Istvánovits Eszter (szerk.): A nyíregyházi Jósa András Múzeum Évkönyve 55. (Nyíregyháza, 2013)
A 2010. október 11-14. között Nyíregyházán és Szatmárnémetiben megtartott Vándorló és letelepült barbárok a kárpáti régióban és a szomszédos területeken (I-V. század) Új leletek, új értelmezések című nemzetközi régészeti konferencia anyagai - Marcin Biborski - Piotr Kaczanowski: Mágikus kardcsüngők
The Huns on Polish lands - an attempt to summarise Huns. Less attention has been paid to establishing a precise chronology for the two finds. Scholars have often limited themselves to general statements, not based on detailed analysis of the sources, that these finds should be connected with the time of Attila’s reign (cf. Krause 1904., Abf.rg 1936., László 1951., Harmatta 1951., Werner 1956., Bóna 1991.). The grave from Jakuszowice was discovered accidentally in the autumn of 1911 during the acquisition of sand on the left-bank terrace of the Nidzica river. At the depth of about 6 m, a skeleton burial was found which, along with the human bones, also contained the unbumed bones of a horse and lavish grave-goods including numerous elements of dress, horse harness and weaponry. Most of the objects were made of silver or gold (Zurowski 1921.,Nősek 1959., Godlowski 1995.). The exact initial burial inventory is not known. In trying to keep the discovery a secret, its finder, a local farmer named Andrzej Radziszewski, gave ‘a piece’ of the discovery to each witness, which most likely means a gold or silver artefact. However, the authorities in Saint Petersburg learned about the discovery.1 Radziszewski then decided to take the artefacts to Krakow, which belonged to Austro-Hungarian Monarchy at that time, where they were deposited in the Polish National Museum (Zurowski 1921.8, Godlowski 1995. 155). At present, they are kept in the Archaeological Museum in Krakow. Due to the circumstances of the discovery, no details are known as to the grave construction, the position of the skeleton against horse remains, or the arrangement of grave goods within the grave chamber. Moreover, only part of the grave inventory has survived, as can be deduced from the information mentioned above. Especially striking is the lack of fibulae, as ‘princely’ graves were usually furnished with more than one such artefact. Apart from a gold buckle decorated with almandines, the objects distributed among the witnesses of the discovery have never been recovered (Zurowski 1921. 9). It should be mentioned that, in spite of the considerable interest aroused by the discovery among Polish archaeologists (including prominent scholars such as W. Demetrykiewicz and L. Koziowski), it was then impossible to start excavations at Jakuszowice due to unfavourable attitude of the Russian administration (Zurowski 1921.9). Human bones (missing at present) were transported to Krakow together with other artefacts and analysed by J. Talko-Hryncewicz. He briefly noticed that “the individual was not very developed, maybe a male, young” (Zurowski 1921. 10). Thus, there is no information about such features of the skeleton from which one could draw conclusions as to the origin of the deceased. Among the preserved part of the grave inventory there are the following artefacts: a long sword with a cross-guard (Fig. 2: 1); an amber pommel, decorated with a gilded knob with almandine (Fig. 2: 3), earlier described as a ‘magic’ sword pendant (Biborskl Kaczanowski 2009.); two fragments of decorated golden foil from the scabbard, a “Gundremmingen” type chape made of silver and bronze (Fig. 2: 4-5, Fig. 3: 5); two fragments of a golden band decorated with almandines (Fig. 4: 5-6); elements of horse harness: a bit with stamped decoration and two cross-shaped strapdividers (Fig. 5: 1-2, Fig. 3: 2-3), a pelta shaped pendant, with stamped and niello ornamentation (Fig. 5: 3); three gold buckles decorated with almandines in polychrome style (Fig. 4: 1-2, 12); four silver buckles, including three gilded specimens with stamped decoration (Fig. 5: 5-7); a silver loop-shaped buckle, usually referred to as “Osenschnalle” (Fig. 4: 11); a gilded silver, stamped tongue-shaped strap-end; two golden strap-ends decorated with almandines in cloisonné technique (Fig. 5: 4, Fig. 4: 3-4); two lunulae of golden foil, decorated with almandines in polychrome style (Fig. 4: 7-8); a triangular appliqué made of golden foil (Fig. 4: 9); a fragment of an iron knife with the remains of wooden scabbard; and a fragment of a ‘grey’ colour ceramic vessel, most likely wheel-made, missing today but mentioned in J. Zurowski’s publication (Zurowski 1921., Nősek 1 Jakuszowice belonged to the Russian partition at that time. 433
