KRAP 2006
K-14
Block 7 Summary

By Timothy Parsons

The 2006 Blocks 4 and 7 teams consisted of Attila Gyucha (supervisor), Timothy Parsons (block captain), Douglas Eudy, Molly Lane, Anna Lee Shum (undergraduate field school participants), Gábor Bacsmegyi, Dori Kékegyi, and an ever-changing cast of archaeologists, both Hungarian and American

Block 7

Block seven was opened at Körösladány-14 in 2006. Whereas previous blocks were excavated near the edges of the site to locate ditches and other anomalies located by remote sensing, block seven was purposely placed near the edge of the site, where magetometry identified wall trenches, potentially associated with a structure that articulated with the inner palisade. Upon excavation, what appeared on the magnetometric interpretation as linear features turned out to be a series of pits. In addition, a small ceramic cluster was located near the northeast corner of the block, and its contents were reconstructed in the field ceramics laboratory. Due to time constraints, only the eastern one-half of Block 7 was excavated (Figure 1). Two large pits were identified, one extending into the western profile and the other located in the relative center of the eastern half of the block. The larger of the two pits was well over two meters deep, contained a large amount of complete and nearly complete ceramic artifacts, and showed signs of an internal wooden structure that formerly braced the walls (Figure 2). This feature is interpreted as a Copper Age well (based on the ceramics and small copper ring found in the feature fill) that was filled in near the end of the site’s occupation period, perhaps due to a disease outbreak or to the well itself running dry. The shape of the well (roughly square) was preserved, and observed both through the provenience of wooden structural remains and the shape of the extremely hard subsoil into which the well extended (Figure 3). This feature was an exciting find, and one of the few fully excavated Early Copper Age wells up to this date.

• Figure 1 – Eastern half of Block 7, Körösladány-Bikeri, under excavation.
• Figure 2 – Well, Block 7, Körösladány-Bikeri.
• Figure 3 – Well, Block 7, Körösladány-Bikeri.