(PLOT NO. 22805/6). CONSTRUCTION OF A DETACHED HOUSE
Site IDs: 72911, 60894, 35999
Keywords: Prehistory, Early/Middle Copper Age, Ludanice culture, settlement, Late Bronze Age, Urnfield culture, cemetery, urn burial
Between July 13 and 22, 2020, Flóra Lamm and Gábor Gyenes conducted archaeological monitoring at 3 Dobogókő Street in Budapest’s District III, prior to the construction of a detached house. This was followed by a full-scale excavation led by the author between July 24 and August 7, 2020. During the excavation, Chalcolithic features (29 in total) were discovered within the footprint of the planned basement structure, while two Bronze Age features were uncovered next to the planned house. No archaeological finds or features were discovered in the construction pit for the planned swimming pool in the steeper, lower part of the property.
In total, 294 m² was excavated within the planned foundation pit of the building and in the construction cut providing access from Héthalom Street. The plot lies on the southern side of Péter Hill, with the upper part sitting on a relatively gentle slope terrace, where sediment from higher ground had accumulated. This gravity-driven sediment build-up, combined with prehistoric organic material, created a clear stratigraphic sequence, best observed on the eastern edge of the excavation trench.Between July 13 and 22, 2020, Flóra Lamm and Gábor Gyenes conducted archaeological monitoring at 3 Dobogókő Street in Budapest’s District III, prior to the construction of a detached house. This was followed by a full-scale excavation led by the author between July 24 and August 7, 2020. During the excavation, Chalcolithic features (29 in total) were discovered within the footprint of the planned basement structure, while two Bronze Age features were uncovered next to the planned house. No archaeological finds or features were discovered in the construction pit for the planned swimming pool in the steeper, lower part of the property.
In total, 294 m² was excavated within the planned foundation pit of the building and in the construction cut providing access from Héthalom Street. The plot lies on the southern side of Péter Hill, with the upper part sitting on a relatively gentle slope terrace, where sediment from higher ground had accumulated. This gravity-driven sediment build-up, combined with prehistoric organic material, created a clear stratigraphic sequence, best observed on the eastern edge of the excavation trench.
In the 0–30 cm zone, recent humus was present, followed by light brown humic loess between 30–60 cm, resulting from slope movement. Between 60–90 cm, alternating layers of light brown humic loess and dark brown clayey humus were observed (also due to slope movement). From 90–120 cm, a layer of dark brown clayey prehistoric humus appeared, and below this, between 120–150 cm, a slightly lighter brown clayey prehistoric humus layer was present. At 150 cm depth (130.6 m mBf), archaeological features began to appear in the beige clay subsoil.
The lower humus layers contained predominantly Copper Age pottery, animal bones, daub, and charcoal fragments. The prehistoric features dug into the subsoil were mostly pits of various sizes, grouped into a large complex consisting of approximately 20 cuts, with another 9 scattered across the excavation area. Initially, only a few of these features were clearly visible, especially in the northern (131.3 m mBf), southern (130.4 m mBf), and eastern (130.8 m mBf) parts where the yellow subsoil was exposed.
A humus-rich layer containing numerous artifacts was located in the southwestern part of the site along an east–west band. This area was excavated in grids, and as digging progressed, the outlines of individual features emerged — often only in the lowest 5–10 cm.
The diagnostic finds included characteristic pottery of the Early to Middle Chalcolithic Ludanice culture (c. 4000–3750 BCE), as well as a variety of chipped stone tools, ground and perforated stone axes, and flat axes. Grinding stones, fragments, rubbing stones, and hammerstones were also found. The faunal remains included pig and small ruminants’ bones, and tools made of antler were also present.
Near the eastern corner of the Héthalom Street entrance, a heavily damaged Late Bronze Age cremation burial was discovered at only 40–50 cm below surface — in reality, high in the cut face (132 m mBf). The urn vessels bore features of the Urnfield culture (c. 1250–900 BCE) (Fig. 4). Near the northwestern edge of the plot, another Late Bronze Age burial was uncovered early in the monitoring phase. This burial was found during earthworks 40–50 cm deep between the planned building and the upper neighbor’s fence. Aside from this cremation grave, no other features were discovered in this area, though Copper Age pottery fragments were found at the top of the lower humus layer.
In summary, the site shows evidence of highly intensive Middle Chalcolithic workshop activity. Some of the stone tools were knapped on-site, as indicated by hammerstones made mostly of Danube quartz pebbles, used cores, and knapping debris. Notably, in addition to exotic lithic raw materials (Bakony radiolarite, Tokaj obsidian, Transcarpathian flint), the local Buda hornstone was also utilized by the Copper Age craftsmen. In fact, this was the most common raw material in the assemblage, and the large hammerstones likely served to roughly work locally mined (?) stone blocks. Due to the generally poor quality of Buda hornstone, no complete tools were observed, but the presence of numerous cores clearly demonstrates its use during the Early/Middle Chalcolithic.
Grinding activity also played an important role at this settlement. In 2008, Gábor Szilas conducted an excavation on the neighboring plot (5 Dobogókő Street), where Ludanice culture features were also uncovered. That assemblage was dominated by pottery, with no stone tools found, and many baking surfaces were documented among the features. This suggests that two different functional zones of the same Copper Age settlement were uncovered during the two excavations (Szilas 2009).
The small number and specific locations of the Late Bronze Age graves unfortunately suggest that several more may have been destroyed during the creation of Héthalom Street and the construction cut.
Contributors: Dávid Kraus (lead archaeologist), Flóra Lamm (archaeologist), Gábor Gyenes (archaeological field technician), Zsófia Kelemen (archaeological field technician), István Fábián (surveyor), Tibor Kovács (surveyor)
Dávid Kraus