Kovács Tibor - Stanczik Ilona (szerk.): Bronze Age tell settlements of the Great Hungarian Plain I. (Inventaria Praehistorica Hungariae 1; Budapest, 1988)

Márta SZ. MÁTHÉ: Bronze Age tells in the Berettyó valley

was covered with mixed yellow clay, interrupted by ashy patches containing specks of charcoal. The remains of two round hearths as well as an oval one were found near to each other. They were heavily burnt and were surrounded by ashpits. In the southwestern corner a layer of ashy debris mixed with burnt daub fragments and charcoal was uncovered. No postholes that could be associated with this layer were found and the disturbance caused by the ditch had apparently destroyed the traces of the only edge which could have been of help in reconstructing its structure. Level 3 yielded an abundance of wooden remains, found at a depth of 0.95 to 1.05 m (Fig. 7). They were unevenly spaced, but parallel in a northeast to southwest direction. Crosswise planks were not observed, a smaller slantwise piece rather appears to be a ramification. The uncovered remains suggest that the wood fragments and the related postholes belonged to a timberframed, plank-floored house which had been renewed partially. Some planks and two timbers spaced about 1.5 m from each other remained in place from the original house after it had been rebuilt. A third timber was laid parallel with the previous ones at the same distance which formed the edge of the new house. The gaps in the plank floor were filled with yellow clay packing. In the course of the rebuilding some of the original postholes were filled in or detroyed by levelling. Four of these postholes that lay in an L configuration were noted immediately after the removal of the clay floor of level 2. They had probably belonged to the first occupation phase of level 3 since neither a clay floor, nor any other living surface could be identified in this southern part of the sounding and thus the postholes found here had perhaps belonged to a plank-floor removed in the course of the rebuilding. The postholes of the new house were almost without exception cut into the timbers, similarly to the two timbers of the old house. One of these postholes contained also a smaller pit for the ancillary post. The size and arrangement of these posts indicate a timber framework perhaps erected over groundsels. It would appear that the planks of the floor construction were laid upon a loose clay fill and thus the lack of a plastered clay floor does not necessarily imply the lack of a floor, but rather that the floor had been covered by wooden planks. The dimensions of the house cannot be reconstructed in this case either. Its northeastern part was destroyed by the sloping side of the ditch that had been dug from the uppermost layer and cut through all the earlier layers. The depth of level 2 varied between 0.56—0.71 m and 0.81 m. It consisted of a yellow clay floor which extended beyond the excavated area towards the west and south. Its northeastern part was destroyed by the ditch that only left insignificant features intact. The clay layer is of uneven thickness since it was used both for levelling and for the construction of a new floor. This is indicated by the 0.3—0.35 m thick clay fill covering the trimmed timber that survived from the second building phase of the timber-framed house. It proved impossible to reconstruct the original shape and function of the building from the few and apparently random postholes. The only row of postholes was noted at a distance of about 0.5 m from the ditch. Their spacing varies from 2 to 3 metres, and had perhaps supported the roof construction. A greenish-yellow coloured burnt patch on the floor can be regarded as the remains of a hearth. Level 1, representing the last occupation phase, was identified at a depth of 0.25—0.3 m

, but the badly preserved fragments of the clay floor had in places sunken to a depth of 0.37 to 0.48 m. This occupation level was disturbed by pits from later periods and was in part destroyed by cultivation and tree roots. At the same time the remains do not suggest the intentional destroyal or burning of the settlement. No continuous layer of burnt daub fragments was found. The inside of a hearth surrounded by ashy debris was noted in the northeastern part of the sounding, next to which was a northwestsoutheast oriented, burnt red strip, that was 2 meters long and 0.1—0.12 m wide. This may have been the remain of a wall, but its poor state of preservation defies interpretation.

12 The interpretation of the ditch identified in the northeastern corner of the sounding also poses problems (Figs 8-11). The fill of the ditch-organic waste with animal bones and pottery fragments-could be distinguished already during the excavation of level 1. It was first considered a pit and extended to about 3 m in the eastern part of the sounding. Its outline could not be clearly defined since this level was disturbed by tree roots. The ditch was dug in the earliest occupation phase (level 7). The sloping side of the ditch extended beyond the excavated area, and its deepest point in the sounding lay 0.8 m deeper than the occupation surface of level 7. The ditch appears to have been taken into consideration in the planning of the layout of all houses as reflected by the position of the floors and the rows of postholes. suggesting that it had probably survived in its original function until the period represented by level 1. Its edge also remained unchanged from level 7 to 3. It was slightly widened in level 2. This change is indicated by the floor remains slightly sunken in the fill of the outer slope of the trench at a depth of 1.2 m. In the latest period, level 1, the trench must have been finally filled in, as suggested by the hearth and wall remains found over it. Only the pit in the eastern part of level 1 had remained of the ditch by then. The subsidence of the loose fill resulted in the depression of its layers seen in the profiles. The fill was not homogenous, it consisted of ashy layers with charcoal, floor fragments, as well as of burnt daub. The most important question raised by this ditch concerns its possible function. Unfortunately, this question must remain unanswered owing to the smallness of the excavated area. The plan of the site made by Zoltai shows a longish depression dividing the oval mound into two round mounds. The ditch may have functioned as a division between the two parts of the site, although the purpose of dividing the settlement can only be clarified by future research. For the time being, the