A Herman Ottó Múzeum évkönyve 47. (2008)

Makoldi Miklós: Adatok a Hernád-völgyi avar lovas sírok temetkezési szokásaihoz

K. Végh, K. 1964 A sajószentpéteri avar kori leletek. HOMK 6 15-23. 1965 A nyékládházi avar temető. (Awarisches Gräberfeld von Nyékládháza.) HOMÉ V. (1964-65), 177-211. 1968 Avar kori leletek a miskolci Múzeumban. Awarenzeitliche Funde im Museum von Miskolc. HOMÉ VII. 47-90. Zábojník, J. 1995 Soziale Problematik der Gräberfelder des nördlichen und nordwestlichen Randgebietes des Awarischen Kaganats. Sociálna problematika pohrebísk severného a severozápadného olmjového územia avarského kaganátu. S1A XL1II 205-344. BURIAL CUSTOMS OF THE AVARS IN THE HERNÁD VALLEY The Avar equestrian burials along the River Hernád are barely known to the period's researchers. This study is the first step towards remedying this situation. The area discussed here is not merely the Hernád Valley, but a broader region incorporating the river's entire stretch (including the Slovakian sections), the lower reaches of the River Sajó and the section of the River Tisza between the confluence with the Sajó and Tiszafüred. Over thirty sites are known from this area, yielding some 250 equestrian or horse burials. Most of the sites in question represent stray finds or barely investigated and documented burial grounds. Only three sites can be regarded as wholly excavated: Kassa-Zsebes/Kosice-Sebastovce, where 46 of the 369 graves were equestrian burials; Sajópetri-Hosszúrét-dülő, where 34 of the 636 graves were equestrian or horse burials; and Tiszafüred-Majoros, where 70 of the 1282 graves were equestrian or horse burials. These three sites form the backbone of the study and the other sites are grouped on the basis of the conclusions, which could be drawn from them. The detailed analysis of the burial grounds, and especially of the equestrian burials, enables the reconstruction of Avar settlement and the direction of Avar expansion, which in the Hernád region began at the onset of the Middle Avar period and lasted until the close of the 8th century. The larger cemeteries used over a longer period of time lie in the south; proceeding northward, the cemeteries were founded at an increasingly later date and their use-life was also shorter. This, in turn, enables a diachronic study of burial customs. It seems likely that certain burial forms have a dating value in the Hernád Valley: for example, the differences in depth between the horse burial and the male burial in equestrian graves changed in a consistent manner through time. Certain correlations can be noted between the grave goods (especially weapons) and their orientation and position within the grave, a phenomenon that again allows finer distinctions to be made. The final conclusion is that the study and analysis of burial customs enables the distinguishing of various smaller regions in the Hernád (a distinction which could not be made through the typologisation of the horse harness sets), which are nonetheless linked to each other, for example by the recurrence of a particular stirrup type. This would suggest that the study of burial customs provides useful information on the possible ethnic background of the population and their customs, and one which is more reliable than can be gained from the typologisation of the find material. Miklós Makoldi