Alba Regia. Annales Musei Stephani Regis. – Alba Regia. Az István Király Múzeum Évkönyve. 20. 1980 – Szent István Király Múzeum közleményei: C sorozat (1983)

Tanulmányok – Abhandlungen - Éry Kinga, K.: Comparative statistical studies on the physical anthropology of the Carpathian basin population between the 6–12th centuries A. D. p. 89–141.

Data concerning the ethnic composition of the Avar Period populations are scarce and uncertain. A probable eastern Finnic ethnic influence may be postulated in the ease of the inhabitants of the Northwestern region. The population of Western Transdanubia may have been influenced partly by eastern Finnic and partly by eastern Slavic elements. The composite effect of Late Roman Period and Late Scythian Northern Pontic ethnic groups may be seen in the population of Eastern Transdanubia. One sample from the plain east of the Tisza river shows signs of Sarmatian influence, while another seems, among other things, to be related to eastern Germanic populations. Differences between groups belonging to the particular regions seem to be most defined in Transdanubia. This territory may almost be divided along a northeast

—southwest line on the basis of the craniological characteristics. In addition to the undoubtedly Europoid dominance in the Avar Period population, Mongoloid groups represented in smaller numbers are also to be found at various places in the Carpathian Basin with the exception of Eastern Transdanubia. There are quite a few examples which indicate the presence of mixed populations originating from Europoid and Mongoloid ancestors in the area between the Danube and Tisza rivers. Transdanubia on the other hand, seems rather to illustrate the coexistence of these two large taxonomic groups without any particular evidence of intermingling. The fall of Avar military and political rule was not accompanied by the destruction or fleeing of these inhabitants over most of the country. It seems certain that a considerable portion of this population survived in Transdanubia and the Northwestern region or even east of the Tisza river. It is similarly certain however, that the continuity of these people was disrupted in the area between the Danube and Tisza rivers. B) The anthropological aspect of the historical events which took place during the 9th century A. D. is for the most part unknown. It seems likely however, that the Avar Period population in the area between the Danube and Tisza rivers was replaced by a Northern Pontic group. These people had "Late Scythian" characteristics and came from the eastern bank of the Tisza river, probably lived there continuously during the Avar Period or even earlier. A number of signs also suggest that a very small number of Germanic populations of a mesocran skull formation with low facial skeleton infiltrated the Western Transdanubian region from a western direction. In addition, it is likely that a Moravian

—Slavic population dolichocran in character and with a high facial skeleton moved into the Northwestern region from the direction of Mikulcice. C) The craniological character of the late 9th century A. D. conquering groups had already been formed about the 4—2nd centuries В. C. This population can be divided into two major sections. The majority of individuals originated partly from the European and partly from the Middle Asian steppe belt east of the Dnepr river. The ancestors of the conquering groups probably occupied this area during the heyday of the Iron Age. The previous Ugric Period habitation area of this group seems to have been on the eastern side of the Ural Mountains or even farther to the east. Upon arrival in the Carpathian Basin they occupied the Great Plain. The most Mongoloid stratum of this population settled in the area between the Danube and Tisza rivers. Other groups moved into the Upper Tisza region and the area between the Kőrös— Maros rivers. These people ethnically may be considered as belonging to the groups forming the seven Hungarian conquering tribes. The other, less numerous part of the conquering groups may have consisted of a different, predominantly nonHungarian population which joined the above-mentioned tribes. This group formed in the East European steppe belt or the forest steppe region in the area north of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov. It may have joined the people of the seven Hungarian tribes somewhere in the Dnepr region, and settled mainly in Transdanubia and the northern hilly region following the conquest of the Carpathian Basin. This population was probably chiefly made up of the Kabar people, although it may have also included eastern Slavs and fragments of other ethnic groups as well. This combined population was probably the first to mix with the local people, while the seven tribes maintained genetic isolation for a somewhat longer time. D) By the Árpád Period a smaller part of the population was made up of the descendants of the conquerors, while the majority represented a mixture with the earlier local inhabitants. People with Northern Pontic Late Scythian physical characteristics inhabited the areas between the Kőrös and Maros rivers as well as the area between the Danube and Tisza rivers during the Period of the Hungarian Conquest. Populations of Transdanubia and the Northwestern region were also predominantly made up of surviving elements from the Avar Period which had already been mixed in the conquering groups. In addition, eastern Slavic and perhaps Pecheneg groups also inhabited this region. They arrived either with the conquerors or later in the 10th century A. D. The fact that populations in the Árpád Period continued living in the same geographical environment and maintained the chief craniological characteristics of their local ancestors who survived the Period of the Hungarian Conquest may be explained in two ways. It was either this small scale of the late 10th century A. D. resettling measures which preserved these features or the policy did not focus on these people of local ancestry. By considering some data which indicate the within-country dispersion of the Árpád Period population of steppe origin, it may be supposed that resettling first effected the descendants of the conquering Hungarians. This movement was related to the strenghtening of centralized rule. On the one hand, this may have served to neutralize the tribesmens' power. On the other hand, it could have contributed to the extension of Hungarian rule over the aboriginal people. K. Éry 126