Marta, Liviu: The Late Bronze Age Settlements of Petea-Csengersima (Satu Mare, 2009)
III. Habitation of te Suciu de Sus Archaeological Culture
III. Habitation in the Suciu de Sus Archaeological Culture III. l.The Settlement The archaeological complexes of the Suciu de Sus culture from the settlement at Petea-Csengersima are grouped into two areas. Most of them were located along the southeastern bank of the Erge brook. The prehistoric complexes that spread over a distance of 233 m from the bank, with a few exceptions, belonged exclusively to the Suciu de Sus culture (zones II, III, V, Fig. 2, 7, 8, 16). Four dwellings that belonged to this archaeological culture were discovered within the same territory. Pits that contained Suciu de Sus archaeological material continued towards the east on a distance of 327,6 m from the brook (which had a course oriented northeast-southwest), but they were present all the way to the eastern limit of the site. The number of pits with Suciu de Sus finds were fewer towards the eastern limit of the site. In this part, those pits were isolated occurrences among the dwellings and the pits of the Lăpuş II—Gáva I horizon (zones I and IV, Fig. 2, 3, 11). The latter became a majority in the eastern part of the trench. The low occurrence of the Suciu de Sus complexes indicated that the archaeological excavation reached near the eastern limit of the Suciu de Sus settlement. This idea was upheld by the fact that a concentration of a great number of complexes with ritual character was noticeable in the area: 5 vessel hoards and one bronze hoard. At least three of those belonged to the Suciu de Sus culture. The concentration of ritual hoards is characteristic of the marginal areas of several Late Bronze Age settlements located in the northern area of the Tisa Plain. The complexes of the Suciu de Sus culture (the classical phase) also extended to the north-west of the brook, into an area where the Middle Bronze Age complexes were also present (zone VI, Fig. 2, 25). The archaeological excavations showed that there was no continuity between the Suciu de Sus habitation and that of the Lăpuş II-Gáva I. The Middle Bronze Age level was covered by a layer of clay left by a flood that spread over the Middle Bronze Age settlement17. The analysis of the archaeological material proved that there was a temporal hiatus between the two habitation levels. The pits of the Suciu de Sus culture from the north-west of the brook (zone VI, Fig. 2, 25) penetrated the middle Bronze Age layer. They were less numerous, but they spread over a surface of 0,93 hectares. The Suciu habitation was missing from a large surface (zone VI, Fig. 2, 25) in the north-east of that area, near the western bank of the brook. A ground survey that was carried out in the north of the brook showed that this situation continued to the east of the brook (on the Romanian territory, in the north of the zones IV and V, Fig. 2). As a result, the northern and northwestern margin of the Suciu de Sus settlement was represented by the Erge brook. If the settlement spread towards the south and south-west is still uncertain. It is likely that the settlement continued towards the south-west, along the south and south-western bank of the brook, all the way to the area where it met the complexes in the northern bank (zone VI, Fig. 2). The uncertain situation in the south and west sides of the settlement made very difficult to establish the surface of the Suciu de Sus habitation. The archaeological complexes of the Suciu de Sus culture were spread over a surface of almost 5,34 hectares (4,41 hectares in the southern bank and 0,93 hectares in the northern bank) out of 7,8 hectares that 17 I was provided with this information by K. Almássy and E. Istvánovits, who have kindly put to my disposal all the documentation of the researched area in Hungary. 12
