A Nyíregyházi Jósa András Múzeum évkönyve 44. (Nyíregyháza, 2002)

Régészet - †Ivan Popovich: A multilevel settlement at village Baranincy/Baranya in the Transcarpathian Region

Ivan Popovich south-west. It was 5.6 m wide, the utmost length of the investigated part was 8.4 m. The central part of the building was deepened into the subsoil. The pit had a clear orientation according to the walls of the house, its ground plan was an irregular oval. The floor of the deepened part of the south-western section of the dwelling-pit was 0.13-0.14 m deep. At the northern wall it reached 0.47 m from the level of the ancient surface. The walls of the deepened part were inclined and joined the bottom gradually. Almost in the centre of the house we found remains of fire: a concentration of burned clay and charcoals. The basis of the fire-place was round, its diameter was 0.9 m. The fire was made on the floor in the deepened part of the house. We found here a significant amount of pottery, some of it was scortificated from burning. The fill of the dwelling-pit was also full of pottery and pieces of plastering. Among metal objects a bronze ring with square cross-section (diameter: 3 cm) and a fragment of an uncharacteristic bronze object are to be mentioned. Unfortunately, both bronze objects were badly corroded and got destroyed already in the process of excavation. Determining the cultural-chronological attribution of feature 25 we have to put the main accent on the collection of the rather numerous pottery material. The shapes are various, but the material is very fragmentary. The only whole piece is a miniature conical vessel with straight walls narrowing towards the bottom (pi. I: 1). Its brown surface is smoothed, the firing is satisfying. Judging from technological features, this piece of pottery corresponds to the ceramics of the Felsőszőcs/Suciu de Sus-Stanovo/Sztánfalva Culture. The whole amount of pottery found in the dwelling-pit is represented by more than 400 fragments that can be separated into several groups heterogeneous by origin. The first group is composed by pottery with analogies in the Felsőszőcs-Stanovo Culture. As we know, the most expressive features of this group of finds are the ornaments deeply incised into the clay, composed by spirals, parallel and wavy lines. Sometimes these incised ornaments are filled with white mastics. There are 22 fragments from the dwelling-pit, decorated by incised techniques. Among expressive shapes we have to mention bowls with horizontally everted rim, the walls of which are decorated by spirals combined with parallel and inclined lines. The upper part of these vessels is decorated by wavy lines (pi. II: 2-4). In some cases the deeply incised ornament is filled with white material (pi. II: 3). Despite of the fact that a significant number of sites belonging to the Felsőszőcs-Stanovo Culture have been investigated in the Transcarpathian Region they are still unpublished except for the settlement in Diakovo/Nevetlenfalu (BALAHURI 1974. 27-47), Kvasovo/Kovászó (KOBAL' 1992. 45-52), Solotvino/Aknaszlatina (KOBAL' 1997. 120-121). The closest analogies of the bowls in question can be found on the territory of East Slovakia in the cemetery of Zemplinske Kopcany/Hegyi where they were met both in the early and late phase of the Felsőszőcs-Stanovo Culture (DEMETEROVA 1984. 70, pi. XXXIII: 17, 37). They are known in a significant number from Transylvania (BADER 1978. 73). This type of bowls is met also in later assemblages on the territory of North-East Hungary, at the sites of the Berkesz Culture (KEMENCZEI 1981. 75, Abb. 4: 4). One more fragment belongs to the type of bowls in question. This potsherd is ornamented by a stylised bud of a flower (pi. II: 4). The rest of the potsherds decorated by incised ornament belong to the sides and bottoms of vessels the shape of which cannot be determined (pi. I: 2-11, II: 1, 5-7). We also have to note that their majority belong to small sized vessels, perhaps to miniature vessels of, probably, ritual significance. This conclusion is made on the basis of the very thin walls and small bottoms. 60