Dissertationes Archaeologicae

Des vides et des pleins

Marie Seguedy — 2025-01-24

Le Bassin des Carpates se situe dans la partie sud-est de l’Europe centrale et est centré principalement sur la Hongrie. Par sa position, il représente un possible carrefour migratoire pour les populations humaines préhistoriques entre l’Europe occidentale, orientale et les Balkans et est au cœur des enjeux de peuplement de la Préhistoire. Et pourtant, les dynamiques d’occupation au Pléistocène supérieur ne sont que partiellement connues. Nous faisons ici le point sur les données archéologiques disponibles pour le Paléolithique moyen et supérieur dans le bassin des Carpates entre 130 et 10 ka BP avec l’aide d’une base de données. Les biais qui participent à cacher, tronquer ou détruire des données sont décrits et les différents niveaux d’information disponibles sur les sites sont ordonnés à l’aide de filtres. L’étude montre que l’absence d’occupations en plaines ou à certaines périodes peut être expliquée en partie par des phénomènes géomorphologiques et par des biais de recherche. La chronologie est les industries du Paléolithique moyen et de la période de transition entre le Paléolithique moyen et supérieur sont encore mal définies. Les nouvelles recherches confirment dans plusieurs sites la présence tardive de Néandertal. Le nombre d’occupations aurignaciennes pourrait avoir été surestimé. En dehors des biais, le bassin semble bien avoir été déserté au Gravettien ancien, pour des raisons encore mal comprises, et à la fin du Paléolithique supérieur, ce qui pourrait être corrélé à la disparition de la mégafaune pléistocène. Enfin, à toute époque, les piémonts et étage collineux apparaissent comme des espaces privilégiés d’installation mais l’investissement des plaines s’observe avec certitude à deux occasions : à l’Aurignacien et à l’Epigravettien ancien, peut-être dû pour ce dernier aux conditions climatiques particulières du Dernier Maximum Glaciaire.

Upper Palaeolithic site complex at Csécse-Szőlős-domb (Cserhátalja, Nógrád County, Northern Hungary)

Attila Péntek — 2025-01-24

This paper presents the find material of a new open-air Upper Palaeolithic site located on the outskirts of Csécse in Cserhátalja, between the Zagyva River and the Szuha Stream. Its topographic position is similar to other Upper Palaeolithic sites in the Cserhát Mountains. Part of the finds were collected by agronomist László Tóth, while the rest were found by the authors later, following the rediscovery of the site in 2017. The appearing raw materials are primarily limnic silicites of Cserhát origin and local siliceous pebbles, accompanied by a low proportion of erratic flint (absent from known Late Middle Palaeolithic lithic industries characterised by leaf-shaped forms); in contrast, the metarhyolite characteristic of said industries is completely absent from the site. The assemblage gives the impression of a flake industry, as blades and blade tools are present in low proportions. The predominant type is end-scrapers with a significant proportion of high-nosed and carenoid Aurignacian variants. Bifacial tools are completely absent, and the proportion of side-scrapers is low. The significance of the assemblage—rich in end-scrapers and relying mainly on local raw materials—lies in that it likely represents an early Aurignacian facies otherwise not known from the Northern Hungarian Mountains. Its further investigation by excavation would be important.

Interpretation possibilities of Middle Neolithic cave usage patterns

Gizella Kovács — 2025-01-24

The more than 150-year research of the Baradla Cave in Aggtelek continued with a rescue excavation in 2019, carried out by a team from the Institute of Archaeological Sciences of the Eötvös Loránd University, and reaching the more difficult-to-access inner parts of the cave system. This paper presents the preliminary results of the evaluation of the pottery, stone and animal bone record of the Middle Neolithic Bükk culture, collected during this excavation. Outlining the special natural atmosphere of the cave and surveying its unusual effect on the people venturing there represent a pivotal addition enabling the contextual interpretation of the finds. In addition, a brief overview is given of the diverse ways of how caves were used throughout Europe, organised according to three main aspects (economic, burial, and ritual), which may help get one closer to understanding the prehistoric use of the Baradla Cave.

Hrádok nad Váhom

Filip Ondrkál — 2025-01-24

In the Bronze Age, the initial production of sheet metal vessels was limited to specialised workshops in eastern Mediterranean centres such as Troy or Mycenae, spreading slowly to the European hinterland. In this sense, the recently discovered hoard at Hrádok in Western Slovakia, dated to ca. 1225–1175 BC, represents the earliest and most complete set of bronzeworking tools in Central Europe, providing a deeper understanding of the making and decorating of bronze vessels in an Early Urnfield environment. Through a comprehensive evaluation of tin content analysis results of copper alloy vessels from western Eurasia, the spread of this most advanced contemporary technology could be reconstructed, highlighting the importance of such research in understanding the processes leading to the emergence of the Urnfield power structures and centralised political control over secondary metallurgy (the production of artefacts from already processed raw materials) in Europe in the Bronze Age.

Kartal

János Gábor Tarbay — 2025-01-24

In 2019, a new Late Bronze Age (LBA) assemblage from Völgy-dűlő at Kartal (Pest County) was added to the number of bronze hoards excavated in the framework of community archaeological programmes in Hungary. This unique assemblage was deposited beneath two fragments of a pot, originally arranged regularly. The Carpathian Basin-style objects in the Kartal hoard date to several periods from Br D to Ha B1; based on their typo-chronological analysis, their deposition may have taken place in the latter. The chronological characteristics of the Kartal find, a deposition comprising old-style jewellery, suggest the assemblage is a multi-period hoard. The signs of use, essentially abrasions and microwear traces, also indicate that some objects had been used even for a relatively long time before deposition. The breaking of the deposited ingots and bronze objects was deliberate and probably did not occur simultaneously, and most of these finds were still usable preceding their breaking. The Kartal hoard may have been deliberately assembled by a small community. The hoarded objects may represent different aspects of a Bronze Age community, who, according to our current knowledge of the topography of the era, deposited their votive assemblage far from any LBA settlements.

New specimen of an Early Iron Age brooch type from Western Transdanubia

Gábor Ilon — 2025-01-24

The museum obtained the two-loop nodular (or knobbed) bow brooch, a stray find, in 1970. The jewellery, 66 mm long and weighing 22.6 g, is still in good condition today. Its shape is a mixture of Types 6a and 6d in Stane Gabrovec’s system, which were in vogue in the Ha C1–2 phases, i.e., from the mid-8th to the mid-7th centuries BC. In lack of a find context and accompanying finds, the artefact in focus cannot be dated more precisely within this period; the topographical position of its findspot fills an empty area in the foregrounds of the Eastern Alps.

An Early Iron Age cup with unique decoration from Fertőrákos (NW Hungary)

Attila Mrenka — 2025-01-24

The Early Iron Age cemetery at Fertőrákos-Kőhidai dűlő is one of the best-known sites in the vicinity of Sopron. Excavations took place there in 1970, but the material was published only in 2009. During the nearly four decades inbetween, heritage management was reorganised several times, and the excavated material was divided between two separate museums, so reuniting it required a small-scale revision, including a reevaluation of the record. The aim of this article is to present the unique painted decoration of an Early Iron Age cup.

In Turkısh Thrace

Umut M. Doğan — 2025-01-24

In the Early Iron Age, Turkish Thrace had a cultural identity largely identical to the rest of Thrace. Nevertheless, this area, separated by the Matitsa and Tundza rivers and the Strandzha (Istranca/Yıldız) Mountains, also produced some unique cultural values.

The Early Iron Age (EIA) cultural structure of Eastern Thrace is best traced in the first part of the valleys created by the Tundza and Maritsa rivers within the borders of Turkey. The numerous settlements in the valleys and on top of the nearby hills outline the cultural dynamics of the region during the Early Iron Age. The surface materials recovered from these sites indicate close connections with Bulgarian Thrace, the Carpathians, the north-western Balkans, and Anatolia.

The study presents the results of a pottery analysis and a settlement typology, opening a new perspective for research on the EIA of Turkish Thrace. The attached database may be the core of a dataset covering the entire Eastern Thrace.

Roman stamped bricks from the Tussla-collection in the Hungarian National Museum

Linda Dobosi — 2025-01-24

The so-called Tussla-collection of the Hungarian National Museum is a substantial collection of Roman artefacts collected by Mr. and Mrs. Tivadar Tussla during the early 1880s in the northern half of the legionary fortress in Brigetio. The original material consisted of about 2.500 objects that were partly donated to the Museum during the 1880s or formed the private collection of Mrs. Tussla and entered the Museum after her death in 1961. Both the Tussla couple and the collection had a troubled and eventful fate which led to the loss of some of the material. In this paper, the extant pieces of the ceramic building material are discussed. From the original almost 400 objects 100 could be found in the brick collection of the Hungarian National Museum, most of them stamped. The material is very diverse, both in terms of brick types and stamp types. The different kinds of ceramic building material catalogued include two antefixes, five terracotta water pipes, four tubuli, 21 round suspensura bricks, 32 rectangular lateres, 30 tegulae and 5 imbrices. Almost half of the objects are whole, and their original size could be measured, showing a larger than expected variety. Stamps occurred on tegulae, imbrices, lateres, round bricks and even on a tubulus. About two thirds of the brick stamps (59 out of 86) were those of the legio I Adiutrix, the garrison of Brigetio for three centuries. The other 27 stamps belonged to 10 other manufacturers: the legio XI Claudia (4), legio XXX Ulpia Victrix (2), cohors VII Breucorum (6), classis Flavia Histrica (1), Quadriburgium (3), Frigeridus dux (1), Terentius dux (1), Lupicinus tribunus (6), Terentianus tribunus (1) and Corta Vicen (2). The Tussla-collection enhances greatly our knowledge about the legionary fortress of Brigetio and forms a solid supplement to the ongoing excavations.

An ivory statuette depicting the god Thanatos discovered near Tomis (Moesia Inferior)

Ingrid Petcu-Levei — 2025-01-24

In recent years, real estate developments in Constanța prompted a series of preventive archaeological investigations, leading to the discovery of rich archaeological material. These finds include a bone statuette found in the Palazu Mare district of Constanța. In this context, the nucleus of habitation, previously inferred from various archaeological finds from the Roman period, has been identified. Numerous surveys and preventive archaeological investigations have allowed for a clearer delimitation of the archaeological site of Palazu Mare. Regarding chronology, the settlement (possibly a vicus) can be dated from the 2nd–3rd centuries to the early decades of the 4th century AD. The statuette in question was carved out of ivory, measuring 6 cm in height and 1.7 cm in width. It was made as a representation of the god Thanatos, the personification of the Angel of Death in Greek and Roman mythology. Unfortunately, the statuette is incomplete; the left hand and parts of the legs are missing, along with the wings originally located on its back. The closest analogy for our representation comes from Northern France, where a small bronze statue was discovered in a villa rustica in Salouël, a commune located on the outskirts of Amiens. Due to the uncertainty surrounding the function of the object to which the statue pertains, we classify it as instrumentum domesticum, a category that includes a variety of objects that were part of everyday Roman life. The discoveries made here are considered quite rare due to the material of the statuette, and the context in which it was found. Based on previous observations, it can be said that Thanatos is typically a characteristic of funerary art and is therefore rarely found in domestic contexts. Ivory statues are particularly uncommon in the Dobrudja region of Moesia Inferior.

New data on the Avar Period chronology of the Körös–Tisza–Maros Interfluve

Bence Gulyás — 2025-01-24

The study presents an analysis of the internal chronology of Szarvas-Grexa-téglagyár and Székkutas-Kápolnadűlő, two Avar cemeteries in the Trans-Tisza Region. According to a widely accepted theory, both were established only in the second half of the Avar Period. This dating could be re-evaluated based on the radiocarbon results presented here. The question of when the Middle Avar belt sets could have appeared in the region is also addressed in the study in connection with the internal chronology of the two sites.

Box-shaped cloak clasps in the Late Avar Period

Ádám Máté Horváth — 2025-01-24

The paper focuses on Late Avar box-shaped cloak clasps. Although only thirty specimens are known from the Carpathian Basin, they are significant due to their high-quality workmanship. The type appears mainly in the northwestern part of the Avar Khaganate, along the Danube and in the northern part of the Danube–Tisza Interfluve; its spread can be linked to the main trade routes. Based on the related find assemblages, it was in fashion from the second half of the 8th century and was still in use in the first decades of the 9th century.

Some remarks on the absolute chronology of heraldic belt fittings

Anton Strokov — 2025-01-24

The article examines the absolute chronology of heraldic belt sets. The main challenges researchers face with these belt sets are their wide geographic distribution and the low number of assemblages with determinable calendar age. The radiocarbon dates of wood samples from Grave 62 of the Borisovo cemetery (northeastern Black Sea region) and the find material of the burial are also published here for the first time. Additionally, we collected radiocarbon dates from other graves with similar heraldic belt fittings to estimate their absolute chronological positions.

Connection and disconnection

Fruzsina Alexandra Németh — 2025-01-24

Rania Plain lies on the eastern side of Iraqi Kurdistan, at the foot of the seemingly impenetrable Zagros Mountains. During the Early Modern Period, this microregion was on the fringe of the two major powers of the Middle East, the Ottoman and Persian Empires, but it was also part of the Soran Emirate, one of the semi-autonomous vassal states that existed for hundreds of years. The Rania Plain was close to the main trade route linking Baghdad with the major Kurdish cities of Erbil and Mosul. In addition, the Lower Zab River, which flows through this valley to reach the Mesopotamian Plain, provided a natural trade and information route between the inner parts of the Zagros Mountains, the Iranian Plateau, and the fertile plains crossed by the Tigris River. Despite this, the Rania region and its cities do not appear on Ottoman Period maps, and written sources are silent about the function of the area between the 16th and 20th centuries. Field survey and excavation data from the last fifty years have provided a complex and varied picture of the valley’s topography, which, combined with the dense water network in the area, defines possible lines of population movement. One of the key questions to be addressed in examining the historical significance and complex use of the area is how to reconstruct the historical road use in the microregion using historical, archaeological, topographical, ethnographic, and GIS data and whether the area played a connecting or separating role in relation to the eastern frontier of the Ottoman Empire.

Preliminary report on the excavations of the legionary bath of Brigetio in 2024

Dávid Bartus — 2025-01-24

The excavation of the legionary camp at Brigetio began in 2021. Throughout the last four campaigns, 2,200 square meters of the baths were unearthed, which span a total of well over 6,000 square meters. In 2024 the work continued across four surfaces. The excavations here shed a light on the size of the bath, which extended westward over a much larger area than previous excavations and radar surveys had suggested. In connection with the heating systems of the baths, two praefurnia preserved in excellent condition, along with their two adjoining service rooms, were also unearthed. In the southern section of the baths, three lime slaking pits were discovered, a rare occurrence in military context within the Roman Empire.

Pilisszentiván-Hárs-erdő 2024

Bence Simon — 2025-01-24

As part of a new research project and a local history research project, a team of the Institute of Archaeological Sciences of the Eötvös Loránd University and Archeovertex Ltd excavated a Roman village in the territory of Pilisszentiván. The settlement is located in the northwestern hinterland of the Roman town of Aquincum (today: Óbuda, Hungary) in a scarcely investigated area. The excavation brought to light two Early Roman buildings with stone foundations, a rich pottery record, several metal finds, and a building associated with workshop activities. New data on the topography of the village was also collected. The results suggest that the population of the settlement had already lived a Roman lifestyle around the turn of the 1st and 2nd centuries AD. In light of this year’s excavation, some of the results of last year’s campaign may be reconsidered.

The concept of the ancient homeland of the Fenno-Ugric-speaking peoples in light of complex research

József Vigh — 2025-01-24

Extended, completed review of the theses of the PhD dissertation completed under the supervision of László Klima and submitted to the Uralic Linguistics and Languages Programme, Doctoral School of Linguistics, ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, in 2023.

The dissertation’s primary objective was to investigate, applying an interdisciplinary approach, the prehistory and location of the ancient homeland of the Uralic-speaking peoples. This study was needed due to the decreasing tendency in research in Hungary on the Uralic prehistory compared to Finland. In the past three decades, some attempts have been made to integrate new results, but the old theory of the Uralic homeland being in Western Siberia could not be challenged. The research presented in the dissertation is based on reassessing previous results of linguistic palaeontology, archaeology, and archaeogenetics.