Fires of a House—Burning Events in a Middle Bronze Age Vatya House as Evidenced by Soil Micromorphological Analysis of Anthropogenic Sediments

The investigation of fires and burning within the archaeological record has a long history, applied methods are diverse. There have been several investigations prehistoric sites, but Middle Bronze Age contexts (2000–1450 BC) Carpathian Basin not widely studied beyond studies ritual or warfare. In this paper, we aimed to add further details topic in household context via thin-section soil micromorphology related phytolith charred plant matter analysis. combination these techniques proven be advantageous due their high-resolution quality, analysis soil/sediment thin sections (i.e., fixed environment) largely explored yet. study, were used investigate various events that affected Vatya house tell site Százhalombatta-Földvár, Hungary. Three types fire/burning investigated. One was hearth activity, another one presumed ‘cleaning’ house, last termination building. first two cases, everyday life under microscope; latter more enigmatic, probable intentional destruction demonstrated.