Mediaeval Ceramics

Preliminary excavations took place – before the construction of a residence park – in the northern edge of the Gencsapáti settlement in Vas County, between May and June and later in October-November of 2004. All along a ca. 10 000 m2 territory, which is straddled by the Gyöngyös stream and its sub-bed, called Kis-Gyöngyös [Small-Gyöngyös], several Bronze, Iron, and Roman Age features appeared. In addition the village of Besnyő was partially revealed, which was founded in the Árpádian Era and was inhabited until modern times. The excavated ceramic material here, in the area of the small settlement, which was inhabited by landed gentries, is rich and represents the whole Middle Ages in a wide range of form and typological variety.
The features of the Árpádian Era were concentrated on the western and south-western area of the site, which was surrounded by a ditch in the past. The phases of the Middle Ages were separated according to the different material groups and technological observations, as well as formal and decorative characteristics. As the site was occupied long-term through several archaeological periods, sometimes the sequential observations cannot be used. Therefore, comparative analysis with similar, regional earthenwares gave assistance in the chronological sorting of the excavated material. As the earthenwares revealed, the area was inhabited since the ninth-tenth century. This period is represented by hand-wheeled, typically tempered potsherds from features that were situated close to each other. Hand-made potsherds were not found at the site.
Later time phases are represented by a much larger amount of materials then the previous one; more types of vessels were recovered and within these, more formal aspects could serve as the base of an arrangement. Accordingly, the presence in different periods, the frequency, and the presence of certain formal groups was analysed. There was a great variety among the formal groups regarding other characteristics of the vessels – content of the clay, firing, parts of the vessels, and decoration.
As a conclusion, it was revealed that the inhabitants of the medieval settlement used in most of the cases local products or the vessels of regional workshops. The small number of imported earthenware has western origins; these pieces arrived mostly from Austria or further regions of western Hungary.