Museum of: Budapest
    Name of the artefact: Bell beaker
   
500 metres from the main channel of the Danube 3 graves of the Bell Beaker Csepel Group were found. The NS-oriented grave contained a corpse lying on its left side in an extremely contracted position. The skull, lying on the Northern side, was destroyed by gaspipelines. Three bell beakers and a vessel with four holes on its bottom were put beside the skeleton, possibly with food and drink to serve for the afterlife. A decorated bone pendant and a stone blade was found next to the shoulders of the skeleton; a curved wristguard with holes at its corners was on the left wrist. A copper dagger was placed among the pottery.
                                 
 
WHERE IS IT AND MAIN CHARACTERISTICS
  
STATE
 
Department:
Department of Prehistoric and Migration Period
Preservation:
 Very good
Inventory number:
BTM 2005.14.4.
Restauration:
 Restored
Name of the artefact:
Bell beaker
Completeness:
 Complete
Object type:
Vessel/Anphora
  
Material:
Clay
Methof of manufacture:
Hand made
Decoration type:
Stamp
Distinctive mark:
-
DIMENSIONS
  
PERIOD OF USE
Length (mm):
-
Epoque:
Early Bronze Age
Heigth (mm):
110
Culture:
Bell Beaker Csepel Group
Diameter (mm):
120
Period:
Early Bronze Age 2
Width (mm):
-
Face:
Early
Thickness (mm):
50
Absolute chronology:
2500-2100 BC
Weight (g):
-
DISCOVERY
Date:
1999
Country:
Hungary
District:
Budapest, XXI
Town hall affiliation:
-
Village:
-
Discovery findspot:
Budapest, Csepel-sziget, II. Rákóczi Ferenc út
Condition of discovery:
Archaeological excavation
Discovery type:
Pit
 
ANALYSES – DETERMINATIONS
 
FILLED IN BY
Type:
-
Name:
Anna Endrődi
Laboratory:
-
Institution:
Budapest History Museum
No./Code:
-
Date:
20/10/2005
 
DEEPENINGS

Morphology of the object:
Red-painted, bell beaker form vessel.

Decoration:
The bell beaker is decorated in bands with stamped impressions. The vessel can be divided into 7 zones, where bands of pricked points and zigzag motifs interchange, with undecorated streaks in between. Remains of red paint can be seen on the pottery. A small hole was drilled below the rim.

Inscription:
-

Analogies:
Analogies can be found at other Hungarian sites, e.g. the scattered cremation burials of Békásmegyer and skeletal graves of Szigetszentmiklós. The bell beakers occur with similar forms, colours and decoration throughout Europe where the culture exists. This contracted skeletal grave and its finds can be connected to the Bell Beaker people of the Czech-Moravian region.

Interpretation:
The deceased was presumably a warrior who was placed contracted into the grave, possibly to represent him while asleep, placing next to him his weapon (the copper dagger) and fixing the wristguard onto his arm, which once protected him from the lashing of the flexed bowstring. Pendants (made of bone and stone) hung possibly by string from his neck. The bell beakers found in the grave once contained food and drink, which were placed beside the deceased amidst the performance of religious rituals.
Bibliography:
Literature: Endrődi Anna-Horváth M. Attila: Kora bronzkori és avar sírok Budapest, Csepel-szigeten. (Early Bronze Age and Avar graves at Budapest, Csepel-Island.) Archaeological Investigations in Hungary 1999. 27.47. Budapest 2002.