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

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

Ivan Popovich Today it is very complicated to determine the character of relationship between the Mezőcsát population and the representatives of the preKushtanovica Culture. Ceramic vessels presented to the Transcarpathian Museum of Local History in 1968 by S. Dudás, an inhabitant of Uzhhorod are directly connected to our problem. According to him these finds come from the clay pit of the Uzhhorod brick factory (Almaznaia Street). There were calcinated bones in the vessels. We have no other information on the finds. To-date we have two vessels in the storage rooms of the Museum. 1. A biconical pot with the utmost widening in the lower part of the vessel. The rim is hardly prolonged, the neck is well profiled. At the utmost widening of the body there are slightly lowered handle-knobs. The lower part of the body is strongly widening and gradually joins the slightly profiled bottom. The exterior surface is smoothed, it is dull black, the interior surface is grayish. The diameter of the rim is 18.5 cm, its height is 35 cm, the diameter of the bottom is 12 cm (Pl. II.3) 2. A beaker with a prolonged rim, a well profiled neck and a spherical body. At the utmost widening of the vessel there are traces of a broken handle, and from three opposite sides there are small applied knobs with horizontal hatching. The thoroughly smoothed surface is dull black, the interior is grayish. The diameter of the rim is 11 cm, the height is 18 cm, the diameter of the bottom is 8 cm (Pl. II.2). Biconical pots with the utmost widening in the lower part have a wide range of analogies in the Carpathian basin. They can be met in the cemetery of Mezőcsát and are characteristic for the younger phase of this circle (KEMENCZEI 1986/A. Abb. 48,29). Such pots stand in the first range of the sites of the ThracoScythian cultural circle (VASILIEV 1980. PI. 6,2, CHOCHOROWSKI 1985.). Kushtanovica pots of type III were formed originating from this shape (POPOVICH 1993.267, ris. 133.3). The beaker also has analogies in the Mezőcsát sites. Such ceramic forms are of East Hallstatt origin. They can be met at the sites of South West Slovakia (ROMSAUER 1986.175,405, Abb. 3,7). In the Hallstatt assemblages of Hungary such beakers belong to the period HC (VÉKONY-VADÁSZ 1986.225, Abb. 4.13). These analogies allow us to date the Uzhhorod finds to the period HC,. So finally, we have to assume that from chronological point of view the pre-Kushtanovica horizon of sites involves the period HB

3-HC, (8th-7th century B.C.) and represents the final stage of the Gáva Culture in the Transcarpathian region. In the complicated political situation that formed after the appearance of Iranian speaking nomads in Central Europe, a powerful defensive line consisting of fortified settlements was built in the mountainous regions of the inner Carpathians. These fortified settlements were the centres of the political and economic life of the population. Despite of the fact that to-date the dating of the métallurgie ovens investigated at Stremtura is still problematic, we have to suggest, that the process of the transition from the Late Bronze to the Early Iron was accomplished in the region, but no sharp changes in the material and spiritual life of the population can be observed. In the burial rite, traditions of the local population of the Late Bronze Age had continued. The western territories felt an influence from the Luzice culture. At the final stage of the pre-Kushtanovica horizon, in the period HC, contacts with the Mezőcsát finds can be traced. Translated by Valéria Kulcsár Reference BALAHURI 1972. E.A. Балагура Шелеспвське городище пам'ятка населения ранньозал1зноУ доби Закарпаття. In: Дослщження стародавньо!" ieropiï Закарпаття. Ужгород 1972.9-75. BERNIAKOVICH 1955. К.В. Бернякович: Исследования поселений эпохи раннего железа в Ужгороде. In: Научные записки Ужгородского государственного университета 13. Историко-филологическая серия. Ужгород 1955.171-184. BERNJAKOVIC 1960. Konstantin Bernjakovic: Bronzezeitliche Hortfunde vom rechten Ufergebeit des oberen Theisstales (Karpatoukraine, USSR). SIA 8.2.1960.325-392. BIDZILIA 1971. B. I. Бщзшя: IcTopifl культури Закарпаття на рубеж1 Haïuoï ери. Кшв 1971. BONA 1984. Bóna István: A nemzetségi és törzsi társadalom története Magyarországon. In: Magyarország története I. Szerk. Bartha Antal. Budapest 1984.117180. BUDINSKY-KRICKA 1976. Vojtech Budinsky-Kricka: Predkustanovické ziarové pohrebisko vo Vojnatine. [Ein Vorkustanovice Brandgräberfeld in Vojnatina.] SlA XXIV1. 1976.119-149. 146