Folia archeologica 47.
Hargita Oravecz: Középső újkőkori temetkezések Tiszaföldváron
MIDDLE NEOLITHIC; BURIALS 55 lumps of yellow ochre (Fig. 5 2/1.). on the basis of the skeletal bones, the dead person was a 40-50 years old woman. Grave 1986/41. Oval pit contracted towards the head. The corpse was laid on left side with slightly hoisted up legs, oriented SE-NW. There were no grave goods found. The bones were covered on its whole surface by red ochre paint (Fig. 6/1.). According to anthropological data, the deceased was a man aged 50-60 years. Grave 1986/42a. The contours of the pit was delineated in a slightly oval shape. Unlike the other pits, it was contracted not over the head of the dead person but on one side, opposite the face. The skeleton is oriented SE-NW, contracted on the left side (legs are strongly contracted). Dorsal and thoracic parts are deficient and disturbed. There were traces of red ochre found on the skull and the hand. 15 pieces of flat (button-like) beads and small Spondylus beads stuck to each other were preserved from a string of beads. The most valuable grave good of the dead person was a disc made of Spondylus, found at the waist (Fig. 6 2/1-2). The bones indicate the remains of a 8-9 years old girl. Not long after the burial, another pit was deepened in the grave. There were altogether 3 pieces of finds in this: one animal bone and the fragments of two different vessels. The smaller vessel cannot be defined typologically. The bigger fragment belonged to a globular form with cylindrical neck ornamented with stitched Bükk motives as well as painted Szakáihát motives in yellow and red (Fig. 6 2/3). The pit can be considered special in several ways: different in size, regular form and contents from the general refuse pits found on the settlement. The finds of this pit can be interpreted as food offering or provisions for the journey to the "other World". II. Place of the burials and their relations to each other The 6 graves presented above form only a fragmentary part of the burials of the New Stone Age village. The extension of the settlement, number of houses indicate a larger community. The sites of the ALBC culture have typically a low number of graves, mainly because the small surface of former excavations. So far, about 211 graves were found on 55 sites. Among these 169 graves were suitable for archaeological and anthropological analysis. The number of burials vary between 1 and 25 on the individual sites 8 . No sites can be considered as completely excavated in respect of burials. All of the Tiszaföldvár graves were found within the settlement, densely surrounded by, but never intersecting settlement features. The presence of houses can be demonstrated in the vicinity of 5 graves. The graves showed no pattern of grouping (probably, because of the presence of pits and houses in use), they were distributed in large distances from each other. On some other ALBC settlements, where burials were concentrated on uninhabited, desolate parts, some smaller or bigger grave groups could be observed 9 . Burials of the ALBC outside settlement boundaries are not known so far from the Tisza region. III. Burial rites The deceased were buried in grave pits, contracted and oriented. The burials were "regular" and as regards rite, there are only very small differences observable. The burial customs corresponded to the general practice followed on the Alföld LBC settlements. We have information on one special (skull burial). No references for offering pit were found 1 0. 8 Mezőkövesd-Mocsolyás: Kalicz-Koós 1997, Abb. 2. 9 At the site Konyár-Téglaverő, a child's skull was found beside a child's grave. Both skulls were covered by sherds. Kalicz-Makkay 1977, 138. 1 0 Graves 1 and 2 of Csanytelek-Újhalastó. Hegedűs 1982-83/1, 22-23.
