Gyöngyössy Márton (szerk.): Perspectives on the Past. Major Excavations in County Pest (Szentendre, 2008)
Á Middle Bronze Age urn cemetery at Páty (6100-4500 ВС) (4500-2700 ВС) (2700/2500-800 ВС) two centuries since all three phases of the Vatya culture are represented. Suspension vessels were popular wares among the peoples of the Early and Middle Bronze Age in Hungary, and the Vatya culture was no exception as shown by the pieces found in the cemetery. A fragment of a vessel used for distilling and drying recovered from the urn of Grave 112 is an unusual find. Costume ornaments, such as cast lunular pendants, bronze spirals, lock rings and bronze pins are the most common metal finds. One section of the cemetery containing a cluster of 35 inurned burials was covered with a stone packing some time after the interments. The excavation preceding the construction of the Verdung logistical centre on the eastern bank of the Füzes Stream under Mount Nagy-hegy on the outskirts of Páty in 2004 brought to light 301 archaeological features scattered over an area of 8000 m2 3. Over one-half of these, 195 features in all, were Middle Bronze Age inurned burials of the Vatya l-lll period; most of the other features were pits of the Vatya culture, while about 20 per cent represented yielded finds from various other periods. A large stone or a smaller bowl was placed in the mouth of the urns, which were then covered with a larger bowl. The ashes generally lay at the bottom of the urn and various ornaments were often found among the ashes. The most common grave goods were small handled cups, although bowls decorated with incised patterns and punctates encrusted with lime were quite frequent too. The bowls covering the urns were meant to prevent the return of the deceased and, also, to protect the burial from disturbance by animals. It would appear that they also served as grave markers because none of the burials had been disturbed by later ones even though the cemetery was used for over 1. Lime encrusted bowl 2. Urn burial 3. Stone packing covering a cluster of inurned burials 4. Reconstruction of an urn and the bowl covering it 5. Urn • Tamás Repiszky
