Ditches in focus

This paper presents and discusses the results of geophysical and archaeological prospections at the site of Szilvás in southeast Transdanubia (Baranya County, Hungary). The multiperiodic site was used from the Late Copper Age to the Migration Period, but the vast majority of the pottery sherds relate to the Vučedol pottery style. The find of a possible wheel model highlights the role of technological innovations. We identify a complex enclosure system with five ditches and a large number of pits, suggesting that we deal with a densely built, fortified settlement connected to the Vučedol complex. This complex is to be seen in the context of important social and economic transformations in southeast and Central Europe in the early 3rd millennium BCE, during the Late Copper and Early Bronze Ages. However, only a few Vučedol settlements have so far been excavated and published. Thus, the site of Szilvás opens up the possibility of gaining a better understanding about the domestic activities, subsistence economy, the layout and structure of the settlement, and its complex spatial organization.