Zalai Múzeum 6. (Zalaegerszeg, 1996)

Közlemények - P. Baran Judit: A lengyeli kultúra tömegsírja Esztergályhorvátiban

A lengyelt kultúra tömegsírja Esztergályhorvátiban 155 The Common Grave of the Lengyel Culture in Esztergályhorváti (County Zala) On September 7, 1994, human bone fragments were brought to the Balaton Museum in Keszthely which had been found in Esztergályhorváti (Kis-Balaton region), in the course of earthworks for a foundation trench. The fact that the bones did not belong to only one skeleton but to more than one gave us reason for subjecting the site to an examination. During the rescue excavation we had to work at the same space as the construction progressed which fact threw difficulties in the way of the excavation. The site is situated on the ground of a farm yard. There had been a stable where the bones were found, and it was pulled down right because of a new house in progress, then the soil was removed by a bulldozer in the depth of 0.5 m. The foundation trench was deepened from this level to 1 m. The bones were found in the lower third of the trench. The stable was connected with the western end of the house. The object was situated about 1 m under the common wall of the two buildings. This fact is very important because of the eastern end of the pit stretches under the house, so it could not be unearthed. The surface of the unearthed part is at least 1.8 x 0.5 m. The shape of the grave was irregular round-cornered quadratic. Its surface was about 1.8 x 1.8 m. The foundation trench cut the pit into two almost in the middle of it in a north-south direction. The wall of the pit was straight, its average depth was about 1.30-1.40 m. During the excavation first of all the whole surface of the pit was opened both west and east of the trench, so that the western brink of the pit could be reached. It was impossible to unearth the eastern end of the pit lying somewhere beneath the house. Below the present ground level, between the depth of 30 and 60 cm an extensively burnt, red-coloured level appeared. This burnt level closed the opening of the pit completely. The deepest part of the burnt level was black-coloured, mixed with ash and charcoal. Its thickness was several centimetres. The burnt level was partly coherent, partly broken, and its thickness changed irregularly between 2 and 20 cm. The burnt level had been disturbed along the track of the foundation trench by the workers. In the filling of the burnt level and east of the trench we found two fragments of grind-stones, some calcinated bone particles and a few daub fragments. All the ceramics lay right on the burnt level, not above it in the filling. We found the skeletons right below the burnt level. Some of them lay on their faces down, the others on their backs, some of them lay on their sides. One of the skeletons lay against the wall of the pit with his back. Some of them were contracted, others lay in stretched position. The arms of a skeleton lying with his face down were in a posture that indicates that his arms were bound behind the back. The whole pit was totally filled with the skeletons. Among the skeletons we found only two pieces of grave furniture altogether: a fragment of a microlith and a piece of a sherd without any characteristic feature. During the excavation we could not define the exact number of the deads, because of two reasons: 1. we could not unearth the skeletons one after the others on the whole surface, so that is why we could not separate the skeletons one by one in every cases. 2. After the disintegration of the bodies the bone particles of different skeletons had fallen on each others so their anatomical order broke down without any disturbance. We found the following grave furniture in the object: 1. A fragment of a larger amphora, with a funnel-shaped neck. 2. A fragment of a small vessel with a tube-shaped pedestal, decorating with red and yellow paint. 3. A small, painted flask, with funnel-shaped neck, decorated with red paintings and four small knots on the belly. 4. A fragment of a deep dish with mildly S-profile. 5. Fragments of a small, red painted vessel with jointed body. 6. Five pieces of red, black and brown fragmentary sherds without any characteristic feature. Stone tools: 1. A small, one-edged microlith with a triangle profile. 2. Two pieces of fragmentary grindstones, made of red sandstone. The anthropological examination of the find was done by Zs. K. Zoffmann (MNM), according to the preliminary report with the following results: The human remains are in rather bad general disposition, the bones are coated with deposit and they are deformed. Rendering the bones to the appropriate skeletal structure could not be done in a proper way afterwards because of the incomplete state of the skeletons. The burnt layer above the pit is the result of a high temperature fire, the impact of which can be seen on the bones from the upper layers. Skeletons and bones belonging to several skulls in the burnt layer were burnt black, in one case bluish black. According to the anthropological examination the find accounts for the remains of 25-30 people, the exact number cannot be defined. Most probably the people buried in the pit were males, among them there were some juvenile ones over 16 years of age, the rest were mature and adult males of various age groups. In some cases pathological changes indicating spondylosis can be observed on the vertebrate of older males. As for the cause of death of males thrown into the pit one can hardly come to a wellfounded conclusion. On the single, relatively whole skull there is the trace of an injury, the result of a blow, which might have been lethal, and which certainly was not treated in any way, and there are traces of two additional, less powerful blows on the same skull. The blows must have been carried out by a sharp, 30 mm wide weapon. Excluding another injury on the fragment of another skull - the injury might have been caused by a