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
364 THE SITE OF KOMPOLT, KISTÉR On the basis of the stylistic dating of the ceramic finds, the settlement's excavated section was abandoned sometime during the second third of the AD 3rd century. Although no destruction layer was observed within the excavated surface, ashy and burnt fill in the wells, as well as artefacts of post quem dating value suggest that part of the settlement, away from the excavated area, must have been destroyed. During subsequent landscaping, open features of the abandoned settlement were filled with the refuse material. Sarmatian material found in a secondary position in Roman Period features offer information on the history of the entire settlement. Avar settlement Three bands could be distinguished over the surface of this site and signs of water erosion were also detected in the northern section of the excavated area. It was in this latter section where Avar Period finds in secondary positions, associated with no concrete features, were detected. In the next band, a line of houses and pits as well as a well were discovered. A few concentrations of sherds were also detected in the south/southwestern end of this band. These, however, could not be linked with features either. This central band was followed with a road-like empty band that was 45-50 m wide and contained no Avar Period finds. Two ditches and a house were found in the western section of the third band, while three additional houses and pits with no archaeological finds came to light in the eastern end. In this area, there were no sherd concentrations or finds in secondary positions. Most of the conclusions can be drawn from the ceramic material of settlements. Both the degree of technical elaboration and contemporary analysis of pottery materials from Avar settlements are far less refined than those of ceramics used as grave goods. 5 5 Therefore, it is often a source of difficulties that during the evaluation of settlement assemblages, the reference material often originates from graves that had been dated using the evidence of other grave goods and pieces of attire. Thus anomalies relevant to the different characters of sites become a hindrance in the analysis. 5 6 In the case of settlements, the majority of pottery are often treated only in the form of sherds in illustrations. Although the description of materials sometimes makes distinctions by the types of temper used, in the absence of precise identifications of form and metric data this information cannot be used in making analogies. 5 7 The technological distribution of ceramic materials recovered at Kompolt 14 is shown in Graph 43. The small ratio of hand-formed pottery to wheel-thrown ware is noteworthy. 5 8 Wheel-thrown pottery made up 86% of the studied material, while only 14% of the sherds originated from hand formed vessels. This also means that in terms of rounded values, 89% of the Avar ceramics in the material were made using sand temper. Non-tempered pottery, made without additives, was encountered only in 4% of the cases. A mixture of sand and mica temper occurred in 3% of the sherds. Gravel and gravel mixed with sand, each were used as pottery temper in 2% of the cases. The absolute values of this distribution are shown in Graph 44. On the basis of data available to date, mica temper was used in late Avar ceramics used as grave goods, especially in hilly regions. 5 9 This observation has also been reconfirmed by the Kompolt-Kistér material. The lack of temper is also a common phenomenon in both techniques it is, however, more frequently encountered in the case of hand-formed ceramics. The quantitative dominance of pots is evident in the functional distribution of the material (Graph 45). Similarly to the rest of the material from this site, the silting of raw material for pots is very variable. Its distribution in absolute terms is shown in Graph 46. In addition to pottery, a special antler find is worthy of mention. It is an egg-shaped, perforated object found in Feature 48, a pit that was poor in finds (Plate 73/4). This artefact type is widely considered the handle of a whip in the literature. 6 0 A bone artefact with high use polish, made from the distal epiphysis of a sheep's right tibia was found in House 6 (Plate 74/1, Table XI/ 4). In the same feature a bone skate/runner, made from a horse radius, was found characterised by typical longitudinal wear (Plate 74/3, Table XI/3). A small, skate-like horse bone fragment was found in Feature 185 as well (Plate 74/4, Table XII/4). The fragment of another cattle bone with longitudinal wear was also found in the same feature (Plate 74/5, Table XII/5). The fill of House 34 contained a perforator made from a dog's humerus. The fill of this house contained both Sarmatian and Avar sherds (Plate 73/3, Table XII/1). 6 1 Another, fragmented, bone artefact was carved from the tibia of a sheep or goat using a metal tool (Plate 73/2, Table XII/2). A horse astragalus with a hole drilled in the proximal crest was recovered from Feature 173 (Plate 74/2, Table XI/2). To date, no other such bone artefact has yet been found in Avar contexts. It is possible that this bone was used as a net- or loom weight. Difficulties of interpretation are exacerbated by the fact that practically no Avar Period features were found in superposition at the site of Kompolt-Kistér. In the case of House 4, one may hypothesise that it was cut by a similarly Avar Period ditch. 6 2 Feature 185, an Avar Period well, on the other hand, is indicative of a longer period. This well was eventually abandoned, as is shown by a layer of silty, natural deposit. Finally, still within the Avar Period, its secondary function was a simple refuse pit. The relative chronology of the Avar Period can be established only on the basis of this find material. Another late Avar settlement with no superposed features was found during the course of parallel rescue excavations at the site of Kompolt - Kistéri tanya. The shift in the function of wells could also be observed at that settle-
