Settlement of the Tumulus Culture at Ordacsehi (Hungary)

Viktória Kiss

In memoriam Frau Dr. Elisabeth Ruttkay

Introduction

In 1999, the Somogy County Museums (SMMI) in collaboration with the Archaeological Institute of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA RI) started a series of rescue excavations along the planned route of highway M7 in Somogy county, between Zamárdi and Ordacsehi (Fig. 1/1). The funding for the excavations was provided by the National Motorway Corporation (Nemzeti Autópálya Részvénytársaság).

Ordacsehi–Bugaszeg was one of the largest investigat-ed sites. It is located on southern shore of Lake Balaton in Somogy county, situated on the eastern side of the Great Marsh (Nagyberek), an area which used to be part of Lake Balaton during the period of its largest extent (Fig. 1/2).1 The location provided ideal circumstances for occupation throughout several thousands of years – suggested by the chain of archaeological sites around Ordacsehi.2

Between 2000 and 2003, more than 120.000 m2 were excavated at the Ordacsehi–Bugaszeg site by numer-ous teams of SMMI and MTA RI. Material and features discovered belong to the Neolithic (LBK), Copper Age (Balaton–Lasinja, Boleráz, Baden Culture), Bronze Age (Somogyvár–Vinkovci, Kisapostag, Tumulus and Urnfield Culture), late Celtic period (La Tène D), Ro-man Age (2nd–3rd century), and the Hungarian Middle Ages (12–13th century).We discovered settlements from prehistoric times and the Middle Ages. The Roman Age is represented by a temporary auxiliary camp from the time of the Marco-man wars that later gave its place to a rural settlement.3

1 E.g.: Late Bonze Age/Early Iron Age: Sümegi et al. 2004, Fig. 18; Sümegi et al. 2007, Fig. 245.

2 Honti 2007, Fig. 1a-b.3 Honti et al. 2007.

The settlement

Features dating to the Tumulus culture’s early phase were discovered during the excavation campaigns in 2001 and 2003, lead by Viktória Kiss and Péter Polgár.4 On the south side of the excavated area (Fig. 2/1) we unearthed occupational features that appear to be the northern part of a settlement dating to the Mid-dle Bronze Age (Br B1).5 Regarding the layout of features one can assume that the settlement might have spread further to the east, west, and perhaps to the south as well (Fig. 2/2). More than 50 of the pits belong to the Tumulus cul-ture’s occupation phase. Most of the pits were beehive-shaped storage features, which were later used as waste pits. One of these pits (Fig. 3, left: stratigraphical unit 1326/1926) had a diameter of 3 m and depth of 1,5 m. The sides appear to have collapsed during its use, as the lowermost sandy layers are similar to the subsoil at the site. Following this event the pit was backfilled by a black, organic soil mixed with domestic waste (pottery, e.g. Fig. 5/5; animal bones, and stones).6 The upper layers of the pit consisted of a yellow plastered layer sandwitched in between two reddish burnt fills, sealed by a black soil layer on the very top. This unu-sual fill structure suggests, that the pit was deliberately sealed before it had filled up completely by multiple layers of fire or hot charcoal and clay plaster. This pro-cedure might have been carried out in order to prevent the contents from rotting during some sort of purifica-tion ritual.

Other pits, used for clay mining, have also been dis-covered at the site. Beside these features, three deep cylindrical wells were also found without any wooden reinforcement on the inside.7

A number of postholes were discovered. In one case

4 See Honti et al. 2002, 15–20; Honti et al. 2004, 41; Honti et al. 2007.5 In this paper I use the current Central European terminology,

addressing this phase as Middle Bronze Age (e.g. Neugebauer 1994, 145, Abb. 4, Abb. 78), however, according to the Hungarian Bronze Age chronology, this period is usually dated to the Middle to Late Bronze Age transition or the beginning of the Late Bronze Age (Kovács 1975; Bóna 1992a, 35; Bóna 1992b, 58).

6 See also Kiss 2007a, Fig. 214. 7 For recently found Bronze Age wells see: Szilas 2002, 15, Fig.

18; Horváth – Szilas – Endrődi 2003, 8, Fig. 4; Horváth – Szilas – Endrődi 2004, 211; V. Szabó 2007.

102 Viktória Kiss

their layout implied a standard structure measuring 3 × 8 m, with four rows of posts on the longer side, and oriented N–S (Fig. 2/2, Fig. 3, right).

Evidence – such as the remains of wattle-and-daub walls known from waste pits belonging to the Tumu-lus culture – suggest, along with the N–S orientation, that these settlement features date to the Middle Bronze Age, contrary to the E–W alignment of the La Tène buildings found in the same area of the site. However, there are no archaeological finds associated with these features, this assumption is simply based on their ori-entation.

Among buildings found in the recent decades in Hun-gary dating to the Tumulus culture (Br B1–Br C) and the late Tumulus–Early Urnfield culture (Br D–Ha A1), there are examples of structures of similar sizes (Dunakeszi–Székesdűlő, Type 18: 2–3 × 6–9 m; Börcs–Paphomlok9: 2,2–3 × 3,5–6 m; Nagykanizsa–Bilkei-dűlő10: 3,5 × 5 m; Németbánya, House ”A,D,K”/2: 3,5 × 7 m)11, as well as larger ones (Kóny–Barbacsi lake12: 4–7 × 8–10 m; Dunakeszi–Székesdűlő, Type 2). Newly discovered houses of the Tumulus culture in Slovenia (2,5–3,5 × 5–8 m) are also of a comparable size.13

8 Horváth – Szilas – Endrődi 2003, 9–10, Figs. 2–3; Horváth – Szi-las – Endrődi 2004, 211.

9 Figler 1996, 11–12, Fig. 2, Plate VI. 2; V. Szabó 2003, 165, Fig. 31.10 Horváth 2001, 38, Fig. 2.11 Ilon 2007.12 Egry 2002.13 Kavur 2007, 55, Fig. 2–3. See also Styria: Tiefengraber 2007,

94, Abb. 13/C.

Finds from the settlement

Large quantities of pottery and other remains of do-mestic activities, for exampe a stone mould of a disc-shaped pendant, bronze artefacts14 including pins, awls, a pendant and a bronze spiral, along with loom weights with cylinder and truncated conical shapes, were dis-covered in the pits. Fish bones and scales were also found among the waste suggesting that fishing played an important role beside farming.Characteristic pottery types include cups/mugs, bowls, urns, cooking pots and storage vessels. Cups and mugs with short or elongated, curved rims, have handles usually starting from, or just below, the lip (Fig. 4/1–2). Cups with long, cylindrical or funnel-shaped necks and small biconical bodies often found had three or four foot-knobs (Fig. 4/3, 5–7). Another cup type has a curved cylindrical neck, biconical body and one handle (Fig. 4/4). Bowls with spherical or curved conical bod-ies and smoothed surface, usually have knobs emerg-ing vertically from the rim, with handles applied below the rim (Fig. 4/8, 10). In some cases we can observe a line of holes under the rim (Fig. 4/9). The other bowl type has a smoothed, outcurving rim, and a curved bi-conical body with roughened surface (Fig. 4/11).Urns have cylindrical or conical shaped necks and pressed spherical or curved biconical bodies (Fig. 5/1–2). Pieces with characteristic convexo-concave profile are also present (Fig. 5/3).Cooking pots and storage vessels with curved cylin-drical necks and globular bodies can be classified into different types. Coarse wares have roughened surface with applied ribs and knobs on the shoulder or handles starting under the rim (Fig. 5/4, 6). Fine wares have smoothed surfaces which sometimes have been deco-rated by encrusted motives (Fig. 5/5).

14 Kiss 2007a, Figs. 221, 215.

Fig. 1: left: The route of highway M7 between Zamárdi and Ordacsehi (after Honti 2007, Fig. 1a); right: changes in the extension of Lake Balaton: --- in the end of Pleistocene, ... during Neolithic, Copper Age and

Bronze Age, –– in the end of Bronze Age/beginning of Iron Age (after Sümegi et al. 2004, Fig. 18).

Fig. 2: 1. Ordacsehi–Bugaszeg, map of the excavated sections (2000–2003);2. The features of the Tumulus culture’s occupation phase.

Settlement of the Tumulus Culture at Ordacsehi (Hungary) 103

As well as ceramic vessels, lids, clay spoons and strainers were also found amongst the household ce-ramics (Fig. 4/12).

The smoothed surface of the urns, cups and pots are often decorated with encrusted triangles, punctuated motifs and chanelled knobs. The surface of the coarse wares (larger bowls, pots and storage vessels) have a characteristic treatment whereby the surface is uns-moothed or roughened by a clay slip that is fashioned by running the fingers vertically or diagonally into the wet clay (Fig. 5/4). Applied ribs with finger or nail impressions are also quite common (Fig. 5/7). The fine ware is tempered by quarz-rich sand and grit (Fig. 5/5), while coarse ware clay includes large grained pebbles (Fig. 5/4, 6).

Settlement features definately assigned to the Tumu-lus culture are relatively rare in Western Hungary. Exact analogues are known from sites discovered in the past several decades by rescue excavations in Zala county, in southwest Hungary. At Esztergályhorváti–Alsóbárándpuszta a small settlement with 37 pits was unearthed. At site No. II in Gellénháza–Budai szer15 one pit contained similar material to the pieces dis-covered at Ordacsehi. Recently, another settlement of the period was found at Kóny-Barbacsi-lake (Győr–Moson–Sopron county, in northwestern Hungary) with six post-built structures.Similar pottery types have been found in the Mistel-bach–Regelsbrunn phase (Ältere Hügelgräberzeit,

15 Horváth 1989, 37–38, Abb. 7–8; Horváth 1994, 219, Figs. 1–2; Horváth 1996; H. Simon – Horváth 1998/99.

Br B1) in Austria, for example from the settlement of Mannersdorf16 and from the ceramic depot of Mistel-bach-Rollerfund.17

The Ordacsehi domestic material together with further pieces belonging to the younger phases of the Tumulus culture – discovered during recent rescue excavations of highway M718 – provides new information about the lifestyle of the Tumulus culture in the western territo-ries of the Carpathian Basin.

Acknowledgements

I would like to express my thanks to Borbála Nyíri and Lindsay Lloyd-Smith for the review of the English text and providing significant comments on this paper. I am grateful to Csaba Tétényi for making the photos of the pottery from Ordacsehi, and to the Archeodata’98 Bt. for the maps of the excavated site.

16 Neugebauer 1980; Neugebauer 1994, Abb. 80.17 Benkovsky-Pivovarová 1976. Burials of the same period are

well known from Dolný Peter (Dušek 1969), from the early pha-se of Pitten (Hampl – Kerchler – Benkovsky-Pivovarová 1981; Benkovsky-Pivovarová 1985, 93, Abb. 11; Neugebauer 1993, 94; Neugebauer 1994, 152) or Franzhausen II (Neugebauer 1994, 158, Abb. 82). A similar, biritual cemetery was discov-A similar, biritual cemetery was discov-ered at Győr–Ménfőcsanak, northwestern Hungary; see Kovács 1997, 297–299, Abb. 1/1–4; Ilon 1998/99, 256, Fig. 10.; Egry 2004; Kiss 2007b, 19, Fig. 3.

18 Kiss 2007c, 32.

Fig. 3: left: Ordacsehi–Bugaszeg, pit Nr. 1326/1926; right: Posthole structure (Nr. 1358/1965–1971).

104 Viktória Kiss

Fig. 4: Ordacsehi–Bugaszeg – cups, mugs and bowls.

Settlement of the Tumulus Culture at Ordacsehi (Hungary) 105

Fig. 5: Ordacsehi–Bugaszeg – urns, storage vessels and cooking pots.

106 Viktória Kiss

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