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 85 There is a similar situation with the male grave no. 352 in which the iron knife lay under the lumbar vertebrae. Summing up, we may state that although some objects have come to light from, the Kérpuszta cemetery in a displaced position, actually in two instances, these are due to the slipping of the costume during the burial or to minor displacements owing to the decay of the body. j) Rites after Inhumation In graves no. 142, 147, 149, 150, 177 and 380 the excavation brought partly charcoal, partly lumps with flying ashes and traces of discoloration to surface. Unfortunately we can't decide whether the remnants of a fire, burning in connection with the burial sacrifice at the open grave, were hidden in the grave, or the traces of burning have come into it accidentally, as the earth was thrown into it, independently of any rite. Those remnants have not been investigated by a paleobotanist so far, thus neither the connection of those object with any fire, nor the way in which they have been hidden in the grave can be defined with certainty. 5. FINDS a) Existence and lack grave-furniture Among 405 dead 136 were provided with grave-furniture. The graves of the latter represent 34,4 per cent of the population of the cemetery. (In the following our investigations will be centred on 395 individuals, since the destroyed 10 graves furnish no data whatever, except for their number.) A total of 259 individuals were buried without grave-goods, representing 65,6 per cent of the inhumed population. The above data reveal that only 1/3 of the buried population was provided with gravefurniture for the journey in the Nether World. Comparing the two sections of different ages from this point of view, we get the following result: Section I — 40,2 per cent, Section II — 32,7 per cent. Thus the earlier period furnished more dead for their journey than the later one. In principle we may suggest two reasons for the above phenomenon: one of them may be the low economic standard, the poverty, another the influence of the ever stronger Christian religion. In our judgment, both factors have played a part, namely in the mentioned order, being an order both of importance and chronology (we shall return to this problem later on). Investigating the existence of grave-goods in relation to sex, we find that 3/4 of the females (77,8 per cent) but only 10,0 per cent of the males were provided with them. 19,5 per cent of the children had grave-furniture. Considering the biological rule that the ratio of sexes is 1:1 generally, we may suppose that the children whose sex could be reconstructed were provided in the proportion of the adults. This suggestion is not ruled out by the results of our investigation: archeological material permits us to connect 6 per cent of the graves containing grave-goods with boys, whereas 10 per cent of the men was provided with them. Our hypothesis establishes a connection between the sex ratio and the occurence of grave-furniture at Kérpuszta. If we analyze the lack of grave-goods, naturally we find a reflection of the above statement. The proportion of children provided with grave-goods is 28,0 per cent in section I and only 19,5 per cent in section II. Thus the proportion decreases as we come nearer to our age. One finds a similar situation with the men (I = 24,3 per cent; II = 3,6 per cent), but the decrease is very strong. On the contrary, we notice a very slight but opposite movement in the case of women (I = 76,0 per cent; II = 78,2 per cent). (Table 11.) Continuing our analysis according to age, we find that the proportion of dead provided with grave-goods rises until the age of 30 years gradually (10,9 to 58,0 per cent), then a gradual decrease follows (58,0 to 33,3 per cent) and finally it grows above 60 years of age again (33,3 to 71,4 per cent). The situation is roughly the same also in section I. The difference is a displacement of phases, since in section I most of the graves provided with grave-furniture is found in age group 15 to 20 years (66,6 per cent), the least in age group 41 to 50 years (30,0 per cent), then the ratio is higher between 51 and 60 years (38,9 per cent) and falls between 61 and 70 years again (25 per cent). In section II the maximum is between 21 and 30 years (60 per cent), the minimum between 51 and 60 (30,4 per tcent), finally the proportion grows until the highest age group (71,5 per cent). In section I mainly young people were provided with grave-goods, whereas in section II the division between young and old is more even. Taken as a whole, the data of age and sex show that while females were provided with grave-furniture in the reproductive age and above 70 years, males received it mainly in their old age. The picture becomes more char-