Folia Archaeologica

Findings of Community Archaeological Fieldwork Conducted with Volunteers in the Bathhouse of the Late Roman Villa Complex at Nagyharsány-Kopáralja

István A. Vida — 2024-05-15

The community archaeology project carried out in the area of the Late Roman villa complex at Nagyharsány-Kopáralja (ID 20398) by the Community Archaeology Department of NIA HNM in July 2022 yielded important results. The project’s goals included partially cleaning the remains of the Roman baths from vegetation. The initiative serves as a great example of the versatility of community archaeological work and its potential for further development.

Excavations at the Árpád Age site of Bábolna-Kajándi-út

Zoltán Rózsa — 2024-05-15

In addition to presenting the results of the analysis of the features and their find material unearthed in the Árpád Age settlement at Bábolna-Kajándi út (ID 99011), the authors considered it important to emphasise the circumstances of the excavation. The settlement part was excavated with the help of volunteers, who – answering a demand of local residents – together with and under the guidance of professionals from the Community Archaeology Department of NIAS HNM, managed to remove en bloc the oven of one of the excavated Árpád Age houses with the intention of putting it on display in the local museum or visitor centre.

Relics of Árpád Age Metalworking from the Outskirts of Homokbödöge

Viktória Pomázi-Horváth — 2024-05-15

The study presents some bronze finds – a stamp and two press dies – recovered during a metal detector survey and find collection campaign in the area of the one-time Bödöge village (later Egyházasbödöge, ID 8086) on the outskirts of Homokbödöge (Veszprém County).

Archaeology beneath the City

Dávid Jablonkai — 2024-05-15

The Rákóczi Museum, abranch of the Hungarian National Museum located in Sárospatak intended to build a new visitor centre and a showcase exhibition in the framework of the National Castle and Castle Programme. The construction of the new visitor centre in Szent Erzsébet Street covered an area of nearly 1300 m2, where archaeological excavations have been carried out in several phases since 2019. These have uncovered artefacts from several archaeological periods, from prehistory to the Early Modern period. This paper presents the preliminary results of these excavations.

Conservation Research in the Prónay Castle in Acsa

Franciska Lovas — 2024-05-15

Architectural sculptures and 18th–19th century mural paintings have been preserved in large parts of the interiors of the Prónay Castle in Acsa, creating spaces with unparalleled lavish painted decoration. The report presents the results of the conservation research carried out in the castle in 2021–2022.

H. Kolba Judit (Hajtó Aurélné) (1937–2020)

Ibolya Gerelyes — 2024-05-15

Patay Pál (1914–2020)

Angelika Orgona — 2024-05-15

Fodor István (1943–2021)

Csaba Szalontai — 2024-05-15

Bíró Sey Katalin (1934–2022)

Melinda Torbágyi — 2024-05-15

Rezi Kató Gábor (1963–2022)

Gábor Tomka — 2024-05-15

Sz. Burger Alice (1925–2022)

Endre Tóth — 2024-05-15

Archaeology Reloaded ..

Gábor — 2024-05-15

Boruzs Katalin: Visegrád kora és középső császárkori emlékei

Dénes Gabler — 2024-05-15

Vörös Gabriella: Szarmaták két folyó között. A kiskunhalasi Thorma János Múzeum római és római kori szarmata gyűjteménye (1–5. század)

Csaba Szalontai — 2024-05-15

Wolf Mária: Hejőkeresztúr-Vizekköze. A tatárjárás régészeti emlékei 1.

Zoltán Rózsa — 2024-05-15

K. Németh András – Máté Gábor: Horhosok, puszták, búvólikak. Tájtörténeti tanulmányok a 16–18. századi Dél-Dunántúlról

Csaba Szalontai — 2024-05-15

Kotán Richárd – Tóth Csaba: II. Rákóczi Ferenc pénzeinek katalógusa

Dávid — 2024-05-15

A Vision of the Future of Archaeology in the Hungarian National Museum: the National Institution of Archaeology

Gábor Virágos — 2024-05-15

NIA HNM has been designed to oversee and manage the whole process process represented by archaeological work from fieldwork (providing archaeological services including site prospection and excavation) through the processing of the collected data and find material to scientific evaluation and the publication of the findings for diverse audiences. In addition to carrying out the tasks bestowed on us by current regulations, NIA HNM has a middle-term research programme, which relies on four pillars and includes about eighteen scientific projects. Getting the general public familiar with the aims, methods, and results of archaeological work is pivotal for us, and the most important tools for that include mono- and multilingual journals, a constantly renewed selection of scientific and popular science publications born from the decades-long traditions of HNM, and new platforms for communication, including social media.

National Archaeological Topography Programme

László Reményi — 2024-05-15

NIA HNM has launched an archaeological topography programme to carry out a comprehensive survey involving a complex evaluation of data collected using a variety of scientific methods of the areas of the Carpathian Basin where Hungarians have lived. Fieldwork is preceded by the processing of all available archival data, including historical maps. In the following phase, the collection of new data will rely primarily on field walking; therefore, every designated area will be surveyed this way in zones. Important complementary data sources include metal detector surveys, aerial photography, and diverse archaeological geophysical methods.
Processing focuses on determining the spatial extent and possibly the inner structure of archaeological sites and interpreting off-site find material and features by a joint evaluation of all collected data. Fieldwork started recently in seven focus regions, and complex research was carried out in three.

Report on the Activities of the Instrument Reconnaissance Unit in 2022

Máté Stibrányi — 2024-05-15

The paper briefly shows the operations of the Archaeological Prospection Department of the National Archaeological Institute in 2022. The department has existed since 2014, and our staff is comprised of archaeologists, geologists, and geophysicists, all working on archaeological geophysical tasks at the HNM-NAI. Most of our projects are within the frame of heritage management, mostly archaeological feature detection using magnetometry survey methods before large-scale construction projects. In 2022, we had 55 such projects, covering altogether 17 million sqm.
Apart from HM related tasks, we were also involved in several scientific projects. In 2022 we participated in 6 such projects, along with our own research within the department. Many of our tasks are GPR surveys mostly for detecting archaeological built heritage elements. In 2022 we surveyed altogether 25 sites with built heritage elements. The spectacular among them is the early medieval Benedictine abbey at Tomajmonostora.

Archaeological Publications of the Hungarian National Museum in 2022

Balázs Mészáros — 2024-05-15

In 2021, the Hungarian National Museum overhauled its publishing activity. The paper gives an overview of the related changes concerning publications on archaeology. Some of the “new series”, like Archaeologia Hungarica and Régész Napló [Archaeological Diaries], are actually very old, continuing the institution’s traditions in a renewed form. The renewal included, in addition to publishing catalogues and scientific works for the professional community, presenting the general public with volumes and series written specifically for them, such as the HistorIQ series, each volume of which revolves around a single archaeological era, or KÖR,
a forum for community archaeology programmes and projects.

The Medium-Term Archaeological Scientific Programme of the National Institute of Archaeology

Loránd Olivér Kovács — 2024-05-15

The National Institute of Archaeology of the Hungarian National Museum (NIA HNM) has delineated the foci of its scientific activity in 2022 and developed a medium-term operational framework for the following decade.

Rövidítésjegyzék

Csaba Szalontai — 2024-05-15

A High-Resolution Study of Bronze Age Fish Remains from Százhalombatta-Földvár, Hungary

László — 2024-05-15

The lack of archaeozoological data for fish exploitation in the Carpathian Basin has been explained by unsuitable collection methodologies. Due to the fragility and small size of fish bones, they can pass through hand-collection undetected, with the resulting assemblages thus disproportionately representing larger animal species. This article offers an analysis of soil samples taken over a decade from the Bronze Age Tell Site of Százhalombatta-Földvár, on the right bank of the Danube in Hungary. We carried out a comparative study of animal remains retrieved from the heavy fraction following the flotation of 10 l samples taken in randomly sampled columns over the 20 × 20 m excavation area. Constructing a standardized way of sampling methodology is at the core of this study. Column samples will be used, as they provide an in-situ section. Contrasting the quantities of fish bone finds between these parts of the excavated surface became essential to understand how collection methods improve our understanding of prehistoric fish exploitation. According to our analysis, fine recovery provides data that are more difficult to identify from a taxonomic point of view, but can be better evaluated using quantitative methods. For this reason, the heavy fraction is less suitable for reconstructing the fish fauna of the time, but rather shows the spatial regularities of fish processing and consumption. The identifiable fish remains in the heavy fraction also reflect the trend previously outlined based on the fish remains found in the entire zoological material. The dietary role of fish was minor, occasional fishing was likely most intensive during the spring and summer months. This may have coincided with the outdoor processing and consumption of fish, as confirmed by the spatial distribution of the fish bones extracted from the heavy fraction at this site.

Casting Moulds of the Urnfield Culture Recovered from Sármellék in Western Hungary

Dóra Georgina Miklós — 2024-05-15

The paper presents a description and the findings of the petrographic analysis of four casing moulds discovered on the outskirts of Sármellék. Preliminary findings indicate that the raw material of the moulds was most likely quarried somewhere in the Tihany Member of the Újfalu Formation (Fig. 9.6/1). In the current state of research, the presented moulds for casting tools (flanged axe, socketed axe, and hammer)and jewellery (pendant and bracelet) could be assigned to the early Urnfield Culture dating to the Ha A1–B1 periods. The single casting mould from roughly the same period – one for producing oxhide ingots, found in Ha B2 context at Gór-Kápolnadomb (Vas County) – was made from rhyolite quarried at Sárszentmiklós (Fejér County). Two more moulds were discovered in the study area in autumn 2022; their increasing number indicates a micro-regional bronzeworking centre. Based on their relative geographic position, this centre may have played a role in supplementing the Urnfield Period communities of settlements at Esztergályhorváti and Vörs with metal items. The nearest findspots of Tumulus Culture and Urnfield Period casting moulds are the settlements at Balatonmagyaród-Hídvégpuszta, Gelsesziget-Újudvari-Határ-dűlő, the outskirts of Keszthely, Várvölgy-Nagyláz-hegy, and Zalaszentiván-Kisfaludi-hegy.

Traces of a Late Iron Age Settlement at Szeged-Kiskundorozsma-Tóth János dombja I.

Zsófia F. Sörös — 2024-05-15

The multiperiod site of Szeged-Kiskundorozsma-Tóth János dombja I. is located on the former riverside of the Maty Stream, 2.5 km northwest of Kiskundorozsma, Hungary. Archaeological excavations in the area in 2003–2004, in connection with the construction of the M5 and M43 motorways, revealed Bronze Age, Sarmatian and Late Medieval–Early Modern features, as well as traces of a Late Iron Age settlement. The seven semi-sunken buildings and their pits dated to the LT (B2)–C period were scattered in three well-defined groups in a north-south direction. The present study aims to interpret Late Iron Age findings recovered from the sit.

Settlement Remains in the Territory of Visegrád-Kőbánya Dated to the First and Second Centuries AD

Katalin Boruzs — 2024-05-15

The excavations at the site of Kőbánya have brought to light two pit-houses (Pit A and a “pit dwelling”), a refuse pit, and three sections of wall built without mortar, so far. Nevertheless, their relationship to one another, their exact structure, and their function cannot be established. The reason for the presence of roof tiles and stones covered with mortar in the early Roman layer could not be explained, either. The excavated pit-houses are located at a distance of about 40 m from each other. Based on the pieces of clay with imprints of branches and reeds discovered in their fill and surroundings, they had wattle-and-daub walls above the ground. The area between the pit-houses is little investigated, so we have no evidence of the structure of the settlement. The earliest find from the site is a piece of terra sigillata dated to the Claudian–Flavian period. Similar to other second-century settlements of the region, most of the vessels discovered here were painted pots made of yellow clay. The shape of the artefacts follows a Celtic tradition, but their decoration already shows Roman tastes. In addition to the civilian population, the presence of soldiers is indicated by the pilum, the arrowhead, and perhaps the pickaxe found at the site. The discovery of Samian ware dating to the first half/ middle third of the third-century raises an intriguing question because the other types of pottery (thin-walled beakers, three-legged bowls, Pannonian slipped and stamped vessels) suggest asettlement that existed from the late first or early second-century to the Marcomannic Wars. It is plausible that a few decades after the civilian population abandoned the border zone, an outpost or perhaps a small Roman settlement was established in the area. It may have been contemporaneous with the settlement of Lepence found 1 km away, which flourished in the Severan era. Further research would definitely be necessary in this area because the information available is limited and raises lots of questions.

Roman Iron Folding Chairs in the Archaeological Collection of the Hungarian National Museum on Which Nothing has Been Published

Zsolt Mráv — 2024-05-15

The study discusses the Roman-Period graves of the native elite in NE Pannonia containing iron folding chairs. In his 2013 study the author rejected the interpretation that the chairs indicated the status or office of the deceased, suggesting instead that these chairs had been part of instrumenta balnei and/or toiletry sets. His arguments were based on the analysis of the currently known elite burial sites with iron chairs from the European provinces of the Roman Empire, the position of the chairs in the grave and their occurrence together with bathing paraphernalia, as well as on various depictions. After ten years, the author aims to provide an update on the present state of research and address new issues concerning iron chairs recovered from the burial sites of local elites in the Roman Period. He provides information concerning three previously unknown iron folding chairs from the collection of the Hungarian National Museum. He offers a brief overview of the different types of chairs used by women for washing or grooming, known from illustrations, recovered as grave goods or discovered in hoards.

A Late Medieval Equine Stove Tile from Sarkad Castle

Imre Szatmári — 2024-05-15

Two interesting finds – 16th-century stove tile fragments – have been recovered from the territory of the medieval Sarkad Castle, a barely researched monument. One got into the collection of the Hungarian National Museum in 1900, while the other became part of the collection of the Munkácsy Mihály Museum of Békés County in 1974. The partial patterns of the two fragments complete each other: the horseman persisted on one, the horse on the other, and the two together enable an almost full reconstruction of the shape and decoration (including the ornamental details and the image) of the stove tile. That the two finds belonged not only to the same castle but also to the same late medieval tile stove adds to their significance; their detailed analysis contributes to recapturing scenes from the history of the almost forgotten fortress of the market town of Sarkad and reconstructing how one-time artists depicted daily life in the castle.