seems thus likely that the discussed section of the settlement was abandoned in a peaceful way. 5 3 Kompolt-Kistér, Újhartyán and Gyoma 133 are all plain settlements of large extents. In the case of such large villages, ploughlands and pasture usually lay further away from the actual habitation area. It is perhaps for this reason that once arable land had been exhausted by crop production, new fields were established. Thus the settlement became increasingly distant from agricultural areas. Such settlements would follow new arable land but slowly. Houses are not repaired or renovated, but new houses were built once the old habitations had been abandoned. In Graph 40, the Kompolt-Kistér settlement is compared with others. Thus, differences between the settlements' character 5 4 become evident. The number of features was very high in relation to the excavated surface at the site of Gyoma 133, and the same holds true for the Újhartyán settlement. The settlement structure discovered at Kompolt-Kistér, on the other hand, was significantly looser than those of the two aforementioned sites. In the find material of these settlements, the quantities of ceramic finds dominate. It is for this reason that this class of finds plays a significant role in the identification of sites under discussion here. A comparison with settlement materials of roughly identical chronological positions is shown in Graph 41. Vessel types found at these settlements are summarised in the following table: As far as the ethnic identification of the materials under discussion here is concerned, it is noteworthy that characteristic Dacian ceramics were found both at Gyoma 133 and at Újhartyán. On the other hand, Dacian materials were conspicuously missing from the KompoltKistér assemblage. This is even more interesting, considering that both in cemetery and settlement materials in the northern zone of the Sarmatian Barbaricum typical Dacian pottery has occurred since the first immigrations. On the other hand, in addition to Roman exports, Germanian material was also found at Kompolt. It did not occur, however, in sufficiently great numbers to justify interpretations based on ethnic presence. Vessel type Kompolt-Kistér Újhartyán Gyoma 133 storage vessel 1168 324 5456 bowl 46 140 1724 globular vessel 305 110 802 jug 65 121293 barrel-shaped vessel 1 28 pot 1767 282 3437 lid 51 11 124 plate 2 1 amphora 4 baking plate 3 1 cinder cover 1 bottle 2 6 mug 16 standing barrel-shaped vessel 2 cup 2 15 biconical vessel 7 6
