Tanulmány (study): itt

Szerző (author)

Ciprián Horváth

Cím (title)

Szakony-Kavicsbánya cemetery from the age of the Hungarian conquest

Hivatkozás (references)

Ephemeris Hungarologica, 2021. (1.) 2. 289–314.

Absztrakt (abstract)

In the spring of 1961, a graveyard with 7 graves from the age of the Hungarian conquest was found in a gravel pit near Szakony. The graves of 1 man, 2 women and 4 children were documented in the fully excavated cemetery. The nature and geographical location of the site have already attracted particular attention during the research, helping to determine the former extent of the settlement area. Biochemical research identified consanguineal relations between the deceased, thus research often identifies this site to date as a small-family cemetery. It was mainly the finds from horse burials that attracted attention in the material, and it is in this cemetery that the presence of metal-mounted harnesses used by men was first observed authentically. The observations regarding the female grave (no. 6) led to the first authentic reconstruction of a saddle decorated with silver plates too. The research also revealed the Carolingian origin of a harness ornament from grave 7, and almost exact Eastern European parallels of one of the rosette mounts. A new and interesting combination was the olive bead and the plate button from grave 6, examples of the former have only recently become known from Hungarian cemeteries previously thought to be devoid of finds in this respect. No less interesting is the question of the Eastern European parallels of harness mounts or parts of them, which do not exclude the possibility that they were made further east of the Carpathian Basin. But it cannot, of course, be ruled out that the similarities can be interpreted as traces of a system of contacts with the East that existed in the 10th century. Perhaps the former possibility cannot be dismissed either, together with the dating of the cemetery to the end of the 9th century and the early decades of the 10th century, as suggested by scientific dating. In the case of the deceased, the archaeogenetic analysis of the assessable samples refuted the existence of any kinship links, so it is certain that it was not the members of a small family based on consanguinity who were laid to rest in the Répce Valley sometime in the early 10th century.

Kulcsszavak (keywords)

Hungarian conquest period, cemetery, small family, equestrian burial, saddle, horse harness with belt mounts and rosettes, olive bead, plate button