A Debreceni Déri Múzeum Évkönyve 1965 (Debrecen, 1966)

Mesterházy Károly: Excavations at Biharkeresztes–Ártánd in the year 1965

Károly Mesterházy Excavations at Biharkeresztes-Ártánd in the year 1965 Near the eastern frontier of Hungary, in the outskirts of the village Ártánd and Biharkeresztes (County Hajdú-Bihar, District Biharkeresztes) important excavations were started at Nagyfarkasdomb in 1965. In the course of the work done so far relics from eight periods have been unearthed. The earliest finds are Neolithic painted ceramics coming from the moulds on the Tócó. A fireplace from the Copper Age has been excavated. Its bottom was lined with the fragments of a big granary. On the fireplace there was an intact vessel with remnats of food in it. Sporadically also pieces of early Iron Age vessels have been found. The material of the Celtic burial ground with skeletons and traces of cremation is exceptionally rich in ceramics. About 240—260 A-D. Sarmatians had settled down on the hill. From the late 4th century on, the territory of Ártánd and Biharkeresztes was populated by Germanic tribes. They buried their dead at the Nagyfarkasdomb hill. The graves show three types of orientation: the N-S (head to the north) and W-E (head to the west) graves held typical cherniakhov ceramics those oriented S-M (head to the south) showed traces of fibula-clapped clothing and ceramics of different type. We conjecture the burial ground to be that of Gepids settled here before the rule of the Huns. Exceptionally rich and significant is the Hungarian cemetery from the 10. 11th centuries that began to get populated in the early loth century (woman's grave with rosetted harness and saddle) and can be dated with the help of 11th century coins up to the ten seventies. The Hungarian cemetery may be identified with the church and of the the village Ártánd, first mentioned in contemporary records in the year 1075. As the diploma says, there lived 120 households (about 600 people) at Ártánd at the time. Some 120-130 people are buried in this churchyard, which permits the conclusion that there were several churchyards at a time at Ártánd. The uncovering of the Hungarian churchyard from the time of the country's occupation by the Magyars and the age of the Árpád dynasty has given the right answer to a number of questions that had no reassuring solution before. The arrangement in rows is clearly seen in the 10—11th century. Burials can be dated with the help of coins up to the ten seventies. The graves are arranged in rows and in each line a woman's grave is the richest. It may be inferred that the finds will show a similar arrangement also in the following excavations. Our assumption is supported by the 10-llth cemetery at NádudvarTöröklaponyag, where the graves are arranged in rows and the richest of them are always the skeletons of women at the head of the row. The question whether these cemeteries were separated burial places of a single village, a clan or of both, is to be solved. The answer will be found after the churchyards around the 11th century settlements have been unearthed and analysed. The phenomenon that women are the richest among the dead in the churchyards of Ártánd and Nádudvar is in contradiction with our observations made in connection with joint families. At Bezdéd, Bashalom, etc. it was always men who were higher in rank. Burial customs must be paid special attention to in these cases. It is necessary to make up a typology of 10-llth century cemeteries. With their help it will be possible to fix the settlement areas of tribes and clans and perhaps also to trace the process of re-settlements. At the same time there will be a way to discern the burial places and graves of the Slav population as well, a procedure that cannot be undertaken on the basis of archeological finds in themselves. The number of graves—

100-130—in 10-llth century cemeteries and the lack of vessels may find its explanation in the nomadic pattern of life led by the population. 67