A Nyíregyházi Jósa András Múzeum évkönyve 44. (Nyíregyháza, 2002)

Régészet - Eszter Istvánovits–Valéria Kulcsár: Buckles in the Sarmatian costume and burial rite

Istvánovits Eszter — Kulcsár Valéria VÖRÖS 2002. Vörös Gabriella: Övek a szarmata férfiak sírjaiban (a Hódmezővásárhely-kopáncsi sír leleteinek újraértelmezése). [Gürtel in den sarmatischen Männergräbern. (Die neue Deutung der Grabfunde von Hódmezővásárhely-Kopáncs).] MFME - StudArch VII. 2001.319-331. ZAJCEV 1997. Ю.П. Зайцев: Склеп N390 Усть-Альминского позднескифского некрополя. In: Бахчисарайский историко-археологический сборник, вып. I. Симферополь 1997. 156-180. ZOLTAI 1941. Lajos Zoltai: Die Hügelgräber der römischen Kaiserzeit in Hortobágy. DissPann 11.11. 1941.269-308. ISTVÁNOVITS Eszter Jósa András Múzeum H-4401 Nyíregyháza, Pf. 57. e-mail: istvanov@jam.nyirbone.hu KULCSÁR Valéria Petőfi Múzeum H-2170 Aszód, Szontágh lépcső 2. e-mail: hl3609kul@ella.hu Buckles in the Sarmatian costume and burial rite In the catalogue of Sarmatian graves of the Great Hungarian Plain, containing two or more belt(?)buckles, we listed 43 burials from 29 sites. From the catalogue we can see that this custom can be followed from the end of the 2

nd century until the end of Sarmatian Age. This phenomenon was generally spread on the Great Hungarian Plain. The prevalence of the sites at the south of the territory must be explained by the traditionally well researched character of the region. According to Andrea Vaday's opinion the occurrence of two buckles, in the majority of cases, refers to a balteus, a suspension belt for weapons wore in Roman way (VADAY 1989. 69. footnote 182). At the same time, both I. Dinnyés and G. Vörös pointed to the fact, that these buckles were found both in graves with weapons and without them. There is no significant difference between these two categories of burials. So, the presence of the second belt (better to say, the second buckle) can be interpreted as a weapon belt only in a part of cases. In several places one of the buckles was recorded on the breast or its area, there were pieces found at one of the elbows or inside the arm, that makes us suggest that the buried men were really wearing a balteus. However, this custom can be traced only in a relatively small part of graves with two buckles. In some cases the second buckle undoubtedly served for the suspension of the sword: in these burials it was always found directly by the sword or corroded to it.