Folia archeologica 14.

Török Gyula: Pogány kultusz emléke a sopronkőhidai temetőben

Trace of a pagan cult in the cemetery at Sopronkőhida 93 the animal ancestor. The „lunula" pair (Fig. 35) found in grave 115 may be considered as such. The animal mask was not only worn by human beings or laid on the coffin after death, but it was also put on the sacrificial animals. The ornament on a salt box made of an antler (Plate XIII), which was found in grave 48 at Sopronkőhida, illustrates this. In the center of the design stands the Tree of Life towards which harnessed horses go with masks of horned cattle on their heads. Similar salt boxes are known from Avar graves. It is very probable that together with its theme the ornament preserved also Avar traditions. This is why the unpublished find from Tatabánya (Plate XIV. 1—2) decepting on both sides horses with horned cattle masks is especially significant among the salt boxes from the Avar period. The cemetery of Sopronkőhida supplied very valuable material regarding the transitory period in the worship of animal ancestors by the mounted peoples.