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Régészeti kutatások egy késő neolitikus településen – Polgár-Bosnyákdomb. Előzetes jelentés

Raczky, Pál and Anders, Alexandra (2009) Régészeti kutatások egy késő neolitikus településen – Polgár-Bosnyákdomb. Előzetes jelentés. Archaeologiai Értesítő, 134 (1). pp. 5-21. ISSN 0003-8032

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Abstract

A tanulmány bemutatja a Polgár-Bosnyákdomb tellszerű településen végzett komplex régészeti kutatásokat, kitérve a terepbejárások, mintavevő fúrások, magnetométeres felmérések és régészeti feltárások eredményeire. Részletesebben elemzi a 2007-ben feltárt proto-tiszapolgári épületet és a halmot körülvevő árkot, és ennek kapcsán foglalkozik a Kárpát-medencei – és szélesebb összefüggésben a délkelet-európai – tellek megszűnésének kérdésével is. | The recent phase of archaeological excavations at the Late Neolithic tell settlement of Polgár-Csőszhalom (Fig. 1.2) has lasted since 1989. It was aimed at contextualizing the primary archaeological results of the 1957 field season on within a continuously expanding frame of reference. Results of surveys in the micro region exploring its natural geography have shown that the complex settlement of Polgár-Csőszhalom was the dominant settlement on what is called “Polgár Island”, a natural elevation in the surrounding floodplain. This Late Pleistocene loess plateau extended over an area of 60–70 km2 during the Late Neolithic (i. e. between 5000 and 4600/4500), delineating a natural habitation area. The mound called Bosnyákdomb is located on the southern edge of “Polgár-sziget”, some 5 km south of Polgár-Csőszhalom as the crow flies. It was identified as a tell-like settlement during field surveys carried out within the framework of the Upper Tisza Project in 1992 (Fig. 1.1). It is also important to note that the well known Early and Middle Copper Age cemetery of Polgár-Basatanya is located only 2 km south of this site (Fig. 1.3).The double structure of Polgár-Bosnyákdomb (the combination of a habitation mound and a horizontal settlement) is reminiscent of the micro-topographical conditions of Polgár-Csőszhalom, it is therefore important to establish the relationship between these two sites. In order to clarify this problem, repeated field surveys had been carried out followed by a magnetometric survey in 2001 that focused on the mound and its immediate environment within the study area. Results of these investigations have shown that the entire settlement was located along a former branch of the Tisza River, occupying an elongated area of about 96,000 m2 on the bank of the creek called Király-ér (Figs 3 and 4). In addition, the magnetic survey clearly showed the traces of an oval ditch system around the settlement mound forming an enclosure of 7400 m2 (Figs 4 and 5). Moreover, magnetic survey data also showed burnt settlement features of regular shapes, built quite tightly next to each other within the enclosure (Fig. 5). In addition, sporadically distributed burnt features were also identified in the surrounding horizontal settlement. Parallel, intensive collections of pot shards seem to suggest that the settlement was most densely populated during the end of the cultural development described at Csőszhalom, the so-called Proto-tiszapolgár Phase. Soil borings carried out at Bosnyákdomb identified a habitation layer within the enclosure that was approximately 150 cm thick. On this basis, the site of Bosnyákdomb may indeed be considered a tell-like settlement.Research at Polgár-Bosnyákdomb continued in 2007 with the more precise archaeological identification of features beneath the surface. Magnetic anomalies outlined an oblong surface in the center of the elevated enclosure where an excavation trench measuring 11 by 6 m was opened (Figs 2, 5, and 6). At an average depth of 40 cm, the scattered rubble originating from a ca. 8 by 5 m house with slightly trapezoid ground plan became clearly visible. This feature had been disturbed at several points by deep plowing and subsequent digging (Fig. 6). A heavily fired external oven with a rounded square ground plan was discovered at the SW corner of the house. The firing plates of two fireplaces in close proximity to each other were discovered in the southern section of the building. The level of the more-or-less burnt floor surface could also be identified beneath the rubble. The timber structure of the house excavated at Bosnyákdomb was based on columns measuring 15–20 cm in diameter, dug only 25–35 cm below the floor surface. At the same time robust, 20–25 cm thick walls were built on this wooden structure. This wattle and doub house discovered at Bosnyákdomb is smaller than the houses discovered at the habitation mound and external settlement of Csőszhalom whose average length was 8–15 m while their widths varied between 4–7 m. The wooden structure of the houses was also different as the Csőszhalom houses had been supported by thicker timber dug into far greater depths. These observations seem to suggest that the lighter version of the Late Neolithic wattle and daub house was discovered at the site of Bosnyákdomb, possibly designated for a shorter life span. Eleven in situ vessels (Fig. 6.1, 6, 10; Fig. 8.1–8, 10–12) were found. Rough clay fragments from a square-shaped clay storage vessel plastered on twigs were also recovered (Fig. 9). The fragment of a perforated antler axe must also have belonged to the ancient household (Fig. 6.9). Even without the in-depth analysis of the forms and decorative motifs of the vessels found in the Bosnyákdomb house it is clear that their best parallels are present in Proto-tiszapolgár type assemblages Hódmezővásárhely-Gorzsa and Berettyóújfalu-Herpály.The 4 by 6 m south-western section of the 11 by 6 m trench opened at Bosnyákdomb could be excavated down to the virgin soil in 2008. This work revealed the fragments of another house below the Proto-tiszapolgár phase building explored in 2007. Red and white painted ceramics recovered from this feature link the level to phase III at Csőszhalom. Another thick deposit of Late Neolithic fill was discovered beneath this house that, however, did not reveal sherds of black painted ceramics as would have been typical of the early period of Csőszhalom.Several late Neolithic, Proto-tiszapolgár pits penetrated this fill as well as the virgin soil below. One of these seems to have been of a special, sacral function as was indicated, among others, by elements of an incomplete human skeleton. Sporadic Middle Neolithic material was found at the bottom of this tell-like settlement whose shards represent the typical mixture of Bükk–Esztár–Szakálhát stylistic elements.In 2007, two test trenches (Squares 2 and 3) were opened in the northern and southern sections of the oval ditch detected in the magnetometric survey maps in order to clarify the nature of the enclosure (Fig. 2). Both trenches verified the existence of a 240 m deep ditch of V cross-section that must have been dug at the time the settlement was established (Fig. 7.1–2).Stratigraphic observations may be summed up as follows: tell formation in the central enclosure at Polgár-Bosnyákdomb began in parallel with the early phase of the tell settlement at Csőszhalom. It continued throughout the Proto-tiszapolgár phase and ended in a general fire. These phenomena may be indicate that the abrupt cessation of tell settlements was a symptom of a general crisis in the definition of tell communities and led to the disintegration of the former system of settlements. The built environment of tell settlements was an evidently limited physical living space, within which differences between individual households of the community developed. As a result, external space beyond the enclosure gained increasing symbolic significance in expressing social differences. Burials outside of the tell were eventually organized into cemeteries in this new arena of social competition. It seems that the symbolic expression of communal cohesion shifted toward the context of cemeteries and the previous communal/sacral importance of the settlement declined.Ditch and palisade systems created along with the construction of tells may be considered three dimensional symbolic structures that evidently survived Late Neolithic tells. During the Early Copper Age Tiszapolgár culture, these fortifications belonged to the environment of single layer, horizontal settlements as is shown by the examples of Tiszaug-Kisrétpart, Vésztő-Bikeri and Körösladány-Bikeri. According to this approach, the tell-like settlement of Polgár-Bosnyákdomb and its single, oval ditch reflect a transition between the Tisza and Tiszapolgár cultures. During later phases of the Copper Age, such as the Bodrogkeresztúr culture, circular ditch systems seem to become completely separated from settlements. As is shown by the examples of Füzesabony-Pusztaszikszó and Szarvas 38, they serve as areas of exclusively sacral activity. Interpreting the phenomena observed at Polgár-Bosnyákdomb was greatly aided by the discovery of similar palisade systems by W. Parkinson and his team around the settlement remains of Vésztő-Bikeri and Körösladány-Bikeri, located some 1.5 km south of the Late Neolithic tell at Vésztő-Mágor. More detailed archaeological investigations at these sites also indicated a life span that had post-dated the Tisza culture identified at the Vésztő tell: the two sets of horizontal settlement remains recovered on both banks of the Dió Stream represented the Early Copper Age Tiszapolgár culture.The transitional cultural/chronological position of Bosnyákdomb seems to be supported by an additional observation in archaeological topography. A new, Tiszapolgár settlement was established on the opposite bank of Király Stream, across from the Bosnyákdomb settlement that ceased to exist at the end of the Prototiszapolgár Period (Figs 1 and 3). The absolute chronological position of Polgár-Bosnyákdomb may be outlined on the basis of two radiocarbon dates: 4612–4503 cal BC (VERA-4764) and 4581–4461 cal BC (VERA-4765). These values strongly support previous hypotheses that the Tiszapolgár culture began around 4500/4400 cal BC. This makes the approximately 4600–4500 cal BC dating for the Late Neolithic Proto-tiszapolgár Phase realistic.

Item Type: Article
Subjects: C Auxiliary Sciences of History / történeti segédtudományok > CC Archaeology / régészet
Depositing User: xKatalin xBarta
Date Deposited: 09 Jan 2017 13:10
Last Modified: 09 Jan 2017 13:10
URI: http://real.mtak.hu/id/eprint/44783

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