Data on the chronology of the NE-Transdanubian Hallstatt group

Abstract

It is no longer in question that the Százhalombatta fortress, which also played a significant role as an economic and intellectual centre at the regional level, was significantly connected to the Mediterranean. The intensity of this strong link is increasingly demonstrated by local imitations based on southern models, even more so by southern imports, which have come to light following the revaluation of excavation results from recent decades. The chronological position of imported objects determined in the material from Tomb 109 in Százhalombatta increasingly clearly indicates the end of the Ha D1 phase and the beginning of a new era. At the same time, the low degree of research on the necropolis does not allow us to draw comprehensive chronological conclusions for the region, but a broader perspective may bring us closer to a preliminary definition of the Ha D1–D2/3 phases and the Scythian cultural influence. Contrary to previous practice, the focus of the study is not on the burial mounds primarily associated with the ‘social elite’ and the well-datable imported or prestige objects, but on the flat burials previously defined as the ‘Középrépáspuszta type’ and their ceramic material. We are in the fortunate position that three burials of different compositions but the same rite are known from the territory of the examined micro-region, that is, the Batta earthwork, the analysis of which is indispensable for clarifying several questions.