PILE STRUCTURES IN HUNGARY.
On the right bank of the Theiss, a few miles from the railway-station of Szolnok, and near the village of Tószeg, there is an artificial mound called "Kuczorgó or Lapos-halom," to which, since the meeting of the International Congress at Buda-Pesth, in 1876, much importance is attached on account of the opinion expressed by Pigorini that it is identical in structure with the terramara mounds of Northern Italy. The mound, though now considerably undermined by the river Theiss during the great floods of 1876, is still of considerable extent, measuring some 360 mètres in length, and 100 in breadth, and rising to a maximum height of 8 mètres over the surrounding plain. It is only in times of flood that the waters reach the mound, its usual bed being about 1½ mile distant. When the artificial nature of this mound became known by the section exposed by the floods, some extensive investigations were made to determine its archæological character. The objects collected in these researches were exhibited at the Congress as a special find, and among them were the following (Catalogue, pp. 85-87):—
1. Perforated hammers of staghorn, various pointed implements of horn and bone, perforated teeth of pigs, and a leg-bone perforated in two places, probably a skate.
2. Polished stone celts and perforated hammers, four flint flakes, and one of obsidian, corn-crushers, and various other worked stones.
3. Fragment of a bronze pin, a bronze knife, and a small ingot of bronze.
4. Pottery, showing a variety of dishes, some with handles, etc.; various objects of burnt clay, as a whistle, buttons, a spoon, 18 pyramidal clay weights (perforated), etc.
5. A considerable amount of food refuse, as bones, scales of fish, shells, charred wheat, etc.
When the International Congress was held at Buda-Pesth, Pigorini, Virchow, and Miss Mestorf visited this mound, and made some further researches, which not only confirmed Pigorini in his suspicions about the structure of the mound, but also led his distinguished fellow investigators to accept the main portion of his theory. Upon their return home they[30] published separate accounts of this excursion to Tószeg and the results obtained, from which I must here be content to notice that the following propositions are admitted facts:—
1. The existence of piles and wooden beams was satisfactorily proved, and Pigorini asserts that these corresponded with three different levels, precisely as they occur in the terramara mounds.
2. The materials containing the débris of occupancy were distinctly stratified, forming parallel or undulating layers, amounting to a total thickness of 4 mètres.
3. The antiquities collected represented all ages, including stone celts, bronze and iron implements, and a skate made of the leg-bone of a horse.
Subsequently Dr. Romer gave an account of the excavations conducted at Tószeg previous to the meeting of the International Congress, in an article entitled "Les Terramares en Hongrie," along with which he describes similar deposits at other places, as Nagy-Rév, Szelevény, Keménytetö, and Ásott-halom. In regard to the latter station he remarks that rotten piles were observed in its lowest stratum before Pigorini called attention to their importance. Some of the objects from Ásott-halom were exhibited at the Congress (see Cat., p. 44), and included polished stone axes and hammers, flakes of obsidian, perforated hammers of staghorn, etc. The author concludes his article by stating that the terramara deposits are by no means confined to the valley of the Tisza, as they have already been observed in various other low-lying districts along the Danube, Garam, etc. (B. 316.)