Tiszavasvári-Városföldje, Jegyző-tag

A settlement of t h e 5 t h c e n t u r y

Istvánovits Eszter

In 1982 at the southern part of Tiszavasvári (Sza- Bronze Age (DANI 1997.), LaTéne Age (ALMÁSSY
bolcs-Szatmár-Bereg county) - formerly Büdszent- 1998.) and from the Imperial Age (ISTVÁNOVITS 1990.)
mihály -, at a sand pit functioning at territory called and a part of a settlement from the early Migration
Városföldje, Jegyző-tag archaeological material was Period. In the following I would like to present the
found.1 During the survey of the place we assumed latter settlement (Fig. 2).
that the site was situated at the southern slope of a
more or less NE-SW directed sand hill, near the Ke­ Settlement features
leti-főcsatorna (Eastern Channel), at a bank of a well
observable former water bed (Fig. 1). "Houses "
In the course of the ex­
cavation we indicated with
the term "house" 8 features
on the basis of its size and
character. We can also
suggest that five of them
(houses 2-6) could be used
as a dwelling building.
Though features 1 and 8 are
of large size, they did not
have either floor or furnace.
"House" 7 can be deter­
mined as a pottery work­
shop. We deal with these
features later.
Among the houses of the
Tiszavas vári site features 2,
3,5 and 6 were situated close
to each other. Their common
characteristic feature is the
double heating: a furnace
attached to the outer wall of
Fig. 1 Tiszavasvári-Városföldje, Jegyző-tag and its surroundings the house and a fire-place
1. kép Tiszavasvári-Városföldje, Jegyző-tag és környéke inside the house. The build­
ings were semi-subterranian
I conducted the rescue excavation between 1983 and could be more or less rectangular. Their ground
2
and 1985.2 Later the local cooperative farm extended space was 10.5-13.5 m . The shorter wall was about
the territory of the pasture to the filling of the sand 3 m long, the longer one could have been 3.5—4.5 m.
pit. According to the results of the latest excavation The floor was of stamped clay.
made in 1989 the site has undergone a further Among the houses situated at one spot three had
demolition.3 We unearthed burials from the Early an approximately N-S orientation with a furnace from
the northern side. The fourth one was oriented more
l.RégFüz 1.36.1983.29-30. or less W-E, its furnace was attached to the western
l.RégFüz 1.37.1984.31., RégFüz 1.38.1985.29., RégFüz side.
1.39.1986.30-31., JAM Archive 87.34-36. Gábor Lőrinczy We have to devote a special attention to house 4
participated in the rescue excavation as a fellow researcher. found a little separated from the latter group of
3.RégFüz 1.43.1991.33., JAM Archive 89.12., 92.9.

A Jósa András Múzeum Évkönyve XLI. 1999. 173-254. 173

Eszter Istvánovits
Fig. 2 Tiszavasvári-Városföldje, Jegyző-tag, the excavated territory
2. kép Tiszavas vári-Városföldje, Jegyző-tag, a feltárt terület
buildings. Its size is not clear, but it seems to us that it
could have been much more bigger: 24 m2 (even bigger
than the pottery workshop!). Its closeness to the
pottery kiln suggests that there could have been some
kind of a workshop area west of the houses. However,
we succeeded in unearthing only a small part of house
4, so this question cannot be answered.
From the sites of the Great Hungarian Plain of the
Imperial Age we know a great number of houses.
4. J. Kovalovszki mentions similar houses from Tiszalök. (Ist­
ván Méri's excavation) situated also very close (KOVALOVSZKI
1980. notes 74 and 77).
174
Several researchers have determined (VÖRÖS 1987/
88.133, DINNYÉS 1997.369) that at the houses of these
settlements - independently from the structure - very
frequently there are no furnaces or any other traces
referring to heating. However, in the case of Tisza­
vasvári the use of the double heating device can be
undoubtedly determined. We know similar dwelling
buildings from the site of Tiszaeszlár (features 3, 5, 7
and especially house 6), which is very close both from
territorial and chronological point of view (KOVALOVSZKI
1980.18-22).4 Beside the similarity of the furnaces, the
houses had got the same structure and the same direction
 Tiszavasvári-Városföldje, Jegyző-tag. A settlement of the 5th century

- N—S - as the ones excavated

in Tiszavasvári. The exterior
furnace was also attached to
the northern wall, and these
houses were also situated close
to each other.
We hardly have any infor­
mation on the structure of the
houses from Tiszavasvári.
Though we have observed
relatively many features dug
into the floor, most of them
cannot be determined as post-
hole. Júlia Kovalovszki had the
same experience in the case of
the Tiszaeszlár houses and
suggested the existence of a
roof structure "made with the
a s s i s t a n c e of c r o s s - b e a m s
supported by props standing in
Fig. 3 Tiszavasvári-Városföldje, Jegyző-tag, house 7
the corners" and suggested that
3. kép Tiszavasvári-Városföldje, Jegyző-tag, 7. ház
there have been used pits inside
the house (KOVALOVSZKI 1980. 25).

Pits
Beside the ones mentioned in connection with the
houses, we unearthed 10 small and large pits which is
a very low number comparing to the Sarmatian
settlements of the Great Hungarian Plain. In this
settlement we miss big beehive shaped storage pits
usual there. The same phenomena are characteristic
for the already mentioned settlement in Tiszaeszlár-
Bashalom.

Heating devices
As we could see before, a part of the fire devices
belonged to the dwelling houses (houses 2, 3, 5, 6).
On the basis of our observations it cannot be excluded
that feature named "fire-place 1" also belonged to a
dwelling house. Furnaces were deepened into the walls
of the houses. Beside these, we have found the remains
of an independent exterior furnace close to house 1.
As a close parallel again the Tiszaeszlár settlement
can be mentioned (KOVALOVSZKI 1980.26).
Pottery workshop
The most special feature of the Tiszavasvári
settlement is a pottery kiln joining a large (6x3.2 m
that is to say: 19.2 m2) building (Fig. 3). We know
several pottery kilns from the territory of the
Barbaricum of the Carpathian basin (Fig. 4). All the
kilns published up to now belong to two basic groups:
at the first one the fire chamber under the grate is
Fig. 4 Pottery kilns of the Sarmatian period found in
the Carpathian basin. 1: Beregsurány (CSAL-
LÁNY 1966.), 2: Budapest-X. kerület (RF
1.26.1973.54-55.), 3: Csengersima (unpub-
lished/publikálatlan), 4: Doboz (RF 1.36.
1983.78.), 5: Gyula (PÁRDUCZ 1935. 190-
191.), 6: Gyulavári (RF 1.35.1982.59.), 7:
Hódmezővásárhely (PÁRDUCZ 1937.), 8:
Kiskőrös (RF 1.34.1981.48.), 9: Kunszent­
márton (VÖRÖS 1998.62.), 10: Nagymágocs
(VÖRÖS 1998.62.), 11: Sándorfalva (VÖRÖS
1987.88.), 12: Tiszafüred (RFIAI. 1988.23.),
13: Vrsac/Versec (RASAJSZKI 1957.)
4. kép Feltárt szarmata kori fazekaskemencék a Kár­
pát-medencei barbarikumban

175
Eszter Istvánovits

divided by a wall, at the second one the grate is

supported by a buttress. All of them belong to the so
called LaTène-Roman type (HENNING 1977.). The
structure of the kiln from Tiszavasvári is principally
different and has no analogies by the moment (Fig. 5).

Fig. 5 Tiszavasvári-Városföldje, Jegyző-tag, potte­

ry kiln
5. kép Tiszavasvári-Városföldje, Jegyző-tag fazekas­
kemence

Human remains at the settlement Fig. 6 Tiszavasvári-Városföldje, Jegyző-tag, pottery

In two features of the settlement of Tiszavasvári- kiln and grave 28
Városföldje, Jegyző-tag (houses 7 and 8) we have 6. kép Tiszavasvári-Városfbldje, Jegyző-tag faze­
found human skeletons (ISTVÁNOVITS 1998/A.62). Both
kaskemence, illetve a 28. sír
skeletons belonged to young females. One of them (Fig.
6) was placed into the collapsed pottery kiln with her
hands pulled onto her breast (grave 28). The other
one (Fig. 7) was thrown into a big garbage pit with
her head cut (grave 33). Under and above the skeleton
lying on its right side we have found potsherds and
animal bones. Above the skeleton (20-25 cm) we
observed a yellow plastered layer. The earring of the
dead from grave 33 suggests an almost similar dating
with that of the settlement.
Corpses "thrown" into garbage pits of settlements
of Roman or Hun Age have been observed in several
cases. Recently, the problems of this phenomenon have
been observed in a special study by Andrea Vaday
(VADAY 1997.). Her data from the sites of Hódmező­
vásárhely, Tiszafbldvár, Szőreg and Kompolt can be
supplemented by the following ones:
1. Besenyőtelek-Tepélypuszta: in 1962 in a round
pit of Hun Age a skeleton with two vessels was
found (SZABÓ 1963.330).
2. Dunakeszi, Alagi major, feature 138: in a slightly
beehive shaped pit a child's skeleton was found
with a dog's skeleton thrown on it. Another dog Fig. 7 Tiszavasvári-Városföldje, Jegyző-tag, grave
was buried here beside the child.5 33. x: place of the skull
7. kép Tiszavasvári-Városföldje, Jegyző-tag 33. sír.
5. Kind oral information by Valéria Kulcsár. x: a koponya helye

176
 Tiszavasvári-Városföldje, Jegyző-tag. A settlement of the 5th century

3. Polgár-Kengyel-köz (RACZKY-ANDERS 1997. The age or sex of the dead buried in the settlement
photo 5). features are not specific. Women, men and children
4. Szegvár-Oromdűlő.6 alike were found. Most of these features in the
5. Tápé-Széntéglaégető, grave 291 : a truncated (?) Sarmatian territory of the Great Hungarian Plain are
skeleton of a man with an iron ring beside his dated to the late period: end of the 4th - beginning of
skull (TROGMAYER 1975.67, VÖRÖS 1998.64). the 5th century, but there are also earlier examples.
6. Tiszadob-Sziget, feature 174.7 The hans of the Among them the one from Szegvár-Oromdűlő.10 I
dead thrown into a beehive shaped pit were bound have to notice that feature 250 from Kompolt
(Fig. 8). published by Andrea Vaday cannot be dated either to
the late period suggested by the author of the article
(VADAY 1997.84, 2. kép), at least the fragment of a
terra sigillata vessel found here contradicts this dating
(even taking into consideration that the piece in
question was secondarily perforated and in this case
we have to suggest a long period of use).
This chronological situation in itself makes us
approach critically Vaday's historical hypothesis
according to which the dead were "cleaned" by the
Gepidians who - citing her words - occupied Sar­
matian settlements "for a time of short camping"
(VADAY 1997.86). Homogeneous archaeological
material found above and under the skeletons also
contradicts this suggestion which is also doubted by
the fact that in the pits of the settlement only one or
some skeletons were found. If Vaday's hypothesis was
right we would rather find mass graves. At the same
time we have to agree with her opinion according to
Fig. 8 Tiszadob—Sziget, feature 174 which it would be very unlikely for a community to
8. kép Tiszadob—Sziget 174. objektum bury its own dead into garbage pits.11 Earlier it was
suggested that the dead found in the features of
7. Vác-Csörögi-rét, feature 74: a man and a baby settlements can be associated with slaves (CSALLÁNY
thrown into a garbage pit were unearthed here. 1961.302).
Feature 99: skeletons of an adult and child. The In my opinion the most acceptable approach of this
skeletons of the adults in both cases were lying in question is the short notice connecting the site in Pol­
the pits in an irregular position (KULCSÁR 1997. gár. According to the caption, it is a "Sacrificial pit
375).8 from the Sarmatian period" (RACZKY-ANDERS 1997.
In my opinion it would not be proper to study the photo 5). In the case of the listed features the
skeletons of babies sometimes observed in settlement excavators observed several phenomena supporting
features9 together with the data mentioned above, this suggestion. I mean the frequently described traces
because in the Sarmatian cemeteries we hardly find of fire, sometimes pieces of grinding stones. We have
any baby graves. So, we have to suggest, that they to underline the presence of dogs and eggs situated
were buried at some other place differently from the around the bottom of the pit 1982/26 from Tiszaföld­
custom of the burial of the adults. This question needs vár (VADAY 1997.83,3. kép). Dog skeletons deserve a
a special study. special attention, because they also appear at several
Sarmatian settlements and we have data referring to
6. Kind oral information by Gábor Lőrinczy.
7. Excavation by the author, unpublished. the fact that a part of the dog corpses could get into
8. Supplemented by oral information of the author. settlement features as a result of sacral activity (see
9. Such as, for example, the one from Hódmezővásárhely-Solt for example the case of the Dunakeszi-Alagi major
Pale, house 17 underlined also by Andrea Vaday, but at the feature 138 mentioned above). Here I would like to
same place we can mention the skeleton of a baby found in
Tiszaeszlár-Bashalom house 3 (KOVALOVSZKI 1980.18) or draw the attention also to feature 118 from Tiszadob
Gyoma-Ailer téglagyár (VADAY 1996.152). where a beehive shaped pit was dug into the bottom
10. Kind oral information by Gábor Lőrinczy. of an other - cylindric - pit, and in the lower pit we
11. The same opinion was expressed by VÖRÖS 1998.64. found a skeleton of a huge dog (Fig. 9).

177
Eszter Istvánovits

Not taking into consideration the material of the pottery

workshop - it would slightly distort the statistics
because of its special situation - we have to count
with the fragments of about 400 wheel-made vessels,
whereas the number of handmade ones is only 70-80.
The percentage of wheel-made and handmade
ceramics is different in certain features. In many cases
there are no any handmade vessels in a feature (e.g.
house 4 and 6, pits 2-3, 5-11 etc.). The highest
percentage of handmade pottery was observed in house
1 (23 handmade and 36 wheel-made pieces).

Wheel-made vessels
In the Tiszavasvári settlement the material of the
wheel-made vessels is very diversified. Most of them
is well processed, gray or brick-red (240 ones among
the mentioned 400 pieces12). Their material and
technology cannot be separated from the earlier
Sarmatian pottery of the Great Hungarian Plain, which
is absolutely similar. The other (less numerous - 160
pieces out of 400 ones) part of the material is
represented by vessels tempered with more or less sand,
pebbles, small ground white pebble granules. The
tempering and the ingredients of the material of the
Fig. 9 Tiszadob-Sziget, feature 118. latter part is very diversified. In the material of the
9. kép Tiszadob-Sziget 118. objektum pottery kiln, represented by strongly burnt and
deformed vessels remained there in the course of the
Leaving aside the detailed study of the analogies of last firing, we found the pieces of both groups: that
this phenomenon observed in a wide circle in time and means that the wheel-made ware of two kinds was
space - 1 mean the placing of human remains and dog fired together, that is to say at the same temperature.
corpses into settlement features - I would like to At this last occasion mainly storage vessels, vessels
specially refer to only one data which in itself draws with spherical body (most of them with smoothed
our attention to the need of a different approach of pattern) and cooking pots got into the kiln. Series of
this question. relatively numerous bowls with crumbling material -
Recently in Poland, at the site of Slawsko Wielkie not ideally burnt - could be of also local production.
a cultic place used in the 1st century B.C. was
excavated (BEDNARCZYK 1998.78-79). In the middle In the following I describe the forms of ceramics
of the four, 5-6 m large, rectangular buildings round represented in the settlement. Because of the lack of
altars were standing. Around the "shrines" animal - space I shall not give the detailed analysis of each
dog, goat, sheep and pig - skeletons were unearthed type and emphasize only the most important features.
and sacrally isolated pits with a human skeleton in
each of them. Forms of pottery
The group of phenomena of the sacral sphere is
going to be a topic of a special study. Bowls
The majority of the bowls is well processed, gray,
Find material brown or brick-red, wheel-made. This is one of the
most frequent forms at the settlement. We have found
In Tiszavasvári - as it is usual at settlements - the several of its variants. Forms with steep and spherical
majority of the find material is represented by pottery. walls as well are represented by a number of pieces.
Among them we have to emphasize the ones with semi-
12. Together with the kiln and its surroundings about 550 vessels spherical body and obliquely cut edge decorated with
and fragments have been found: 365 wheel-made and 185 smoothed wave pattern (PI. IX. 1-2, XXII. 1-3,
handmade ones.
XXIV.4, XLV.1-2, LIV.3). These are the special

178
 Tiszavasvári-Városföldje, Jegyző-tag. A settlement of the 5th century
features of the northern territory (northeastern part of
the Carpathian basin), they characterize mainly the
assemblages of the late period (after the middle of the
4th century).
Among rarer forms we can mention handmade plain
bowls with steep walls (PI. VIII. 1). A similar form
(of much bigger size) is known from pit 9 of Hódme-
zővásárhely-Solt-Palé (PÁRDUCZ 1938.98,102,1.t.8).
Storage vessels
Beside the bowls one of the most frequent types of
the Tiszavasvári settlement is represented by storage
vessels (e.g. Pl. X.5, XIV. 1-2, XV. 1-3, XIX.l, XX.3,
XXVI, XXVII, XXVIII.l, XXXI.1-2, LIII.l). Most
of them is of small size. They are frequently decorated
by smoothed patterns. A specific variant is the so called
storage vessel of northern type (e.g. PI. XX.3, LIII.2).
The southern border of their territory of spread can
be drawn somewhere in the line between Debrecen
and Eger (IsTVÁNOviTS 1993.20-21).
Vessels with spherical body
Large variants of this type are very close in shape
to the storage vessels. They were undoubtedly locally
made (e.g. Pl. XXVIII.2, XXIX.1-2, XXX.1,
XLIV.2). The same may be the case with the pieces of
smaller size.
Mugs/pots
A part of them also was locally produced (e.g. PI.
XXX.2, XXXIII. 1-3, XXXIV. 1-2, XXXV. 1-2,
XXXVI. 1-2, XXXVII. 1-3). They differ from the
latter type in their material and technology. The
majority of these handmade vessels tempered with
chamot belongs to this form (e.g. PI. III. 1-2, XI. 1-6,
XLVIII. 3-5), but a lot of wheel-made vessels of the
Tiszavasvári settlement also belong to this shape (e.g.
Pl. II.1-4, V.l-2, VI.1-4, XII.1-2, XVII.1,3-6,
XLIX.5, LI.4-6, LII. 1-3). They can be tempered with
sand, sand and pebbles, pebbles, ground stone. There
are pieces with more or less profiled rim. The material
of some of them is very similar to that of the ceramics
of the Árpád Age (e.g. Pl. XVI.7).
The more characteristic ones among them are the
pieces strongly tempered by small ground stone
granules. They have elaborated, thin walls and
represent the transition between Roman pottery and
ceramics of Gepidian times (e.g. PI. XVII. 1).
Jugs
One and two handled jugs appear more rarely than
the other types listed above. Two of them had a pouring
spout (PI. XXXII. 1, L.2). Their material is slightly
sandy, the technology of the earlier Sarmatian material
of the Great Hungarian Plain is a little different.
Recently the type was studied by Andrea Vaday who
determined that we cannot consider it as an ethnic
indicator. They are the stable chronological indicators
of the late horizon of finds - the period after the last
third of the 4th century (VADAY 1994.).
The other characteristic, well datable shape ofjug
is the so called jug of Murga type (PI. 1.1, X.l-2,
XVI.5, XXIV.2, XXV.3(?), XXXIX.5, XLVII.3,
LII.5). Murga type is a very widely spread and popular
term which, however, is not unambiguous. Commonly
it is used for jugs profiled on their neck, where the
handle starts from the so called "pillow" piece. If we
examine vessels of this category, we can separate two
big groups. Thefirstone includes jugs developing from
the local, earlier potter tradition of the territory and
really have got the mentioned features. In the Great
Hungarian Plain the technological characteristics of
these pieces correspond to the general characteristics
of Sarmatian pottery. In the territory of Pannónia these
jugs made according to the new taste but similar to
the earlier ones in technology are very likely to be
produced by Roman craftsmen. Judging from this we
would not be mistaken suggesting that these pieces
were made on the spot. The local production can be
proved e.g. in the case of Wien-Leopoldau where
fragments of the Murga type vessels were found in a
large number in the area of the kiln (FRIESINGER
1984.132, Abb.6.2^1, 7.1,3,5, 8.1).
The other type of the Murga jugs is represented by
pieces the material and decoration of which are both
strange among the earlier finds: these are black,
polished vessels with smoothed horizontal lines on their
neck changing with wavy lines in mat stripes and
smoothed horizontal wave at the shoulder and rim.
These pieces come from a foreign territory. Such a
vessel was found at the eponimic site of Murga
(WOSINSKY 1896.994-995, CCL., HAMPEL 1896.).
They appear much more rarely than the previous type
and have not been collected and published up to now.
The latter type is missing in the material of the
Tiszavasvári settlement, we have found exclusively the
sherds of "Sarmatian type Murga jugs", that is to say,
all of them are gray and smoothed.
Cups
Cups with steep walls represent a special and rare
ceramic form in the pottery of the Tiszavasvári settlement
(PI. VIII.4-5, XIII.2). Their material is a little sandy,
heavy, they are wheel-made. We can mention similar
179
Eszter Istvánovits

pieces from several sites of the Upper Tisza region, e.g. "Bodrogkeresztúr tuff (houses 3 and 6) belongs to
from Tiszalök (PÁRDUCZ 1959.Taf. XXI.7).13 the material of the Kakas-hegy (Kakas Mountain) from
This is a ceramic form known mainly from the Bodrogkeresztúr. Minerals have been brought to the
territory neighboring with Germanic tribes. site from the southern periphery extending from
Sátoraljaújhely to Szerencs.16
Other clay objects
We have found only two handmade and one wheel- Metal objects
made spindle-whorl (PI. IV. 1, XVII.2, XXIII.6). Finally, we have to devote some words to the metal
At the same time we also have two plain spindle find material of the site. On the first place we have to
discs made with the same technique but without a hole deal with the cicada fibula found in the fill of house 1
(Pl. IV.2, XLIX.l). Discs with a perforated hole in (Fig. 10-11). This is our main evidence for the dating
the middle usually are defined as spindle-whorls. It is of the excavated part of the settlement (ISTVÁNOVITS
a question, what was the function of discs without a
perforated hole. In the case of objects carved in the
shape of a disc out of a potsherd we can suggest that
they were half-ready spindle-whorls (in the vicinity
similar pieces were found, for example, in Tiszaeszlár:
KOVALOVSZKI 1980.13. t. 5-9), but the objects from
Tiszavasvári were produced without perforation.
Similar carved ceramic discs have been found among
the finds of other ages as well. In the Tiszavasvári site
we have unearthed a piece made out of a vessel of the
Late Bronze Age (Gáva culture).14
Recently similar discs (some of them perforated in
the middle) have been found in Poland, in a sacral
place dated to the 1st century B.C. I have already
referred to this shrine in connection with the human
remains. Here I would like only to notice that together
with these discs decorated, round, plain clay objects
have been found showing a further evidence that
simpler pieces like ours also could have had ritual
function (BEDNARCZIK 1998.).15 Fig. 10 Tiszavasvári-Városföldje, Jegyző-tag, house
Similar objects are regularly found at Scythian 1: cicada fibula
settlements in Crimea. According to a recent publica­ 10. kép Tiszavasvári-Városföldje, Jegyző-tag 1. ház:
tion they were used as pieces of a table game o r - as it cikádafibula
was also suggested- in the course of firing of pottery
to separate vessels from each other (VYSOTSKAIA
1995.49).

Stones
Minerals found at the site - except for metamorphic
and sedimentary rocks (these were found in a small
number and appear at the present territory of Hunga­
ry only in alluvia) - with a great probability come
from the Tokaj-Zemplén Mountains. The so called

13. Hungarian National Museum, Archaeological Department

inv. no. 67.2.4., unpublished.
14.JAM 87.132.12., 87.135.100., 87.141.10.
15. This suggestion can not be excluded even if discs without
any perforation can be really connected with the spindle- Fig. 11 Tiszavasvári-Városföldje, Jegyző-tag, house
whorls. 1: cicada fibula
16.1 thank Péter Rózsa (Kossuth Lajos University, Debrecen)
11. kép Tiszavasvári-Városföldje, Jegyző-tag 1. ház:
for the thorough examination and analysis of the minerals.
JAM Ad. 93.32. cikádafibula

180
 Tiszavasvári-Városföldje, Jegyző-tag. A settlement of the 5th century
1998/A.61). According to István Bona no fibula shape
similar to ours appears in the Carpathian basin before
the 430s (BONA 1979.316, BONA 1991.196). It was
found in the fill of the house, so on the basis of the
cicada fibula our strictly one-level settlement can be
dated to the turn of the 4th-5th centuries - first half
of the 5th century. I do not know the precise analogy
of the fibula. The closest piece to be mentioned is from
Neviodunum/Drnovo (VINSKI 1957.140, Abb. 14).
Bit
Among the metal objects a special attention has to
be attributed to two foal bits from house 7. Their
characteristic feature are the big rings (8.2 cm and
9.5 cm). The mouth-piece is jointed, one of them is
about 16 cm, the other one is fragmented. The
outspread length of the first piece is about 37 cm, the
smaller one is about 30-35 cm (Pl. XLII.3, XLIII).
Horse graves are rather rare both in the Great
Hungarian Plain and in Transdanubia in the Imperial
Age. This explains why we have only scarce finds of
bits despite of the fact that they had to be in common
use. From the Great Hungarian Plain we can mention
bits from the following sites:17
- Geszteréd: According to the description a foal
bit consisting of a pair of rings of finger thickness.
Their diameter was 6' (sic!), that means that the
diameter of the side rings could be about 12 cm.
- Hévízgyörk, grave 28: Bits ending in rings. The
jointed mouth-piece was made of bars with rectangular
cross-section, the rings have a round cross-section. At
one of the rings there is a 1.4-1.5 cm wide remain of
the belt bound at the iron. The outspread length is 35
cm, the mouth-piece is 15.7 cm long, the length of the
pieces are 8.4 cm and 8.9 cm, the side-rings are 11.5-
11.6 cm big (DINNYÉS 1991.156, 15.U7).
- Hortobágy-Poroshát, barrow group 2, grave 10:
bit ending in rings. The diameter of the rings is 7 cm.
The length of the jointed mouth-pieces is 7.6 and 9.5
cm (the latter is broken and fragmented). The
outspread length is about 26 cm (ZOLTAI 1941.274.
III.t.28).
- Szentes-Sárgapart, grave 30: among grave-
articles there was a horse skull with a bit in its mouth,
3 fragments of which have been preserved (PÁRDUCZ
1950.11. site l,XIX.t.2-4).
- Szilágysomlyó?/§imleu Silvaniei: István Bona
found in the storage room of the Déri Museum (Deb-
17. Recently they were collected by István Dinnyés (DINNYÉS
1991.156) in the course of the evaluation of the piece from
Hévízgyörk. Here I added some new data to his catalogue.
18. Kind oral information by archaeozoologist István Vörös
(Hungarian National Museum).
recen) a box with uninventoried objects. A piece of
paper with the word "Szilágysomlyó" accompanied
the box. Beside a shield boss dated to the end of the
4th - beginning of the 5th century and other objects,
I. Bona made the drawing of a bit ending in rings and
with jointed mouth-piece. The diameter of the rings
was 8 cm (BONA 1961.199,7. kép 3). I did not succeed
in finding these objects in the Déri Museum.
-Újhartyán: Its mouth-piece jointed in the middle
consisted of two, 12.8 cm long pieces, the diameter of
the rings was 10 cm. The object was lost (BONA
1961.193, 1. kép 2, 2. kép 3).
- Vizesdpuszta, grave 4 (VADAY 1986.204. note
II, 209). The object was lost.
We can mention bits also from the material of the
Hun Age of the Carpathian basin (e.g. Budapest-
Zugló, Keszthely-Gátidomb, Lengyeltóti-Gyógyszer­
tár, Léva/Levice-Téglagyár, Pannonhalma-Szél­
domb, Pécsüszög, Szeged-Nagyszéksós - BÓNA
1991.277,279-280, Taf. 45,64,66,70,73). However,
we have to exclude these pieces from the circle of our
examination, because all of them belong to the type
of bits with cheek-piece.
Returning to the foal bit with rings, the ones from
Szentes and Hortobágy can be characterized by small
side rings, so they stand far from the piece from
Tiszavasvári. At the same time the side ring of the bits
from Geszteréd and Tiszavasvári is strikingly large.
A similar one can be mentioned from Zengővárkony,
where a jointed bit with 7 cm long parts was found in
grave 4 of cemetery II. The "inner size" of the side
rings is 11 cm (DOMBAY 1957.197, VHLt.17). These
two kinds of bits - the one with small or the one with
big rings - are suitable for basically different kinds of
riding practice and suggest absolutely different
techniques of directing the horse.18.
Two bits from Tiszavasvári can be placed some­
where in the middle between the two types. The same
is the case with the pieces from Újhartyán and
Szilágysomlyó similar in proportions and size. The
size of the mouth-piece is almost the same with ones
from Geszteréd and Hévízgyörk, but the size of the
rings does not reach the diameter of 10 cm.
In the course of evaluation of the bit from Újhartyán
István Bona was at the following opinion: "We do not
know such pieces from the heritage of the eastern
riders. The foal bit ending in a large ring is a typical
European product. Its origin can be searched in the
Early Iron Age, in our territory it was spread by the
Celts... In the 1st century B.C. Germanic tribes
overtook it from the Celts." (BONA 1961.198) In the
reality similar bits have been found also in the
Sarmatian material of the steppe: e.g. in the late
181
Eszter Istvánovits
Sarmatian burial of barrow grave 20 from Kubei
(SIMONENKO 1995.349, Fig. 11.5).
Bead
Here we have to mention one carnelian polyhedric
bead (PI. XVI.3). Andrea Vaday placed the appearance
of this type to the middle of the 4th century (VADAY
1997.96). However, to-date the dating of such beads
has not got a solid basis yet.
To-date we know only a few similar settlements or
parts of settlements. On the first hand I again have to
refer to the excavations in Tiszaeszlár-Bashalom
(KOVALOVSZKI 1980), where beside the similarity of
ceramic forms and technology, a number of similar
features can be proved also in the structure of the
settlement. Among unpublished settlements I would
like to draw the attention to Zsigmond Haj du' s
excavation in Józsa-Klastrompart 19 and to the
19. Finds are kept in the Déri Museum (Debrecen). I thank Zsig-
mond Hajdú for allowing me the acquaintance with the finds.
20. Finds are going to be published by Gh. Lazin. I thank him
for being allowed to see the material.
21. Recently on these problems: ISTVÁNOVITS 1998/B.
182
assemblage kept in the museum of Satu Mare/
Szatmárnémeti.20
In the course of the analysis of the cemetery of the
Imperial Age I have already referred to the fact that
this region was densely populated starting from the
end of the 2nd century (ISTVÁNOVITS 1990.83 and 1.
kép). Part of the settlements continued its existence
without interruption until the end of the 4th - beginning
of the 5th century. In this period we have to count
with new, strong moves of people at the Upper Tisza
region. The new ethnic wave used the cemeteries of
Tiszadob-Tiszakarád-Tiszavalk type.211 suggest that
the settlement of Tiszavasvári and the ones similar to
it can be connected with these cemeteries. Beside the
chronological and territorial coincidence this
connection is shown by the fact that the Tiszavasvári
bits are analogous with the bits of the Ujhartyán and
Szilágysomlyó assemblages which are relative with
the Tiszadob group from many aspects.
Translated by Valéria Kulcsár
 Tiszavasvári-Városföldje, Jegyző-tag. A settlement of the 5th century
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