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

Régészet - Mikhailo Potushniak: A multilevel settlement on Mala Hora at Mukachevo/Munkács–Kishegy

A multilevel settlement on Mala Hora at Mukachevo/Munkács-Kishegy In the Baden collection of the Mala Hora III we also have 5 spindle-whorls. Two of them are rhomboid in cross-section (PL XIII.3,5), the third one is arch shaped (Pl. XIII.4), and the last two ones are ovoid in section (PL XIII.

6,8). The diameter of the first pieces is 5.2-5.5 cm in average, that of the latter is 3.2-3.5 cm. In the collection there is one more interesting object - a mushroom like solid clay object (PL XIII.9). Such pieces were decorating the loop handles of scoops and the upper part of the bowls divided inside, typical for the Baden culture. We can put to the Aeneolithic horizon of the settlement of Mala Hora III two stone vessels made out of sandstone. The first one is ovoid, its sizes are the following: 11.8 x 8 cm, height-4.3 cm (PL XIII.9), the second one is almost trapezoid, the sizes: 9.5 x 7.5 cm, height - 3 cm (PL XIII. 10), their function is unclear. They could be used as lucernás or mortars. We have no analogies for these objects. Finishing the analysis of the find material from Mala Hora III we have to notice that this assemblage generally has no direct analogies among the sites published to-date from the territory of the Transcarpathian region and the neighbouring areas of East Slovakia, Hungary and Romania. Materials of the Baden Culture are known in the Transcarpathian region also from 10 more sites (POTUSHNIAK 1996.194 - map) mostly from the stray finds and small scale test excavations at multilevel settlements. Materials are unpublished except for a small collection from Dedovo/Gyedovo (POTUSHNIAK 1996.180-182, ris. 5-6) and partly published materials from the settlements Velyki Lazy/NagylázStavlinec III (Potushniak 1958.180-203). The sites of the culture known to-date in the Transcarpathian region obviously belong to different periods. On the basis of the ceramic material some settlements can be dated to the final phase of the Boleráz stage (Dedovo-Hompolog II, Bratovo/BatárVovchanskoie/Tiszafarkasfalva) and to the beginning of the middle stage, to the Post-Boleráz time (Pidgorb/ Hegyfark-Beregi/Berehi II), to the classical phase of the middle stage (Velyki Lazy-Stavlinec III, Beregovo-Bucsa/Bulcsu), to the final stage of the Baden Culture having the features of the Cotofeni Culture (Osii-Csishanik). Here we have to remind that the imports of the early phases of the Boleráz stage are also observed in the assemblage of the Lazniany stage of the Polgár Culture, for example, at the settlement of Heiivcy/Gejőc-Egri Dinnyés III. Among these settlements, the material of the Mala Hora III, according to all its technological and typological features, must belong to the final phase of the middle stage of the Baden Culture. In the ceramic material of the site, in the forms of the vessels and the elements of ornamentation there are features that after a time appear in the materials of the Post-Baden cultures. We can not exclude that the Baden settlement at the Mala Hora near Mukachevo could exist during the end of the middle and beginning of the late stage of the Baden Culture. Beside the ceramic material, a rich collection of stone tools was gathered at Mala Hora. These are mainly obsidian, andesite-basalt and flint tools. A significant collection of polished stone axes is to be mentioned. Unfortunately, the attribution of the stone tools to certain horizons of the settlement can be determined only conditionally because of the unstratified character of the material. However, judging from the analogies it seems to us that the majority of the chipped obsidian, flint and andesitebasalt tools could be connected with the Middle and Late Neolithic layers of the settlement. For example, at the Middle Neolithic PPC settlements of the Transcarpathian region, obsidian objects make almost 80 percents of the chipped products. The rich collection of chipped objects makes it necessary to publish them separately. Let us shortly discuss the polished stone tools from Mala Hora. Axes were made out of andesite-basalt, tuffite and sandstone. There are about 50 pieces of such tools. Their ethno-cultural definition is conditional. On the basis of analogies two axes hammers with a pierced hole (PI

. XV. 10-11)- perhaps also could be connected with the Baden level of the settlement. Some small trapezoid axes and a chisel (PL XIV.5-1

1, XV.4-9) which are frequently met at the Middle Neolithic PPC settlements, are observed also at the settlements of the early period of the Polgár Culture. For example, large collections of trapezoid axes come from the settlement of BeregovoArdivska Hora. A small, plain sandstone ax sharpened from both ends (PL XV. 1) can be dated to the Late Neolithic. Such rectangular spherical ax-wedges (PL XIV. 1-2) were observed at the Late Neolithic settlements of Zastavne-Kovadomb II and BeregovoArdivska Hora. So, the majority of the collection of the polished stone axes can be connected with the Middle and Late Neolithic horizons of the settlement. Finally, we shortly deal with other culturalchronological layers observed at Mala Hora. According to T. Lehoczky's data he found at Mala Hora a group consisting of 9 barrow graves situated in a row directed from the north to the south along the ridge of the hill. The sizes of the barrows are the 17