Tales from the store: where in the world... (part 2)

So let me fill you in on the story so far.  I'd come across some boxes associated with our World Cultures collections at Hull and East Riding Museum marked 'Jászóvár, Hungary' however, after some initial research it emerged this place did not exist.  I found an old label tied to a pottery cup, this also mentioned Jászóvár... as well as noting the object was from pit II (of the archaeological site).  And there I left it, on the biggest cliff hanger ever.  Where was the object from?

Well, sometimes as a research and documentation assistant, you have to take a slightly different approach and think laterally to solve a problem.  The label also stated '1916' - this was probably the year of excavation.  So it might be possible to discover who excavated the site which might in turn help to discover where the objects were from.

I'd manage to discover an archaeological site with a name similar to Jászóvár - a small town called Jasov which was close to Jaszovská Cave.  The cave is on the UNESCO world heritage list and I discovered that archaeological material had been found in the cave from the Palaeolithic (Old Stone Age), Neoltihic (New Stone Age) and Hallstatt (European Bronze Age/Iron Age).

My gut feeling was that this could be it.  However, I needed proof.  Time to look for more clues.

I scoured multiple sources, many of which required translation from Hungarian or Slovakian.  Thanks to the marvels of modern technology (Google Translate!) I found a webpage about the caves.  One sentence told me something new, and all I needed to know, 'excavated in 1916 by Tivadar Kormos'.

Reinvigorated, the game was afoot.  I went hunting for information, scouring the archaeological world to find excavation publications from around 1916 written by Tivadar Kormos.

Excerpt from the paper

Finally, I found a paper in "Barlangkutatás" published in 1917 entitled 'A jászói Takács Menyhért-barlang' by Tivadar Kormos.  This was it! 

If you remember from my previous post, the object label had stated "Jászóvár Takács M. barl.  1916.  (II gödör)" which I now could decipher as ""Jászóvár Takács Menyhért Cave.  1916.  (II pit)."

However, an obstacle now was standing in my way.  The paper was written in Hungarian.  There was a helpful translation - this was written in German.  As I sat with the paper before me, I had a little tantrum about choosing to take French GCSE.  But undeterred, there were more adventures to be had...