Barna Judit
Keszthely
The part representing the heritage of the Lengyel culture of an assamblage unearthed during the course of rescue excavations performed at Balatonmagyaród-Kápolnapuszta (Zala county) in 1992 and 1993 will be presented below. The rescue excavations were performed prior to the reconstruction activities of the Kis-Balaton (Little Balaton) area (Költő and Vándor, 1996), managed by Dr. László Horváth (Nagykanizsa, Thúry György Museum). Unfortunately the site where the finds of the Transdanubian Linear Pottery (TLP) and the Lengyel culture were found had been disturbed to an extraordinary extent. Some closed objects, all of them round or amorphous refuse pits, could be unearthed only along the northern part of the site. The disturbance resulted from deep ploughing of about 2-3 feet, which completely eliminated the settlement features. However in the area of the prehistoric settlements a large number of stray, but still significant and characteristic finds was unearthed, both as regards the TLP and the Lengyel culture.
Although due to the reasons mentioned above the site did not provide any archaeological data about the settlements the characteristic and varied ceramic and lithic finds can be regarded as a good starting point for a typological review. All we can establish concerning the Lengyel settlement is that its life was very long which started in the Proto-Lengyel horizon and came to the end at the latest phase of the Lengyel culture. The lithics were examined by Katalin T.
Bíró. The ceramic finds from the Middle Neolithic have already been described (P. Barna, 1999a). The Lengyel ceramic finds are described here according to their types. One find of outmost importance, a zoomorphic vessel, has already been published (P. Barna, 1999b).
The earliest piece among the finds which can be linked to the Lengyel development is a fragment of a bowl with a tubular support which ends in four legs. Based on its analogy from the Sopot culture it can be dated to the Proto-Lengyel horizon (Makkay et al., 1996: Fig. 71a Type Q). Despite its uniqueness in the group the material, form and finish render it to this period and culture although no other objects from the same period can be found in the assemblage.
Certain characteristic features of the I. phase of the Lengyel culture are demonstrated by a smaller portion of the ceramics, the majority however, except for the finds that can be rendered to the TLP which are not dealt with here, can be dated to the very end of the Lengyel development (phase III), i. e. the period of the Early Chalcolithic. Besides the finds from sites rendered to this period by P. Raczky the finds described here can be compared with the following assemblages: Balatonmagyaród-Hídvégpuszta, Déli rév, site 113 (M. Virág, 1996: 18), Nagykanizsa-Inkey chapel (Horváth, 1984), Tekenye (H. Simon, 1987). A part of the late Lengyel assamblages were rendered to phase b, a younger stage of development period III. of the culture: Zalaszentbalázs-Szőlőhegyi-mező (Bondár, 1995; Bánffy 1995b), Jánosháza, Rábahídvég and Újperint I (Károlyi, 1992), in which some brand new ceramic forms also appeared (Bánnfy, 1995c : 168). A few of these new forms are also, albeit not strongly, represented among the Balatonmagyaród-Kápolnapuszta finds.
The latest Lengyel sites dating from the transition period between the Early and Middle Chalcolithic provide data to acquire more detailed knowledge about the appearance of the Balaton-Lasinja culture in Transdanubia. Although the analysis of stray finds does not help to clarify historical issues, these finds can provide appropriate parallels for typological comparison of other sites. This finds can also help to determine more exactly the chronological situation of a rare and interesting object, the zoomorphic vessel.
The chronological rendering based on ceramic typology has been reinforced by the result of the examination of the lithic material, namely that the prehistoric settlements at Balatonmagyaród-Kápolnapuszta date from the period of the TLP as well as from a smaller part Neolithic and larger part Early Chalcolithic of the Lengyel culture.