Virag, Cristian: Situl neolitic Halmeu - Vamă (Satu Mare, 2015)
Abridged version
Halmeu - Király Domb / Dâmbul Craiului 2001 The research from 2000 included field-walking in the areas nearby where ceramics from different periods (Mediaeval Age, Bronze Age and Neolithic) were discovered spread all over the terrace of the Eger brook. In this context, in the autumn of 2001 a survey was conducted in the Király - Domb / Dâmbul Craiului point, located on the margin of the terrace and which have confirmed the expansion of the Neolithic settlement captured in the Vamă point as far as this point. The point comprises two small hills (Király Domb I and II) of the same size, with oval surfaces and a maximum diameter of 76.40 x 55 m without taking into account the surrounding ditch. The mounds are likely to be surrounded by the ditches which had been dug to drain water probably from the margin of the meadow, but since they correspond perfectly with the mounds perimeter we can accept that they had been dug in the duct of other older ditches. The observations that came out during the archaeological research come to support this hypothesis2. The research objective was the sectioning of the “Király Domb I” hill and of the ditch surrounding it accross the west-east axis, to determine the stratigraphy of the hill. Three trenches were dug along the same alignment: S. I (20 x 2 m), S. II (10 x 2 m), S III (15.7 X 2 m). Stratigraphy 0 to - 0.40 m: plought top soil layer with mixed material from the Neolithic, Bronze Age and the Mediaeval Age;-0.40 to -0.60 / -0.70 m: Neolithic culture layer cut by features from later occupations: Coţofeni culture, Bronze Age and Mediaeval Age; from - 0.70 m: archaeologically sterile layer, a yellow clay, sometimes with limonite oxide pigments. Features S. I (20 X 2 m) (fig. 22) Cx. 1 and Cx. 2 - are two clusters of Neolithic shards (and a fragment of a quern in Cx. 2) between - 0.40 to - 0.50. During excavations there occurred several such clusters consisting mainly of one or more restorable vessels, all Neolithic, some associated with lithic pieces (chipped as well as polished stone artefacts); Cx. 3 is a shallow Neolithic pit (up to -0.70 m), partially captured in the south-western corner of the trench. The inventory comprises pottery fragments and lithic materials (a polished stone ax and obsidian chipped pieces); Cx. 4 Neolithic pit, partially excavated, steeped into the sterile down to -1.16 m, having a black filling, with very much ceramic and chipped lithic material (endscrapers, blades, obsidian and other raw material waste) and polished stone axes; Cx. 5 a small pit with little ceramic material and scattered daub; Cx. 6b a feature captured partially whose size and shape were not clearly defined, the Neolithic and Bronze Age materials being mixed, but the presence of charred beams, excellently preserved, by analogy with the similar situation from Cx. 3 / S. II, leads us to attribute this feature to the Mediaeval period; Cx. 6, Cx. 6a, and Cx. 7 are not related to Cx. 6b, as they are Neolithic features (pits). S II (10 X 2 m) (fig. 23) Cx. 1 Neolithic pit with little ceramic material; Cx. 2 feature captured along the southern margin of the trench, with a grey filling and Neolithic ceramic shards; Cx. 3 large feature, captured partially with numerous charred beams very well preserved Cristian Virág 2 Marta/Virag/Astaloş 2002, p. 151. 92
