Majorossy Judit: A Ferenczy Múzeum régészeti gyűjteményei - A Ferenczy Múzeum kiadványai, D. sorozat: Múzeumi füzetek - Kiállításvezetők 5. (Szentendre, 2014)
Rácz Tibor Ákos: Középkor
8th century a new material and intellectual-spiritual culture became dominant within the Avar Empire, and this clearly indicated the homogenity of the territory. The excavated goods of the Late Avar Period are determined by the artifacts made of pressed plates. These were often filigree belt ornaments, the majority of them were decorated with griffins having the body of a lion and the head of an eagle as well as with fighting animals, palmettes, and tendrils. Due to the used motifs, scholars call this era as the period of the “griffin and tendril” culture. Its development was influenced both by an inner growth and by the radiation of Byzantine art. As a consequence of the peaceful conditions dominating these decades, the population gradually increased, and this process is well-reflected in the continuous use of the cemeteries established during the Early and the Middle Avar Period (Budakalász, Biatorbágy, Nagykőrös) as well as in the formation of new burial sites that were used until the beginning of the 9th century (Pusztazámor). The homogenisation of the social hierarchy is also mirrored by the burials. Although the members of the warrior groups were still present (burials with harnessed horses are to be found), apart from the weapons as signifying goods in their graves hardly any difference can be observed in comparison to those of the common people. There were leather belt endings with iron or bronze buckles in the male graves, to which iron knives or sabretaches were attached, in which sets of fire-lighting implements were kept. Some of these belts were still decorated with pressed plate mounts, but the majority already had cast bronze mounts. These mounts were ornamented with geometric and plant motifs, with animal or human figures. In the female burials the different types of bead pendant earrings, glass bead necklaces, bracelets, rings, rosettes, and daily tools (spindle-whorls, pins, and bone needle cases) also appeared. The increasing population developed a denser network of settlements. Consequently, in contrast to the earlier Avar periods more settlement remnants are extant also from Pest County. The structure of these settlements did not differ from the earlier sites, thus, they can be dated only with the help of the found objects. The most typical vessel was the handformed pot decorated with bundles of incised land and wavy lines, they were even put into the graves. Apart from them, baking bells and clay cauldrons were also to be found, although less in number. During the 8th century the Avar Empire was gradually pushed to the background, the sources hardly mentioned it. This silence was broken only in 791 by the outburst of the Avar-Frankish war. By that time the Avar Empire was already rather weak in warfare and in 803 attacks were led against it by the Bulgar khan called Krum that sealed its fate. The two-front struggle undermined the armed forces of the Avar Empire, and finally in 805 the khagan also subjected his people to Charlemagne. From that time onwards, smaller and larger principalities and satellite states were established one after the other within the territory of the Carpathian Basin. The great masses of the Avar population, however, did not disappear, since in 871 certain tax-paying Avar inhabitants were mentioned in the sources. The archaeological remains continuously refer to a Late Avar group still present in the 9th century, but there are no obvious, clear-cut data about a population surviving until the Magyar conquest. Kézzel formált edények / Hand made potteries Boglár és öweretek / Agrafe and belt mounts 58
