ArcheoBudaPest 2020/04

Keywords: Prehistory, Middle Neolithic, Želiezovce group, settlement, house, solitary crouched burial, Middle Ages, settlement

Between May and September 2020, the Budapest History Museum carried out several archaeological observations and excavation works during construction at the site on Szerenád Street, which was part of the development of a road and underground garage ramp for a residential park at 215 Budafoki Road, District XI, Budapest. During the roadbed preparation, only minimal earthworks were conducted, and only modern fill was encountered at this depth. Even when deeper areas were affected due to the removal of a previous concrete foundation, the archaeological layer remained undisturbed because of the substantial fill.

In 2019, full-surface excavation on neighboring plots revealed parts of prehistoric and medieval settlements (Beszédes – M. Virág, In press), so archaeological remains were expected, especially in the deeper foundation zones of the ramps. Accordingly, archaeological observations led by Péter Dudás yielded positive results in both planned ramp areas, followed by excavation works during the observations.

At the southern ramp, three pits and one ditch containing minimal prehistoric and medieval artifacts were excavated by Péter Dudás (Fig. 1). Similar work was carried out on the western side of the northern ramp, where eight prehistoric pits were uncovered. On the eastern side, during archaeological observation of the foundation removal, several prehistoric features were discovered on both sides of an existing concrete strip foundation. These were excavated by Dávid Kraus.

At the level where these features appeared (100.3–100.7 mBf, mainly around 100.4 m), the surface was cleaned using a slope-bucket excavator provided by the developer. The excavation and documentation of over 70 features (pits, postholes, and ditches) took 7.5 working days between June 2–11. These features were part of a settlement associated with the Želiezovce group of the Transdanubian Linear Pottery Culture from the Middle Neolithic period, previously known from this area (Figs. 2–3).

The excavation area revealed a section of a (possibly repeatedly rebuilt) longhouse and its associated drainage and clay-extraction ditch (Langsgrube), dating to 5200–4900 BCE. Other pits yielded rich ceramic and stone tool finds. Notably, the ceramics included finely decorated pieces, some with painted and plastic embellishments (Fig. 4). A particularly special find was the right foot fragment of an anthropomorphic clay vessel (Figs. 5–6). A crouched inhumation burial with ceramic grave goods was also found in one of the pits (Fig. 7).

In summary, despite the small excavation area (400 m²), the research was highly successful, as one of the most intensively used parts of the Neolithic settlement was uncovered on the eastern side of the northern ramp. Further construction work for the residential park is likely to yield even more Neolithic features.

Contributors: György Terei (lead archaeologist), Dávid Kraus (supervising archaeologist), Péter Dudás (archaeological field technician), Alfred Falchetto (archaeological field technician), Zsolt Kevevári (surveyor), Tibor Kovács (surveyor)

Dávid Kraus