Introduction

Százhalombatta-Földvár tell site is situated in thecentral part of the Carpathian Basin on the right bankof the Danube River, some 30 km south of the presentcapital of Hungary, Budapest (fig. 1). The site islocated on the edge of the Mezőföld at the north-eastcorner of the Érd-Batta plateau, between the Danubeand the Benta stream. It is 220 m long, 100 m wideand its plateau is 6-7 m high above the floodplain ofthe Danube. The area has natural borders, a smallstream on the western and southern side, an erosionditch to the North and the stream of the Danube issituated to the East. The site could only be reachedfrom the Northwest along a narrow strip of land. Theoriginal extension of the settlement was destroyedduring the last century by a brick factory and by tile-making.

The research area is situated in the zone of theGreat Hungarian Plain. This area forms part of theforest zone of the Great Hungarian Plain(Eupannonicum), more specifically the Danube zone.Most of the area was once covered by step.e or closegallery forest.

Pollen data show that a more open gallery forestdeveloped during the Bronze Age. Palynologicalresearch proved that in the region a cooler climatic phasehas developed at the beginning of the Bronze Age, dueto the decline of Quercus petraea, Tilia and Hederahelix. The palynological data give evidence of intensiveland and cereal cultivation during the Bronze Age(Sümegi and Bodor 2000).

The archaeological background of Százalombatta-Földvár

The first excavation on the site of Százhalombatta-Földvár took place in 1969, but only a small surfacewas investigated. The excavation led to anunderstanding of the chronological sequence of the tellsite, which showed that Százhalombatta had beensettled from the second half of the Nagyrév EarlyBronze Age period (1900 BC) until the end of theMiddle Bronze Age (1750-1350 BC). During theexcavation it became evident that the site revealed asubstantial stratigraphy, including at least six layers.Bronze hoards are also indicating the importance of thesite and its changing history.

A large-scale excavation was carried out between1989-1993, following the traditional Hungarian practiseof small surface areas and a random sampling strategy.Two trenches (15 x 5 ms and 15 x 20 m in size) wereopened at the southern part of the site to investigate itssettlement structure. The aim was to investigate thesystem of houses and streets, to observe and to explainthe interactions between the dwelling and the economicparts of the settlement and to follow the changes of thesettlement system in vertical and horizontal perspective(Poroszlai 2000).

The preliminary archaeological results gave evidencehow tells were occupied. Their settlement structure ischaracterized by uniformly laid-out houses with narrowpaths between them. Until now, the arrangement ofhouses and the formation of a settlement structure hadbeen hardly known.

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Prehistoric food and plant resources from the Middle Bronze Agetell site of Százhalombatta-Földvár in Pest County (the Budapesthinterland, Hungary)

Brigitta BERZSÉNYIBudapest History Museum

AbstractA Százhalombatta-Földvár bronzkori telep egyike annak a 30 erődített középső bronzkori (Vatya kultúra) településnek,amelyek a Duna mentén, a Mezőföldön és a Duna-Tisza közén találhatók. A ‘60-as és a ‘80-as években már folyt feltárás alelőhelyen, akkor a település korának meghatározása volt a szándék. Az 1998 óta folyamatban lévő ásatás egy nemzetközi(svéd-angol-magyar) régészeti projekt keretén belül valósult meg, melynek feladata az őskori európai társadalmakkialakulásának kutatása. A lelőhelyen korábban véletlenszerű mintavételezés történt, melynek során számos növényfaj kerültelő. 1998 óta a telepen szisztematikus mintavételezés van folyamatban. Ennek segítségével a jelenlegi archaeobotanikaikutatás célja a telepen valamint a háztartásokban a térhasználat változásainak kimutatása a növényi maradványok segít-ségével.

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PREHISTORIC FOOD AND PLANT RESOURCES FROM THE MIDDLE BRONZE AGE

The former archaeobotanical research (excavationcampaign 1991-1993)

During the last 20 years the increased interest incharred plant remains from the Middle Bronze Age tellsettlements have generated a huge amount ofarchaeobotanical data in Hungary (Hartyányi et al.1967-68; K. Berzsényi 1997; Gyulai 2000). A widerange of plant species were recovered from thesettlements, including cereals, pulses, fruits and weeds.

During the first excavation season at Százhalombatta(1991-1993), samples were collected from the profile ofthe trench, from the fillings of the pits, from pits situatedin the houses and from ovens and fireplaces andanalysed by Gyulai (1996). However, samples containedhuge amount of carbonised plant remains (Table 1).Unfortunately, the exact location and archaeological dataof the location of the samples are not available.

The Middle Bronze Age vegetation surrounding theSzázhalombatta tell settlement was diverse: in formerforest relics edible wild fruits such as crabap.le (Malussylvestris) and European dewberry (Rubus caesius)could be collected. The surrounding of the site must havebeen characterized by ruderal zones with plants used asedible vegetables such as wild carrot (Daucus carota).The main cereals grown by the Middle Bronze Agefarmers of Százhalombatta include hulled six-row barley(Hordeum vulgare ssp. hexastichon) emmer (Triticumdicoccum), einkorn (Triticum monococcum) and theirchaff remains in higher quantities. The assemblage ofplant remains recovered during the excavation gaveevidence of the pulses pea (Pisum sativum), lentil (Lensculinaris), bitter vetch (Vicia ervilia) and horse bean(Vicia faba) (Gyulai 1996).

The previous archaeobotanicaldata set shows that during the MiddleBronze Age cereal husbandry wasmainly based on hulled wheats,mainly barley, emmer and einkorn.The presence of six-row barley wasdominant. Free threshing wheat, speltand millet became more frequentduring the Late Bronze Age. Thenumber of weed seeds is significantfor the interpretation of thearchaeobotanical assemblages. Itcorrelates with the harvestingmethod, sowing time and differentcrop processing stages. Collectingwild fruits was also an important partof the daily life of the habitants.

The Middle Bronze Agelandscape in the hinterland ofBudapest was rich in wild edibleplant resources. Thus, compared toearlier periods, the inhabitants of the

large fortified settlement of Százhalombatta-Földvár,situated on the banks of the Danube, had access to agreat variety of plant foods, both domestic and wild. Theexcellent economic possibilities for the habitants wereresulting from the topographical situation of the site, thefertile soils and the local vegetation which provided wildplants food. We have to estimate that the settlers ofSzázhalombatta-Földvár used all these various resourcesduring the 500 years of the site’s continuous occupation.

On the other hand, neither the archaeological contextnor the archaeobotanical composition is particularlyinformative concerning the spatial organisation of differentcrop processing stages during prehistoric times. Theinformation from more precisely sampled sites will giveanswers to reconstruct these past activities in more detail.

The SAX project (Százhalombatta ArchaeologicalExpedition) and the new archaeobotanical researchprogram

Within the framework of the project “Emergence ofEuropean Communities” (Kristiansen 2000), the primaryobjective of my archaeobotanical work at Százhalombatta-Földvár is to investigate the botanical macro-remains fromthe Middle Bronze Age houses, features and from layersrelated to crop processing prior to food consumption. Themain aim of research is to study the inner spatialorganisation of the domestic structures and how they wereused and organised. The important questions related to thisarchaeobotanical research are:

– Can we point it out how archaeobotanical data indifferent contexts reflect different activities within thehouses?

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1. - Location of the site.

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– Do certain events have left more visible traces thanothers in the archaeological records and how can thisbe evidenced? Can we verify that the houses and theirsurrounding areas were divided by different functionsor can we assume that the different activitieshappened across the tell site without any specificinner organisation?

Plant processing activities can be attributed to twodifferent spatial areas: outside and inside the houses,depending on climate and types or habits of work. Outsideactivities are: harvesting, threshing, drying andwinnowing (Hillman 1981; Jones 1995). These activitiesmight have happened on the fields, in special seasonalbuildings, or open plazas. Dehusking, hand-cleaning/sorting, grinding or pounding, cooking ormaking ‘bread’ might have hap.ened inside or outside thehouses, or at a common place (Meurers-Balke and Lüning1999). Resulting from the lack of adequate sampling fromthe Middle Bronze Age tell sites, our knowledge about thespatial organisation of plant processing from differentparts of the sites is still very limited. At Százhalombatta-Földvár a series of interdisciplinary investigations with aclearly designed research strategy was needed to approachthese questions.

New research strategies, sampling and processing

At Százhalombatta a 20 metre by 20 metre trench wasopened, which was 10 times larger than any othersurfaces at Middle Bronze Age tell sites of Hungaryexcavated in the past (fig. 2). Moreover, this was also thefirst excavation in Hungary, where all the archaeologicalmaterial was collected and documented within 1 x 1 or2 x 2 metres excavation units. During documentationevery excavation unit, feature and special find wastopographed by using a total station (Vicze 2005).

Systematic archaeobotanical sampling was alsocarried out within the 1 x 1 and 2 x 2 metres exca -vation grid system (fig. 3). This method is still under -represented in Hungary and might produce new typesof data for archaeobotanical research, especially on thespatial patterning of plant processing on tellsettlements (e.g. inside the houses, open areas etc.).The analysed archaeobotanical samples were obtainedfrom the Middle Bronze Age Vatya culture featuresand layers.

Conclusions

Due to the lack of adequate sampling, especiallyfrom buildings and their immediate surroundings (e.g.seasonal buildings), only little information is availableon the different plant processing activities at the site. Inmost cases plant remains were found in secondary wastecontexts (e.g. pits). Although it is evident that during theMiddle Bronze Age people performed different plantprocessing activities, the specific locations for thedifferent plant processing stages, such as harvesting,cleaning, threshing, drying and preparation for

BRIGITTA BERZSÉNYI

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after Gyulai 1996

Taxa English name Middle Bronze

Age pits

Cereal grains

Hordeum vulgare ssp. hexastichon hulled six row barley 3385

Triticum dicoccum emmer 420

Triticum monococcum einkorn 133

Triticum sp. wheat 101

Hordeum vulgare ssp. hexastichon naked six row barley 21

Triticum spelta spelt 7

Triticum aestivum/durum common wheat 7

Panicum miliaceum broomcorn millet 2

Cereal chaff

spikelet fork/T. monococcum einkorn 810

spikelet fork/T. dicoccum emmer 56

spikelt fork/T. spelta spelt 4

Pulses

Lens culinaris lentil 113

Pisum sativum pea 18

Vicia ervilia bitter vetch 8

Vicia faba horse bean 2

Vicia sp. vetch 1

Collected wild fruits

Rubus caesius European dewberry 1

Malus sylvestris crab ap.le 5

Weeds and ruderals

Fallopia convolvulus black bindweed 19

Teucrium chamaedrys wall germander 14

Agrostemma githago corn cockle 7

Lithospermum arvense/not charred stoneseed 6

Hordeum murinum wall barley 5

Stachys annua annual hedgenettle 4

Schleranthus annuus annual knawel 3

Trifolium arvense stone clover 2

Amaranthus lividus amaranth 2

Setaria viridis green bristle grass 2

cf. Festuca pratensis meadow fescue 2

Medicago minima black medick 2

Polygonum aviculare postrate knotweed 2

Ranunculus bulbosus St. Anthony's turnip 2

Vicia angustifolia common vetch 2

Rumex acetosella common sheep sorrel 1

Rumex acetosa garden sorrel 1

Arenaria serpyllifolia thymeleaf sandwort no data

Daucus carota wild carot 1

Stellaria media common chickweed 1

Salvia pratensis meadow clary 1

Ajuga chamaepytis yellow bugle 1

Galium aparine stickywilly 1

Lotus cornicolatus bird's foot trefoil 1

Malva sylvestris high mallow 1

Melampyrum arvense field cow wheat 1

Melandrium cf. album white campion 1

Ranunculus repens creeping buttercup 1

Other plants

Poaceae grass family 52

Potentilla sp. cinquefoil 3

Medicago sp. medick 1

Poa sp. blue grass 1

Ranunuculus sp. buttercup 1

Indet. 50

Total number 5238

Table 1. - Plant remains from Százhalombatta-Földvár (excava-tion campaign 1991-1993).

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consumption (final cleaning, hand sorting, grinding),have not yet been identified.

It is a very complex and complicated task tounderstand the social links within and between familiesand to analyse and reconstruct the social hierarchies ofthese Middle Bronze Age communities. Evaluating theseparation of public or communal and private activitiesis one of the most intriguing tasks while investigatingon how they were maintained and what types ofactivities were carried out inside the houses and in thesurrounding areas (Poroszlai 2000; Sørensen and Viczeforthcoming; Vicze 2005).

The primary objective of my archaeobotanical workis to investigate and to compare the botanical macro-remains from the Middle Bronze Age houses, featuresand layers related to crop processing prior to foodconsumption at Százhalombatta-Földvár. This newresearch is still in progress and the results will be soonavailable (Berzsényi, PhD thesis in progress).

Acknowledgement

I would like to thank all members of Százhalombattateam, in particular, my supervisor M.K. Jones (Uni -versity of Cambridge, Department of Archaeology), K.Kristiansen (University of Gothenburg Department ofArchaeology), † I. Poroszlai, M. Vicze (“Matrica” Mu -seum, Százhalombatta) and M.L. Sørensen (Universityof Cambridge, Department of Archaeology) for makingthis study possible. I would like also to thank JulianWiethold (Institut national de recherches archéologiquespreventives) for his comments and revision of this text.

References

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2. - Százhalombatta. The excavation trench. 3. - Százhalombatta. Systematic archaeobotanical sampling.