A Nyíregyházi Jósa András Múzeum évkönyve 41. - 1999 (Nyíregyháza, 1999)

Régészet - Ivan Popovich: Study of the Early Iron Age sites in the Transcarpathian region

Study of the Early Iron Age sites in the Transcarpathian region so we are not able to determine the presence of building horizons of different times. Findings of Hallstatt pottery in the mound make us date the fortification construction to the Hallstatt Age. It is indubitable that the fortified settlement was formed in the Hallstatt times not earlier than the HB

3 period. In the pottery we miss early forms of the Gáva amphoras. In the simple pottery there are no vessels with combed decoration characteristic for HA-HB

2 period. All the collected pottery have convincing analogies at the known fortified settlements of the Transcarpathian region (SMIRNOVA 1966.400-405, ris. 5,6,7, BALAHURI 1972.50-61) and in East Slovakia (BUDINSKY-KRICKA 1976. obr. 7,8;MIROSSAJOVÁ 1987. Tab. IV.). We frequently meet the same forms as in the Kushtanovica finds, but the presence of a Kushtanovica cultural layer was not determined. On the basis of these observations we date the early layer of the fortified settlement to the beginning of the 8thend of the 7th century B.C. The question of the dating of the iron melting furnaces at Stremtura is still unsolved. On the basis of the stratigraphic observations we can suggest its functioning already in period HC. Such early finds of traces of black metallurgy are not known in the Carpathian basin by the moment. However, we have to note that the beginning of iron processing in the region of the Eastern Alps belongs to the middle of the 7th century B.C. (CLARK 1953.201). Connections with this territory had started already in the period HB

r So, the suggestion on the early dating of the furnaces is justified. This question can be solved finally only using technical methods of determination. The relatively insignificant density of the cultural layer outside the industrial space can be explained by the function of the site. The suggestion according to which the Hallstatt fortified settlements of the Transcarpathian region were used only for defensive aims and played the role of refuges in case of danger (SMIRNOVA 1966.404) has not been supported already by the first large scale excavation in Shelestovo (BALAHURI 1972.). An intensive cultural layer can be registered at the Uzhhorod fortified settlement (BERNIAKOVICH 1955. 171-184) which was determined as such only after the discovery of the fortification construction (information by O.Dzembas) at the Castle Hill (Zamkova Hora/Varhegy) that was dated by Hall statt pottery. This site is similar in its construction to the one of the Irshava defensive system. A small fortified settlement at the village of Bilki played the role of a watch station (DZEMBAS 1991. 107.). The industrial character of the site must have determined the thinness of the cultural layer containing remains of farming and everyday life. The factor of secrecy also played an important role that was underlined by researchers in connection with the spread of iron at the early stage of its production. We have to add also the factor of military threat that, at a certain stage of the historical development, played the role of acceleration and could subdue social-economic processes to its aim (CHOCHOROWSKI 1989/B.90.). A specific moving factor of this process was the situation formed as a result of the appearance of the militant "Cimmerians" at the territory of Alföld. At the turn of HB

2-HB

3 probably a part of the Gáva and Kyjatice population under the pressure of the Mezőcsát population appeared here, moved into the regions of the Eastern Carpathians together with relative tribes. Here they formed a defensive line in the mountainous regions of East Slovakia, Transylvania and Transcarpathia. One of these sites was the Irshava fortified settlement. So, in the regions situated closer to the Carpathian range we can observe the process of accumulation of the Gáva Culture. The absence of finds of the so-called "Thraco-Cimmerian type" make us think that the population of the Transcarpathian region had not changed. The intensifying contacts with the territory of Middle Tisza region observed in the HB period were accompanied by the increasing percentage of forms genetically connected with the Hallstatt cultural circle in the pottery. This is supported by the materials from the excavation of the Uzhhorod fortified settlement (BERNIAKOVICH 1955.7-176, tab. 1.1,3). Obviously the appearance of a miniature ritual vessel at this fortified settlement is connected with this process. It is analogous with a find coming from the Kyjatice site of Harsány (KEMENCZEI 1984.45, Taf. LXXXVIII.5) from the point of view of form and motive and also by its size. Researchers separate two components in the material culture of the Mezőcsát sites: a foreign one that appeared with the Iranian speaking Syginna (HARMATTÁ 1946/48.79-132) and is represented by weapons and horse harness, and a local one represented by pottery. Two groups can be divided in the ceramic material. The first one contains ceramic forms connected with the Gáva and Kyjatice Culture, the second one is represented by the Mezőcsát forms (KEMENCZEI 1989.55-70) that have a wide circle of analogies, for example in the forest-steppe regions of Moldova and Ukraine. 145