Janus Pannonius Múzeum Évkönyve 13 (1968) (Pécs, 1971)
Régészet - Kralovánszky, Alán: The Paleosociographical Reconstruction of the Eleventh Century Population of Kérpuszta. Methodological Study
PALAEOSOCIOGRAPHICAL RECONSTRUCTION 83 196 occurs in a single instance, this may be neglected, however, being an exceptional case, an infant's grave.) The skeletons buried in the belt of 70 grades show an even dispersion to both directions from the medium value of 250.° As proved by Table 6, there is hardly any difference between sections I and TI of the cemetery in the average of the orientation. Therefore we may state that no chancre was effected in the orientation of the graves during the use of the cemetery. (Table 6.) According to Skerlj, the + divergence from the dominant orientation W —E is due to the seasonal change of the situation o f the sun in the cemeteries of the Early M ; d^le A ses: thus he thinks that the direction of the graves reveals the season in which th Q v were du? out. 35 Continuing this trend of thought. Csnloq endeavoured to find out if the cemetery belonged to a winter dwelling or a summer abode, on the basis of the chief line o: F orientation of the graves. In his paper he defined Kérouszta as the cemetery of summer abodes, without justifying his thesis. 36 In my judgment, the orientation values of the K^rouszta cemetery do not reüect an actual seasonal mortality, consequently I cannot accept the statements of. C^loq in this respect. But let us ask for the testimony of the data. First of all we present the monthly freciuency of mortality of a Hungarian village S"őd (Pest county) between 1758 and 1800, in Table 7. 37 The series of data is the more remarkable since the seasonal mortality conditions of the second half of the eifhteenth century could not be much more favourable than those of the eleventh century, owing to the lack of any relevant sanitary organization. According to the numerical data the maximum of deaths fell to February, the minimum to July, and on the whole mortality increased in the winter (December, January, February) and in the early spring (March, April), decreasing in the summer months. However, the span between the maximum and the minimum totalled only 9,3 per cent. In his paper Csalog quotes the table of the astrcnomer Barlay on the seasonal changes of the W —E axis in relation to the rising sun in Hungary, and on the months corresponding to the grade values. We present these data in Column 1 of our Table 8. They reveal that the W—E axis changes from 240,5° to 313.5,° covering an angle of 72 grades. At Kérpuszta the orientation of the dead varies in a scale of 70 grades equally, but the actual angle values 35 Skerlj, 1952. 38 Csalog, 1967 230. 37 Csócsán, 1959 102. diverge from the astronomical direction to the SW, since the graves lay between 212° and 280°. If we connect the orientation values at Kérpuszta with the astronomical data immediately see Column 2 of Table 8), we find that their bulk (84. 1 per cent) covers the span between September and March, therefore the cemetery ought to be regarded as a belonging of winter abodes instead of summer ones. In this case, however, we miffht ask, when did the 15 9 per cent of the persons decaese. the graves of which are orientated from 212 to 240.2 degrees, falling outside the given astronomical scale? We may also suggest that the divergence of the Kérpuszta orientation to the SW is due to te features of the terrain (the sun was covered by a hill or a contiguous forestV so that the 70 grades reflect the seasonal change of the axis after all. In other- words, we mi^M conchidè to the seasonal freouency of deceases by applying the 7 0 grad Q scaïe of K^mu^zta to the 72 grade astronomical sc^e W° have orouned our data in Cohamn 3 of Table 8 in this w^y, fin diner that the percentages h^ve rul°d out the connection between the freouency of death«? and the expected frequency of seasonal 'mo^tah'ty at once. As for instate R 0 p°r cent fi\ o^ the deaths fell to the pair of months Ma v oh and September, the months of December and Január v were renrese r it Q o' by 0 3 wr c^nt as a total. For the rest, there are mu^h larf*°r differpnces in freounn^v between the pairs of months than possible in the light of the eighteenth century data. Consequently, each endeavour to r Q late our material to the Seconal gr^e values bears out the conclusion that the Kérpuszta division in time is un créai from this pomt of view. So we 'may state that at Kérpuszta the graves of people who died at various dates in the year were not orientated to the daily position of the sun, but they were dug in a certain dominant direction: it is but natural that some accidental divergences to the right or the left have occurred. b) Types of Graves In each observed case the grave was a rectangle-shaped pit. Owing to the uniformity we cannot notice either chronological or anthropological differences. c) Depth of Graves The data on the depth of graves were fixed in 392 cases (99 per cent). The graves of section I were uncovered at. a depth between 0 and 75 cm, those of section II were found mainly at a depth between 0 and 100 cm..: Since we know that the graves of section I were unearthed at the bottom of the hill and those of section II on the slope, the difference is due to
