Janus Pannonius Múzeum Évkönyve (1965) (Pécs, 1966)

Régészet - Zoffmann, Zs.: Data to the Burial Rites of the Lengyel Culture

BURIAL RITES OF LENGYEL CULTURE 57 At Lengyel the scarce data give no real help to decide, wihether tihe two groups of the cemetery were contemporary or followed each other. The appearance of copper favours the latter supposition, but mo finial conclusion can be reacihied. At Villányikövesd the considerable distance of graves N_Q 26 and 27 from the others seams to indicate the existence of two (or possible more) groups in the cemetery.

19 In these two sites and at Pécsvárad—Aranyhegy the 'custom of severing the skulls was not observed. * * * The publications insist on the manifold orientation of the graves and the disposal of the contracted skeletons their right or left side, not only in the cemeteries, but also inside tihe same cemetery groups. According to the data of J. Damlbay the 368 graves at Zemgövárlkony reveal the orientations NE—SW, E—W, SE—

NW, S—

N with skeletons lying on their left side, and orientations W—E, SW

—

NE with skeletons lying on the right side. No connection can be established between the different orientations and the sex öf the burried or their grave-goods. At Pécsvárad the eight graves - show orientations NE—SW, E-W with a disposal to their left, and also orientations W

—E, N—

S with disposals to their right side. The VilMnykövesd graves have NE—SW, E—W, SE— NW, orientations with skeletons lyng on their left, and orientations SW—

NE, NW—

SÉ' with skeletons lying on their right. In this last case the orientations aire given in degrees published together with a detailed 'plan of the cemetery« This shows that the orientation of the skeletons lying on their left side does not diverge from the E

—W axis more than by 75 degrees. One finds a similar, but reversed situation in the case of skeletons orientated W

—E, lying on their right side. (Fig. 1.) \/4270*The orientations of the Vdllánykövesd graves. The stressed segments show the data of the orientations given by J. Dornbay in text. 19 Dombay 1959. Suppl. II.