Volume XI ● Issue 2/2020 ● Pages 149–176 INTERDISCIPLINARIA ARCHAEOLOGICA NATURAL SCIENCES IN ARCHAEOLOGY homepage: http://www.iansa.eu XI/2/2020 Animal and Plant Remains from Two Kalenderberg Group (Hallstatt Culture) Cremation Graves in Devín-Záhrady, Slovakia Zora Bielichováa, Mária Hajnalováb*, Petra Kmeťovác, Peter Bartad aInstitute of Archaeology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Akademická 2, 94921 Nitra, Slovakia bDepartment of Archaeology, Constantine the Philosopher University, Hodžova 1, 94974 Nitra, Slovakia cThe Monuments Board of the Slovak Republic, Cesta na Červený most 6, 81406 Bratislava, Slovakia dDepartment of Archaeology, Comenius University in Bratislava, Gondova 2, 81102 Bratislava, Slovakia ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT Article history: The flotation of deposits from two recently excavated Kalenderberg Group cremation graves in Devín- Received: 16th June 2020 Záhrady (SW Slovakia) yielded a plethora of archaeozoological and archaeobotanical remains, including Accepted: 19th November 2020 small, otherwise overlooked, ecofacts. The results of our analysis in the context of contemporary data show that animals clearly constituted an unambiguous part of funerary ritual activities. Pig, fish, red DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.24916/iansa.2020.2.2 deer, cattle and caprines were all exploited at Devín-Záhrady. These animals represented both food and symbolic offerings, with a preference for pig and fish. Cattle, red deer, pig and caprines astragali found Key words: in grave 2 were all associated with one of the urns. The age of perinatal piglets was used to indicate the Early Iron Age season when the funerals took place. Plant macro-remains are much less common than bone remains Eastern Hallstatt Culture and are not associated with the burial. The results of the analysis change what is known about the array, Kalenderberg Group quantity and way animal and plant offerings from Kalenderberg Group cremation graves were prepared cremation graves for the burial ritual. Their study also permitted residual and intrusive materials to be detected, allowed burial rituals reconstruction of the deposit’s formation processes and establishment of the connections (or absence archaeozoology of connections) between these ecofacts to the funeral and/or burial ritual. archaeobotany 14C residuality intrusion 1. Introduction or “flat” graves, once perhaps associated with small mounds, is rare (e.g. Lochner, 1988; Rebay, 2006). Previous studies The Kalenderberg Group (for review see Nebelsick, 1997) was show that traditional cremation burial ritual predominated. part of the Eastern Hallstatt Culture or Northeastern Alpine The human cremation remains were placed in graves along Hallstatt region. It formed in eastern Austria (Lower Austria, with sets of pottery vessels, food, jewellery and components Burgenland), the westernmost part of western Hungary of clothing, tools, and occasionally also symbolic objects. (Lake Neusiedl area), and the western part of southwestern Graves were frequently covered with burial mounds of Slovakia, developing out of the local Late Bronze Age various sizes. Large barrows, several meters in height, were Urnfield Culture. What is known at present about the graves constructed for individuals on the top of the social hierarchy. and burial rituals of the Kalenderberg Group is mostly based Rich grave goods suggest that offerings of meat (Müller- on excavations of large barrows, the resting places of the elite Scheeßel and Trebsche, 2007; Kmeťová, 2017a) and drinks (Nebelsick, 1997, pp.50–62; Pichlerová, 1969; Preinfalk, stored mainly in ceramic vessels (e.g. Nebelsick, 2000) were 2003; Rebay, 2002; Studeníková, 1994; 1996), while commonly placed in graves. Detailed descriptions of meat published information on more modest, so-called “simple” offerings or animal remains reflecting other purposes in graves are discussed only sporadically in the literature. Very *Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected] little is also known about plant remains from graves. What 149 IANSA 2020 ● XI/2 ● 149–176 Zora Bielichová, Mária Hajnalová, Petra Kmeťová, Peter Barta: Animal and Plant Remains from Two Kalenderberg Group (Hallstatt Culture) Cremation Graves in Devín-Záhrady, Slovakia has been discovered are thought to represent food-offerings Group and Eastern Alpine Hallstatt Culture, the majority of burned on the pyre (Hladíková and Kmeťová, 2019; cf. which were written at a time when organic finds did not have also Stadler, 2010, pp.81–82). The systematic sampling a place at the centre of the excavator’s attention. of deposits and flotation as a means of extracting organic remains (including seeds, charcoal, small vertebrate bones, fish remains, mollusc shells, insects etc.) still rarely takes 2. Site and investigated archaeological contexts place and/or the research results are not published. The aim of this study is to present and interpret the animal Devín is a southwestern borough of Bratislava at the and plant specimens retrieved by flotation of archaeological confluence of the Danube and Morava rivers. An important deposits from two “flat” graves unearthed in 2014/2015 in multiphase archaeological site, the Castle Hill of Devín Bratislava-Devín, at the site of Záhrady (further referred to (Figure 1), rises above the meeting point of the two rivers. as Devín-Záhrady) and preserved in a charred (wood and The Castle Hill and adjacent area of the present-day borough seeds) as well as an uncharred state (mammalian and fish have been inhabited since the Early Neolithic (Farkaš, 2012). bones, mollusc shells, seeds and plant roots). During the Late Bronze and Early Iron Ages, Castle Hill Following the cultural model of cremation of human seems to have been occupied continuously and the site has bodies and their burial (e.g. Kuijt et al., 2014), we assume yielded strong evidence of flourishing long-distance contacts that grave goods originate from two sets of ritual activities (Studeníková, 1993; pp.119–131; 2012, pp.137–138; which might have been distinct in time and space and were Harmadyová, 2012a; 2012b; 2016; Kmeťová and Stegmann- either connected or not connected to the transformation Rajtár, 2014, pp.156–160). through fire that accompanies cremation burial. In this paper, Until recently, apart from sporadic stray finds associated the detailed quantitative, spatial and taphonomic analysis of with Late Bronze and Early Iron Age funeral activities organic remains is presented, as well as a discussion of the (Harmadyová, 2006; 2012a; 2012b), two discoveries identification of the origin of such ecofacts. As our intention suggested the presence of one large or possibly a few small was to improve understanding of the role and meaning of necropoli. The first is an Early Iron Age grave found on animals and plants in cremation burial rituals in this period Kozičova Street (Novák et al., 2008) and the second is an and region, the results are presented against the backdrop assemblage of finds thought to come from a grave dating of previous studies from the region of the Kalenderberg to the turn of the Bronze and Iron Ages in the Lower Castle Figure 1. Bratislava-Devín. Location of sites dated to the Late Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age (HaC-D1). 1 – the site of Devín-Záhrady, two of the Early Iron Age graves presented here; 2 – the site on Kozičova St., an Early Iron Age grave; 3 – the site on Brigádnická St., Late Bronze Age graves; 4 – Devín-Lower Castle, an Early Iron Age grave (?) and settlement; 5 – Devín-Middle Castle, Early Iron Age hilltop settlement. 150 IANSA 2020 ● XI/2 ● 149–176 Zora Bielichová, Mária Hajnalová, Petra Kmeťová, Peter Barta: Animal and Plant Remains from Two Kalenderberg Group (Hallstatt Culture) Cremation Graves in Devín-Záhrady, Slovakia on Castle Hill (Kmeťová and Stegmann-Rajtár, 2014, and Middle and Late La Tène periods (Chmelo et al., 2015). pp.156–160). These two sites are located 800 and 600 m The two Early Iron Age cremation graves belonging to northwest of the Devín-Záhrady site that is the focus of this the Kalenderberg Group (Eastern Hallstatt Culture) were article (Figure 1). situated near the edge of the terrace, approximately 8 m from The Devín-Záhrady site is located on the bank of the each other. Danube, at the foot of the Devínska Kobyla massif, the Grave 1, feature no. 70, formed a semi-rectangular pit with southernmost promontory of the Little Carpathians and the rounded corners and dimensions of 2 m by 2.25 m (Figure 2:1). westernmost part of the Carpathian mountain range. The The southwest corner of the grave remains unexcavated. settlement occupied a moderate terrace, rising 10 m above Direct evidence for the former presence of a burial mound the river valley and 100 m from a present active meander was not detected. The bottom of the grave was at least 40 cm of the Danube River. Sunken features as houses, storage below the modern walking horizon. Four ceramic vessels pits, postholes, ditches and an oven recovered during rescue were found in the centre of the floor (Figure 3:1): two large excavations attest to an occupation during the Late Hallstatt vessels (nos. 1 and 2) with conical necks, a deep bowl (no. 3), Figure 2. Devín-Záhrady. Kalenderberg Group cremation graves; 1 – grave 1 (feature 70), 2 – grave 2 (feature 71). Photo: Archaeological Agency Bratislava. 1 2 151 IANSA 2020 ● XI/2 ● 149–176 Zora Bielichová, Mária Hajnalová, Petra Kmeťová, Peter Barta: Animal and Plant Remains from Two Kalenderberg Group (Hallstatt Culture) Cremation Graves in Devín-Záhrady, Slovakia 1 0 1 m 2 0 1 m Figure 3. Devín-Záhrady. Kalenderberg Group cremation graves with schematic representation of organic finds/samples taken. 1 – Grave 1 (feature 70), 2 – Grave 2 (feature 71). Vessels in black can be fully reconstructed. Vessels in grey with solid outlines were not recognized during excavation. Vessels in grey and dashed outline were heavily damaged and reconstruction is only tentative. Black organic finds are from the Early Iron Age and those shown in grey are intrusive, residual or probably intrusive/residual.