Folia archeologica 47.

Hargita Oravecz: Középső újkőkori temetkezések Tiszaföldváron

MIDDLE NEOLITHIC; BURIALS 59 In Grave 1981/98, a woman of 40-50 years was buried according to the usual rite, without garment fittings and grave goods. In about 41 % of Alföld LBC burials there were no grave goods found. Graves without finds buried with the deceased could equally belong to men, women or children. It cannot be determined exactly why tney are occurring together with graves containing grave-goods on one site. It is possible that they reflect a starting social differentiation. Grave 1981/101 was the resting-place of a man between 30-50 years. The grave goods (one clay vessel and one clay bead) were local products. They can be considered average both in quantity and quality. About half of the Alföld LBC burials were equipped with some simple sort of pottery. Mostly, they contain one vessel each. Higher status marked by pottery, which is a normal means of use, relates only to graves containing at least 3-6 vessels

2^

. Grave 1985/13a is a female grave with a string of Spondylus beads and lumps of ochre. On the basis of the combination of valuable and special finds, this burial stands out from the ALBC average

2

5

. Grave 1986/41 used to belong to a man aged 50-60. The dead person received no grave goods in the traditional sense but his body was painted red. On the basis of the special rite it cannot be classified to the "poor" graves because the deceased receivea considerably more attention than dead persons with no grave goods in general. Ranking on the basis of body painting is not clear as it is occurring typically in extreme cases: graves with no grave goods or specially rich graves. Grave 1986/42 was that of a 8-9 years old girl. This can be regarded as a specially rich burial with a string of Spondylus beads and disc ornament, red ochre painting and a sacrificial pit for food. It is specially remarkable that items obtained from long distance trade can occur in the grave of a child. Obvious wealth, more ritual care and greater esteem could be related not only to adults but to a mere child already in the Middle Neolithic period. This observation is corroborated by further instances of children's graves in the Tisza region

2

6. VII. Conclusions On the basis of the six New Stone Age burials, partly, burial customs formed on the territory of the Alföld LBC were analysed, as well as the case how much these burials and grave finds can express the identity and social relations of the LBC communities. Orientation and position had important role in the burial rite of the Alföld LBC. Burials followed a strict convention on the basis of a consensus of the community. The deceased were placed either beside each other or between the houses and the pits in the same direction and placement, in contracted position. From the Middle Neolithic period onwards, the presence or absence of grave goods can be observed. This feature is probably in connection with the socialeconomical relations of the Alföld LBC communities, i.e., stabilisation. Grave goods found at the burials, especially more valuable objects of distant origin let us vaguely suppose some differences within the communities. Status, and wealth is seemingly, though not clearly present. Among the burials of the Alföld LBC we could observe some dead persons who were more "rich" than the average. Though the basic anthropological data of the burials are often missing, it can be concluded that among the "rich person" observed so far, men, women and children were equally occurring. 2

3 see note 14. 2

4 Graves 1 and 3 of Csanytelek-Újhalastó (Hegedűs 1982-83/1 22-26) reflect the same situation 2

5 "rich" children occurred as Csongrád-Bokros and Csanytelek-Újhalastó (Hegedűs 1982-83/1 7-54); at Tiszalúc-Sarkad, grave В-10, Oravecz 1996, 52; at Kompolt-Kistér, grave 54, Bánffy-GogoltanHorváth-Vaday 1999, 13-128.