Copper-age well on Road 47
Hódmezővásárhely-Kopáncs
MúzeumCafé 5.
Commissioned by the Field Service for Cultural Heritage, the Tornyai János Museum and Public Education Centre has conducted archeological explorations connected to the third phase of developing Road 47 into four lanes (the section between the town of Hódmezővásárhely and Algyő Tisza Bridge). A Chalcolithic well, nearly four metres deep, was especially rich in finds, including ten jugs, the majority below the present level of subsoil water. The water must have been drawn from the well with these tall, elongated utensils, which have relatively narrow mouths and handles or are pierced through below the rim. They were presumably fixed to some kind of suspension mechanism. Two jugs show that after one of their handles had broken o≠ they were pierced with two round holes under the rim, below the original position of the handles. The jugs, having fallen into the well, were covered by the ever present water during the time when the well was still in use. The humus removed from the area to be explored was deposited on the site of the previous excavation. Although the prehistoric settlements end in this section, part of the cemetery with crouched burials belonging to the earlier excavated Chalcolithic settlement was uncovered. Excavation is made particularly difficult by the fact that there was a forest in this locality. The roots of the felled trees criss-cross the area and unfortunately have also disturbed the graves.