Somogyi Múzeumok Közleményei 9. (1992)

Bárdos Edith: „KOPT” bronzedény a Zamárdi Avar temetőből

„KOPT" BRONZEDÉNY A ZAMÁRDI AVAR TEMETŐBŐL 39 EDITH BARDOS: „COPTIC" BOWL FROM THE AVAR CEMETERY IN ZAMARDI Resume At the end of the 6. centrury and at the beginning of the 7. century an „ordu" like that of Karakorum in Mongolia came into being within the boundaries of the present Zamárdi on the southern bank of Lake Balaton. The cemetery of this centre has been excavated for 10 years. More than 1000 graves of the estinated 6000 ones has been explored so far. The cemetery of the „ordu" has extraordinarly quite a lot of jewels, arms, belts, glasses, e. ta,-of Frank, Alemann, Bajuwar, Italian, Longobard and Italian origin. The author of the present article aims only to give a detailed description of only one of the grave goods - the Coptic bowl - as to make it clear to what a large extent the Avar centre - in question has had commercial and ethnical ties with the Byzantine Empire and with other territories. The „Coptic bowl" is a cast one, turned later. It is a bronze bowl with an open footring, curved handles, (omega-shaped), an the bottom with an engraved Byzantine cross. After Having studied special literature it turned out that this object (of investigation) is unique only for us Hungarians (as being the only one in the Carpathian Basin) as these can almost similar objects of so called „Coptic" bronze bowls from the 7. century Europe: 25 in England, 1 in Belgium, 5 in France, 38 in Germany, 29 in Italy, 3 in Holland, 11 in Spain, 3 in Switzerland, I in Ukraine, 4 in Dalmatia In Hungary only at Várpalota has a similar type of find been found. The „alterego"-s of Zamárdi type can be found in the East, too. (Cairo, Alexandria, Nubia). Our find is most likely similar to the finds of the graves at Italian Logobard cemeteries, first of all Cividale, being the other grave goods similar to those of the Longobard cemeteries in Italy. The findspots - where these „Coptic" bowls were found - belonged to the range of influence of the Byzantine Empire. In the 1980s an English scientist Peter Richards studied the „Coptic" bronze bowls in details (Formerlyin the 30s Joachim Werner wrote studies about the finds known) The bronze vessels represent the best achievements of the Egyptian „Coptic" bronze craftmenship. The British Museum has a number of cast bronze „Coptic" bowls excavated from Anglo-Saxon graves. The Department of Medieval and Later Antiquities has II Coptic vessels from Anglo-Saxon contexts in its collection, 8 are bowls, one is an ewer (from Wheathampstead) and 2 are pails (from Chessell Down.) The closest to our bowl seem to those from Faversham (1289-70) which is similar to 1293-70 but has curved (omega-shaped) handles rather than the angular type; also Wingham, which is small, or the large bowl from Wickhambreux. Except for the bowl from Sutton Hoo, the footrings on all our examples are openwork and similar to the bowl from Zamárdi. The metal of the Coptic vessels from Anglo-Saxon contexts has been analysed in the Research Laboratory of the British Museum and compared with that of other bronzes excavated in Egypt. At the period when the Coptic vessels were coming into Europe until the Arab conquest in 632, Egypt, as a part of the Byzantine Empire, vas well connected to the main trade routes into Europe. The large number of Coptic bowls from graves the Lombardié cemeteries around Cividale del Friuli and from the Rhineland suggests that a route through Lombardié and Frankish territory is the most likely way in which the bowls reached England in the late 6th and early 7th century. Of the 25 Coptic vessels known or recorded from England 12 were found in Kent and 6 in East Anglia Historical sources and the evidence from the large number of rich cemeteries all point to a close contact between Kent and Continental Europe at this and earlier periods. Where there are associated finds, the Coptic bowls can be shown to belong to rich, prestigious graves, both male and female. Dr. Craddock' s metal analyses does demonstrate that the bronze used for the bowls is a high lead, low tin alloy with appreciable quantities of zinz. Also the bowls are heavy and cast; unlike the thin, local- (or European) made bowls of beaten bronze. Our early Avar period beginning in 568 corresponds closely to the late 6th early 7th century dating for the Coptic bowls from Anglo-Saxon contexts. Peter Richards collected the Coptic vessels in Europe, about 120 Coptic bronzes have been found in Western Europe as a whole, of which come 25 come from England (see the tables attached). The date range is very tight - nearly all seem to belong to the period 600-650 A D and a number are firmly dated by coins (both the coin dated finds in England belong tu about 620-630.) By the opinion of Peter Richards some of the bowls come from Constatinople itself. There are certainly similar vessels from Egypt, but he believes vessels like this could have been made in a number of early Byzantine cities (eg. Thessalonika, Athens, Sardis, Ephesus, Corinth, Antioch, perhaps even Ravenna) and Constantinople seems to him likely to be the source of much of the material. By his opinion the cross on the bottom of the bowl is likely to be a by-product of the manufacturing process, rather than a Cristian symbol deliberately engraved after casting. In Europe a very well-known type is the one represented by the Zamárdi find (a bowl with omega-shaped, curved handles, open work foot-ring).