A Békés Megyei Múzeumok Közleményei 24-25. (Békéscsaba, 2003)

Hadak Útján XIII. A népvándorlás kor fiatal kutatóinak konferenciája Gyula, 2002. szeptember 17–19. - Füredi Ágnes: Cemetery in Kál from the age of the Hungarian conquest

Füredi Agnes Cemetery in Kál from the age of the Hungarian conquest - Agnes Füredi Resume Kál is located in Heves County, south of the Mátra Mountains, in its part belonging to the flatland, along the upper section of the River Tarna. In 1966 during works in a gravel-pit formed in the south of the village, skeletons and arrowhead came to the surface. The rescue excavation was started by János Győző Szabó in 1966. His primary intention was to explore the 10

th century cemetery and the ditch-system around it, as this was the area covered directly by the exploitation. The gravel mining probably destroyed some graves at the east side of the gravefield located in north-south direction, according to the excavator, however, not in considerable number. Around the cemetery there is a ditch-system, fenced from the north and west side. Fortunately the cemetery has been almost completely explored, so its structure and the arrangement of the graves were well observable. Its size is not large, presumably a small community used it through several generations. Regarding the burial order and rite the graveyard shows a integrated view. There are no layered burials, and the graves with, more or less, east orientation form separated groups or lines. Few supplements were found in the graves, there were no rich objects made of precious metals and even poorer versions of decorating mounts to various clothes or horse trappings are absent. No traces of food-drink supplements, the burial with horse was represented by only two graves with horse harness. Consequently, it was hardly surprising not to find belt mounts usually indicating nobility or high dignity. Almost all types of the objects were in use from the beginning of the 10

th century. Many of them are archaic pieces, in most cases, however, they were present continuously in the graveyards of the Carpathian Basin for a long time, to the middle or second third of the 10

th century at least. Some of the finds can be dated back more precisely to the beginning of the 10

th century. The cemetery presumably was opened by a small group moving in with the first generation of the conquerors and used by 1-2 more generations, which seems confirmed by the anthropological surveys. Füredi Ágnes Magyar Nemzeti Múzeum 1088 Budapest, Múzeum krt. 14-16. furediagi@yahoo. com 344