Szilágyi Miklós (szerk.): A Szekszárdi Béri Balogh Ádám Múzeum Évkönyve 10-11. (Szekszárd, 1982)

Gaál Attila: The 16th–17th century cemetery of Dombóvár–Békató

Altila Gnál THE Itth-nth CENTURY CEMETERY OF DOMBÓVÁR-BÉKATÓ This study deals with an unprecedented 16th-17th century (Turkish occupation period) cemetery in Hungary. The first disturbed skeletons came to light in 1975 by accident in course of the construction of a fish-pond near Dombóvár of Tolna County. The excavation which followed and concluded in 1977, with one year hiatus, resulted in the saving of 260 graves. The excavated cemetery differs decisevely from any other cemetery in Hungary of the same period, thus the question of foreigners settling during the war years being buroed here in these graves, and not Hungarians, came up already during the time of the field work. The most outstanding difference was the fact that no church building or its remains were found here, nevertheless medieval and late medieval Hungarian cemeteries always crowded around churches. The graves here were all in the same layer in smaller and larger groups and no trace of any cutting-through could be detected. a) Orientation of the graves All the graves were W- E oriented, there was nota single of opposite orientation. Compass readings were most frequently around 48' and 53' on a compass of 64 divisions. b) Grave ditch types No coffin or trace of coffin came to light from any of the graves, the shape of the grave ditches were, however, highly variegated and all variations of earthen grave types were found. Of the less destroyed, évalua table 122 grave ditches 28 were so called simple graves, 13 were coved and 81 were benched, accordingly, this last one can be considered the most frequent type of our cemetery (PI. 6-8). It is interesting that traces of grave covers, or shrouds of textile or straw matting could be also found in the latter types of graves. c) The piacament of the body in the grave Traces of grave preparation happening between digging the grave and the placement of the body could only be detected in two cases. Both graves used tegula fragments of a 4th century settlement of the area, in one case it was to support the skull, in the other case to support the feet and the head. The latter one could possibly be explained with the condition of the body. The pelvis of the 18-20 year old woman held the mature bones of an unborn female offspring (Fig. 6;2 and 28). The bodies were generally laid on their backs, in a prone position, into the ditches. Deviation from this position is very rare. One grave ditch usually held one body, even in the coved graves. There were two such graves where the body of infants were placed in the grave of adults (Fig. 22), furthermore two other cases showed group burial including two skeletons respectively (Fig. 29). Except for one child's grave (Fig. 28) all graves of the cemetery were undisturbed. No coffin mountings, nails or coffin planks could be found in any of the graves. In most cases no such material was used to cover the bodies which would have left any visible traces. Occasionally however, to keep the dirt out, frames of planks were constructed (Fig. 9) or spanning boardsv/ere placed along or across the middle of the grave (Fig. 8; 4, 7, 8), or traces of shrouds or sedge covering the body could be observed (Fig. 8; 6, 9; Fig. 14). d) Position of the lower arms Agreat variation of the position of the lower arm can be detected, no system could be worked out however. We find it interesting notwithstanding, that the typical Christian arm position of the clutching of the hands across the chest was almost completely lacking. e) Furnishings Grave furniture could be divided into three groups: /. Objects and jewelry related to fashion, clothes 1. Bronze brooches 2. Iron brooches 3. Simple and beaded bronze pins 4. Tin, bronze, bone, and glass buttons with loops 5. Glass beads 6. Bronze and iron small linked loops 7. Cypria shells 8. Forehead ornaments 9. Headdresses 10. Open bronze ring 11. Closed iron rings 181