Somogyvári Ágnes – V. Székely György szerk.: „In terra quondam Avarorum…” Ünnepi tanulmányok H. Tóth Elvira 80. születésnapjára - Archaeologia Cumanica 2. (Kecskemét, 2009)

Lezsák Gabriella: A kunszállási avarok temetkezési szokásai

archaeolog ia cumanica 2 Gabriella Lezsák Burial customs of the Avarians in the cemetery of Kunszállás The present study deals with some of the burial customs recorded in the cemetery of Kunszállás excavated by Elvira H. Tóth (1967-1979). In the course of the excavation of 61 graves of an Avarian clan it was possible to record traces of wooden structures placed in the graves (funeral beds), and other features of the burial rite: deliberately broken bow, vessel placed at the head in case of a mother-and-child burial, unfastened collar of a shirt, animal sacrifice (complete skeletons of fowls, egg, partly buried sheep, cow skull). My analysis interprets certain elements of the Avarian believes on the basis of material and spiritual heritage of Eastern nomadic people and ancient cultures (Middle East and Central Asia, China, Persia). The aim of the study is to solve the meaning of certain symbols. According to the common opinion, symbols can bear ethnic style and reflect the structure of the society, which creates them. It is of key importance to resolve them in order to understand the world of Avarians. Among ritual elements analysed in the study, element of the funeral bed and that of the deliberately broken bow, and of the custom of placing complete fowl (cock?) skeletons and eggs situated in the shape of oval on the breast are of outstanding importance. The study assumes that Avarian society with its closed and developed culture came to the Carpathian Basin as a representative of the steppe civilisation. Avarian system of symbols, burial customs, traditional culture was influenced mainly by Antique (Near East, Central Asia, and Persia, China) and Siberian cultures. In the course of analysis it is necessary to take into consideration these cultures together with material and spiritual heritage of modern eastern steppe peoples. In the Carpathian Basin Avarians took over elements of the burial rite only in the cases, if these features had prototypes in their own world of believes. 158