When the students returned, they were obviously very quiet as we slept right through.
After removing the Americans' washing from our washing line and neatly hanging it on their benches, we set off for Erd, just south of Budapest. We had read about an Iron Age burial site at Szazhalombatta and wanted to visit the Archaeological Park that had been created there. The Garmin satellite navigation system threw a wobbly and by attempting to direct us down a non-existent road, forced us to cross the Danube and we then had to find somewhere to turn around in order to get back. After that, it was a straightforward journey and we soon arrived at Erd where there is an ACSI-listed, 'Camping Blue Flamingo', campsite. This is a very pleasant, small site with a good sized swimming pool although there was no sign of flamingos, blue or pink. Given that the site is only about 40 minutes away from Karavan City, we decided to stay for two nights. After having lunch at the site, we set off on the short journey to Szazhalombatta, arriving at a town dominated by a huge refinery and an equally huge power plant. The archaeological park was on the other side of the town, on rising land close to the Danube.
The area around Szazhalombatta has been occupied from the Bronze Age, through the Iron Age and into Roman times when an army camp was placed here. The camp at what the Romans called 'Pannonia' was on the 'Limes', the border of the Roman Empire for 400 years until the Huns crossed the Danube and occupied the area. It was however the Iron Age that left the most obvious remains in the landscape (apart from the refinery and power plant) and it was this that we had come to see. Over 120 tumuli litter the landscape in an area in excess of 1.5 sq km. A small part of the cemetery has been opened to the public with reconstructions of Bronze and Iron Age buildings and, the star attraction, an excavated tumulus that has been reconstructed. We walked into the tumulus and, under a hemispherical metal roof we were able to see its complex construction. There was a 10 minute film in English but, the guide explained, the projector had failed so we only heard the soundtrack. The audio was interesting but would have been much more so with the visual! It was very dark inside the tumulus but spotlights then picked out different aspects of the construction and a commentary explained it. This tumulus (number 115, in case you are interested) is one of the largest in the cemetery and it covers a 5.5m square burial chamber with a 7m corridor attached. Flat stones were laid on the ground and then covered with a wooden floor made from oak. A chamber was created by a stone and oak timber wall around the square and many grave goods were put in. The body was cremated on a funeral pyre, the remains of the pyre put into the chamber whilst still hot, a chamber roof of oak timbers added and then covered with soil. The fact that the ashes were hot and that the earth starved the contents of oxygen, meant that the wood of the chamber was carbonised and preserved. We were able to see the wood in situ after over two and a half thousand years – quite remarkable. It is clear that many rituals were involved in the cremation and burial – flowers were found in the soil just above the chamber and many broken pots were include in the tumulus fill.
Photos: An Early Bronze Age house at Szazhalombatta; Tumulus 115 at Szazhalombatta.
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