Vaday Andrea – Bánffy Eszter – Bartosiewicz László – T. Biró Katalin – Gogältan Florin – Horváth Friderika – Nagy Andrea: Kompolt-Kistér : Újkőkori, bronzkori, szarmata és avar lelőhely Leletmentő ásatás az M+-as autópálya nyomvonalán (Eger, 1999)

The site of Kompolt, Kistér

359 THE SITE OF KOMPOLT, KISTÉR Cultural and chronological analysis The aforementioned analogies to ceramic types, as well as to the rite and burial customs, make it undoubtedly possible to place the three assemblages from Kompolt Kistér, among the finds of the Makó-Kosihy-Caka culture. The discovery of a cup with a slightly swollen rim, biconical body and marked carination line (Fig. 25), is very interesting, mainly because it can be found in the ceramic repertoire of the Somogyvár-Vinkovci culture. Contacts between the two cultures were very strong in Transdanubia. Some finds (Battonya - Aradi Street. I, Tiszakürt - Homoki szőlő) are also suggestive of connections with the Eastern part of Hungary. The site of Kompolt - Kistér 14 is, for the time being, the northernmost point, which has offered evidence of relations between the two cultures. The chronological identification of the three assemblages, first of all, raises problems of terminology. This is due to the fact that, while for Austrian, Czech and Slovak researchers the MakóKosihy-Caka culture means a phenomenon characteristic of the end of the Aeneolithic, in the chronology used in Hungary it marks the Early Bronze Age. Moreover, in the chronological system created by P. Roman for Romania, the Makó-Kosihy-Caka - SomogyvárVinkovci horizon is considered parallel with Glina IV. Thus it means Early Bronze Age lib. Recently, some Romanian researchers have considered this culture the first stage of the Bronze Age. The horizontal stratigraphy established in the Budapest area, suggests that this culture developed after the Kostolac culture but preceded the Glockenbecher Csepel group as well as the early stage of the Nagyrév culture. According to some researchers, the MakóKosihy-Caka culture is supposed to have a later development in Northern Hungary and Southwest Slovakia in the proximity of the earliest settlements of the Nitra group. For most Hungarian and Romanian researchers the development of the Nyírség culture marks the end of the Makó-Kosihy-Caka culture. In the opinion of I. Bona, the Nyírség culture represents the earliest manifestation of the Early Bronze Age in northeastern Hungary (Szabolcs-Szatmár county). Recent excavations at Oszlár - Nyárfaszög, are very important in as much as they reveal the problems related to the distribution area and the final development of the Makó-KosihyCaka culture in North-Eastern Hungary. Here, a cup characteristic of the Nyírség culture was found in a Makó-Kosihy-Caka culture pit. This discovery suggests that there is a parallel evolution between the two cultures. In this case, the Nyírség culture should occupy the eastern part of Borsod county, while in the Western part of that county, the Makó-Kosihy-Caka culture should have developed. This discovery may indicate that the Makó-Kosihy-Caka culture evolved not only in the first stage of the Early Bronze Age (EBA I), but also at the beginning of the second stage of the Early Bronze Age (EBA Ha). This could be a reality since Nyírség culture and early Nagyrév culture finds as well as evidence for the second stage of Somogyvár-Vinkovci culture are unknown in this area. As far as the material discovered at Kompolt Kistér is concerned, the best analogies so far have been found at the site of Oszlár - Nyárfaszög. Thus the graves and pit from Kompolt - Kistér could reasonably be dated to the end of the first stage of the Early Bronze Age (EBA I), or at the beginning of the second stage of the Early Bronze Age (EBA Ha) on a stylistic basis. It will be difficult, however, to establish exact dates before there will be more finds from the Makó-Kosihy-Caka culture in this area. It is also difficult to distinguish between early and the later period. New data on ritual life and mortuary behaviour, as well as on links between Makó-Kosihy-Caka and Somogyvár-Vinkovci communities, spreading as far as Northern Hungary, are also very important. Middle (or late?) Bronze Age finds The last complex, considered belonging to the Bronze Age is an inhumation grave in which the skeleton was found in a contracted position (Feature 257). It superposed Grave 2 (Feature 115) which belongs to the MakóKosihy-Caka culture. The deceased was placed into an oval but not very deep pit. This is why it was partially destroyed by the agricultural works. The only artefact in the inventory of goods found here was a small pendant made of a rolled bronze(?) sheet (Fig. 27). The few sherds discovered near the skeleton, do not belong to the Bronze Age, but represent a former period. The stratigraphic position of this grave, the burial rite and, last but not least, the bronze(?) pendant, help us to establish cultural place and date for this assemblage. Obviously, this grave post-dates the Makó-Kosihy-Caka complex. The time interval between the two burials may have been long enough, as traces of the Makó-KosihyCaka grave had disappeared by the time the second burial took place. The rite, and burial tradition observed in the case of Feature 257 are also characteristic of the Middle Bronze Age, in communities of the OttományFüzesabony cultures who lived in this region. Pendants of the same type, but made of gold, were discovered in the graveyard of Hernádkak. We should not forget that the same rite and mortuary behaviour was also characteristic to the next stage, the beginning of the Late Bronze Age. The same pendants were found in the graveyard that belonged to the tumulus culture at Mezőcsát. Due to the lack of information, it is difficult to identify exactly the Kompolt - Kistér contracted inhumation grave from a chronological and cultural point of view. However, the metal pendants and the rite as well as type of burial may be indicative of a period extending from the Middle Bronze Age to the beginning of the Late Bronze Age.