Peter TÓTH | Jana MELLNEROVÁ ŠUTEKOVÁ
(Comenius University, Faculty of Arts, Department of Archaeology, Bratislava, Slovakia)
Keywords: SW Slovakia, Neolithic, field survey, geomagnetics, GIS
Abstract:
Vicinity of Domadice and especially Santovka (both distr. Levice, SW Slovakia) are well-known in archaeological literature for finds from the Neolithic and Bronze Age. Very important is Lengyel culture settlement (probably with rondel architecture) excavated in late 70s of the 20th century. The impulse for the new research activities in Domadice was given by a stray find – fragment of an anthropomorphic figurine from the Middle Neolithic (cca 5300 cal BC) – without any parallels in Middle Danube region. Therefore it was decided a systematic field survey was needed in the vicinity of this important find withing the “Domadice project” conducted by the Department of Archaeology, Faculty of Arts, Comenius University in Bratislava. The goal of this project is to identify and reconstruct Neolithic settlement areas and to outline the settlement dynamics in the region.
Field survey in a raster method (side of the sector measured 20 m) and geomagnetical measurements were conducted in March and September 2017. In order to compare the research results approximately 20-25 minutes were reserved for each square. Collected were each finds from every archaeological period. Archaeological material was processed in an MS Access database with the focus on its dating and weight. This approach with the use of GIS enabled us to precisely interpolate spatial concentration of finds in the top soil thus documenting the preservation status of archaeological features lying underground. These findings were consequently compared with the geomagnetics. The spatial distribution of archaeological finds in plough layer enabled us to reconstruct the development of the settlement area in various periods of the Neolithic with regards to the prehistoric landscape use.