Marta, Liviu: The Late Bronze Age Settlements of Petea-Csengersima (Satu Mare, 2009)
III. Habitation of te Suciu de Sus Archaeological Culture
culture’s late phase. In the Late Bronze Age a similar type of vessels found in the neighbouring cultural areas have shapes or decorative elements resembling the cooking vessels of the Suciu culture139. The analysis of the discovery contexts, of the relation between the occurrence of cooking vessels and the quantity of cooked bone from different levels of the settlement at Kastanas, have revealed the use of these vessels in cooking/boiling140. This use is further indicated by the frequent cases in which these vessels are discovered next to hearths141 or by the presence of secondary firing on a large number of them142. An experiment has revealed that there is significantly less time and fuel needed as compared to cooking in simple pots143. On the basis of some ethnographic analogies from the Balkans it has been put forward that these vessels could have been used for the shelling of wheat by heating/roasting at about 40-50" C144. The discovery of cooking pots in funerary context14', the existence of miniature vessels146, and also of numerous examples without burnt marks discovered in Petea-Csengersima suggest different uses from those linked to cooking food. Bowls/ dishes The category of bowls and dishes comprises the vessels which are lower than the diameter of their mouth. I decided to include them in a wider category because the fragmentary state of the pottery from the settlement allowed only a small number of vessels to be included into one of the three isolated forms. The high number of vessels which are not attributed to one of the forms with wide mouth would have created a discrepancy among the other vessel categories from the settlement, given the fact that the later have a number of particular morphological elements which allow them to be identified even in a fragmentary state. The bowls have been divided into types on the basis of the general aspect of the vessels given by the profile of the walls. The subtypes have been established according to the presence or absence of the lobes on the rims, while the rims were made on the criteria that distinguishes the different variants. Type 1 comprises conical bowls with sloping walls. These have been divided into two subtypes on the basis of the absence (1A) or presence (IB) of small lobes on the rim. Variant lAa includes vessels whose rims are an extension of the walls which have been cut in an angle. Some of these have the outer part of the rim thickened (PI. 43/10, 51/15, 60/6). Variant lAb incorporates the examples with straight walls and with protruding rim (PI. 27/9, 29/6, 31/11, 43/7, 45/9, 47/1, 65/6). Type 1A comprises a great number of vessels: 21 examples represent 16,66% of the total of bowls/dishes discovered in the complexes of the settlement. This type is documented in other Suciu de Sus settlements as well147. Subtype 1B comprises conical bowls with lobes (PI. 50/6, 60/11) which are rare, and are represented only by three examples. Their reduced occurrence is reflected by the small number of 139 Kalicz 1970, abb. 34k; Bader 1978, pi. XXXI/11; XXXII/1; Kacsó 1997, taf. VIII/7-9; Bejinariu - Lakó 2000, fig. 27/3; Fischl - Kiss — Kulcsár. 2001a, abb. 5/5,11,14,16. 140 Hochstettcr 1984, p. 155, 208; Becker 1995, p. 96-114; Becker 1998, p. 79-86. 141 Furmánek — Veliacik - Vladár 1991, p. 92. 142 Dumitraşcu 1994, p. 102; Bejinariu - Lakó 2000, p.162. 143 Gucsi 2001, p. 185-198. 144 Bukvic 2001, p. 138. 145 Several cooking vessels have been discovered among the finds of the mound-burials at Lăpuş, one of them having been used as a funerary urn (Kacsó 1990, p. 90). Cooking vessels have also been found in graves of the Piliny culture and the cultural environments in the region of Oltenia, Muntenia and Serbia (Fischl — Kiss -Kulcsár 2001a, p. 134-136). 146 Fischl — Kiss - Kulcsár 2001a, p. 134-135, abb. 6/17,21,25,28. 147 Variant lAa: Balahuri 1969, ris. 3/13; Bader 1978, pl. XLVII/15,16; Kacsó 1987, pl. 2/23, Pop 2003, Fig. 6/5 Kacsó 2003, pl. 11/7,8, XXV/5, XXVII/5, XXIX/12, XXXIV/8; Kacsó 2005, pl. 12/5,6; Kacsó 2006, pl. 3/8, 6/7; Kobal’2007, ris Varianta 1 Ab: Balahuri 1969, ris 3/12; Bader 1978, pl. XLVI/7; Kacsó 1987, fig. 2/28; Kacsó 2003, pl. XLVII/19, LI/12; XXV/3,4,6; Kacsó 2006, pl. 13/14. 29
