Cseri Miklós, Tárnoki Judit szerk.: Népi építészet a Kárpát-medencében a honfoglalástól a 18. századig - A 2001. október 9-10-én Szolnokon megrendezett konferencia anyaga (Szentendre; Szolnok: Szabadtéri Néprajzi Múzeum; Szolnoki Damjanich János, 2001)
WOLF Mária: 10. századi település Edelény-Borsodon
place of the burnt-out beams of the eastern and western walls was probably filled up with the remains of the mud plastering. Since the layer of cereals is on the top of the layer of burnt clay, we assume that the clay and the fallen beams under it were part of the roof. If the house didn't have a floored loft, the cereals could not lay above the debris. Therefore, we can imagine that the cereals were stored in the floored loft, and when the fire broke out, the cereals felt onto the floor together with the wooden and clay components of the ceiling. The situation is the same in house no. 7, where a 8710 cm thick layer of burnt cereal, about a half metric centner, laid on a surface of 3,3x3 m. The debris laid here too under the burnt cereals. Therefore, it is likely that at least two houses of the settlement were built with a loft. Following our observation at the site, we can reconstruct house no. 8 as a log-house built on the surface, supported by wooden blocks in the four corners, and completed by a mud-plastered ceiling. There is hardly any other explanation for the burnt cereals laying above the burnt debris. We suppose that the pile-holes at the oven-mouth are traces of a spark-catcher, serving as fireguard and smoke eduction. We know similar devices from the ethnography. We often meet such sparkcatchers in the archaic log-walled wine-yard cellars in Southern-Transdanubia. In spite of the fact that we could the best examine the structure of a log-house, this might not be the characteristic house-type in the settlement of Borsod. Most of the houses were filled with debris consisting of red burnt clay and a big quantity of stones. This proves that at least parts of the houses were constructed of stones laid in mud. The technique of building a stone wall laid in mud was well known, as the unearthed stone house shows it. Since its walls were 80 cm thick, we suppose that the walls were either not very high, or the top parts were made of a different material. It is difficult to establish from the remains of the other houses whether they were stone houses or log-houses on stone foundation. Deducted from the place where we found them, we consider the revealed burnt remains of beams in the debris rather as parts of the roof. Concluding from the analysis of the undamaged stone building, I suppose that most of the houses in the settlement of Borsod can be reconstructed as loghouses on stone foundation. The findings in the debris let us put their origin of the houses to the 10 th century. The ceramic finds, the simple jewellery and the carved bone bridle-bit decorated with palmette motive prove that the village existed in the 10 th century. Other examinations in the field of natural sciences show the same. All the houses of this settlement from the 10 th century stood on the surface and were built of stone, resp. wood. It is very probable that the settlement of Borsod was the main residence of a noble head of clan. The research and study of the site does not support the theory of György GY7RFFY, saying that many mottes used as administrative centres of counties after the foundation of the state were set up already in the 10 th century as residences of heads of clans. It is true that the area was inhabited in the 10 th century, but in the form of a settlement and not of a motte. Therefore, it is true that the motte built in the 11 th century was preceded by a residential settlement of a noble. The two centres, however, cannot be linked to each other, since only their physical site is identical.
