The past four weeks excavations at the Bekes 103 Jegvermi-kert cemetery proved to be an invaluable learning experience to all the students at the project. In the mornings we excavate at the site, polishing our archaeological methods and techniques, in the afternoons we work in the lab cleaning and sorting artifacts, filling paperwork, sorting heavy fraction, analyzing osteological remains, and of course microexcavating the urns brought from the field. In addition to these general tasks shared by everyone, every one of us has more specific, personal assignments, working closely with one of the staff members. For example, Russell is in charge of digitalizing our maps and is being mentored by Paul….
After the three day trip to Pecica (Pecska), Romania and very unsettling internet connection problems, we are once again back online and ready to give you an insider look at Bekes 103 cemetery excavations, but first let us tell you about our trip. This past weekend we have visited our friends at the Pecica archaeological project. This international team is uniting scientists from USA, Romania and Hungary, excavating at Santul Mare (The Big Ditch) site in northwest Romania, on the right bank of the Mures river. The occupation layers of a large fortified tell and adjacent peripheral village span Early and Middle Bronze Age, the Iron Age, and the Middle…
The third excavation season at the Békés 103 cemetery in Eastern Hungary is now past its meridian and, although it took us a while to set things in motion, the student blog of the BAKOTA project is now up and running. Now let us introduce ourselves. Joining the international, multidisciplinary team of researchers this year are nine undergraduate and four graduate students from Canada, USA, Hungary and Germany. * Kalyan is a PhD student at the University of Toronto * Katie and Amy are PhD students at the University of Pittsburgh * Martin is studying for his Masters at the University of Tübingen, Germany * Monique and Russell are recent…
On June 20th, seven archaeological projects met during the first Hungarian Archaeological Research Circle (HARC) at the Hungarian American Fulbright Commission in Budapest.
Békés Jégvermi-kert is a Middle Bronze Age cemetery situated on the outskirts of the modern town of Békés, at the confluence of the old Fekete and Fehér Körös Rivers. The nearest well known settlements are the tell sites Békés-Várdomb, Túrkeve-Terehalom and Berettyóújfalu-Herpály, and the nearest well-known cemeteries are Felgyő, Csánytelek-Pálé and Mártély-Szegfű on the Middle Tisza and Battonya Vörös Oktober on the Száráz Ér in the south. The site is shown here with Hungarian systematic survey boundaries and modern national borders.
Our primary area of interest is to understand how travel and trade networks affected sociocultural change and the emergence of social inequality in later European prehistory. During the Neolithic and Copper Age, Europe was characterized by more egalitarian social relationships. But with the dawn of the Bronze Age (circa 2700 BC), social inequality began to be entrenched in many parts of Europe. This saw powerful chieftains buried with chariots, large fortified villages controlling the production of metals, and a dense network of trade connections between the Mediterranean and Northern Europe. Many archaeologists argue that it was control of this trade that allowed an elite class of warriors to emerge and…
Work at the Békés Jégvermi-kert is allowing us to assess variation in health, nutrition, regional background, rituals, and access to trade of communities in the Körös region, a crossroads for products and people from the Balkans, the Russian Steppe, and Central Europe. Bronze Age cemeteries often show strong inequalities in access to exotics such as bronze, gold, and fine ceramics. Differences in funerary ritual, such as the treatment of the body and the location of the grave, often correspond to religious tradition, rank, and clan. We have excavated 42 graves to far, most of which contain cremated bodies in ceramic funerary urns. Small vessels are commonly included with the deceased,…
The majority of the human burials at the site are cremation urns. Many of the urns are covered with an overturned bowl, and accompanied by smaller vessels. The cremation of the body was rare in Eastern Europe before 2800 BC, but became a common practice during the Bronze Age.
Inhumation – the direct burial of a fully articulated corpse – was a practice common across prehistoric Europe. Although the practice is found in many parts of Eastern Europe during the Bronze Age, it seems to be rare at Békés Jégvermi-kert, occuring mostly with the very young.