Madaras László – Tálas László – Szabó László szerk.: Tisicum - A Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok Megyei Múzeumok Évkönyve 9. (1996)

László Madaras: The Question of the Early Avar Niche Grave Population's Continuity in the 8th Century (A korai avar fülkesíros népesség továbbélésének kérdése a VIII. században)

LÁSZLÓ MADARAS THE QUESTION OF THE EARLY AVAR NICHE GRAVE POPULATION'S CONTINUITY IN THE 8TH CENTURY After the general summaries of the Avar period of the Hungarian Great Plain,

1 researchers' attention more and more often turns towards apparent details such as the burial customs or the typology of finds. The above mentioned two "details" are necessary for a new synthesis. Examples of works dealing with such details are the Fiatal Archeológusok Szövetségének konferenciakötetei (Volumes of the Conferences of the Association of Young Archeologists) and the last two conferences organised by the Museum of Szeged. One of the two conferences discussed the historical questions concering the 9th century and the other the problem of niche grave burial. Niche graves are characteristic of a certain restricted small area of the Hungarian Great Plain. None of them has been found in Transdanubia, in Slovakia, in Transylvania, or in the Vienna Basin yet.

2 The studies written by Péter Tomka and Gábor Lőrinczy allow us to ignore the history of the preliminary researches made on this form of burial, since the bibliography concerning this question is listed in the above mentioned studies.

3 On the other hand, such important points as the origin of the custom, the discovery of its oriental parallels, or its possible linkage to ethnic groups have not yet been clarified. Even if the results of the recent researches of Gábor Lőrinczy and Béla Kürti — (We shall refer to them later on in this work) — are taken into consideration, these questions will remain unresolved. I am not going to make an attempt to answer these crucial questions, I would rather show how this form of burial can be evaluated throughout the Avar period from the beginning to the 8th century. In order to expound my argument within a closed logical system, I shall start with a statement made by Dezső Csallány half a century ago. This statement is basically still true, except that Csallány thought that niche graves had been used only for a short period ov time. 'The niche grave burial custom of the early Avar people is unique to Hungary. It was in use for a short period of time even in this area, and it was linked to a certain group of nomadic equestrian people and to certain finds." "Niche graves were used in the Early Avar Period from the last decades of the 6th century to the end of the 7th century."

4 From the above mentioned quotations I would like to focus on three factors. Firstly, the use of niche graves was characteristic of a small, restricted area. Secondly, niche graves are linked to particular finds. Thirdly, niche graves were used from the end of the 6th century to the end of the 7th century. The third point is important because Dezső Csallány thought that there had been a continuous change within the Avar Period, and that the "plate-group" of the Early Avar Period had developed into the "griffin-tendril decoration group" of the Late Avar Period. However on the basis of his chronology it can be assumed that he isolated a "late plate-group" which since has turned out to be characteristic of the Tótipuszta-lgar Group, which arrived in the Carpathian Basin between 670—680. Of course, he identified a "late plategroup", as he knew the graves of SzegedMakkoserdő and Csóka, and he also knew their chronology. The observations he made about the restricted area and the finds are also very important. Nowadays, the evaluation of this form of burial is seen from new perspectives, for the 1 Bona, 1984. pp. 310—346.; Bona 1986. pp. 76—83.; Kürti 1983. pp. 162—218.; Tomka 1992. 969—1023.; Madaras 1994. pp. 152—153. 2 Csallány 1939. pp. 132—134.; Kürti 1983. pp. 192.; Valamint az 1. számú jegyzetben meghivatkozott irodalom. 3 Tomka 1989. p. 172.; Lőrinczy 1994. pp. 311—335. 4 Csallány 1939. p. 133. 137