Marisia - Maros Megyei Múzeum Évkönyve 30/1. (2010)
Articles
192 Z. Soós-Sz. S. Gál The grave M53 is west of M52 and only the right pelvis bone, the right hand and a few vertebrae were preserved. The upper part of the skeleton was in the western profile while the lower part is destroyed by the M52. Because of the low number of the bones the gender of the person is undeterminable. The grave M54 is situated in the south-eastern part of the trench near the southern profile at the depth of 1.15 m. Only the skull and some rib fragments were preserved from the skeleton. Most of the grave was destroyed by the grave M49. The last two graves are M55 and M56, both are situated in the south-western corner of the C28. The bones were found in one grave pit, but they belong to two individuals. The anthropological analysis of the bones revealed that the remains belonged to a 2-3 years old child (M56) it was preserved his skull and we have the bones of a 18-23 years old young female. The two skeletons belonged to a mother and her child. Based on the identified graves and their analysis in the archaeological trench C28 we have 22 burials and burial fragments, out of which 4 were so fragmentary that it was not possible to establish the sex of the individuals. 11 burials belonged to adult male persons, in 2 graves female skeletons were identified and the rest of 5 skeletons were children burials. Out of the five children burials the M52 was the best preserved and based on the anthropological analysis we can establish that it belonged to a young female. The feminine character of the burial was strengthened by the presence of the diadem in grave. In the Hungarian historiography it was several times debated whether the position of the hands in the grave could have any meaning. Some argued that this could have a special significance or it is part of an ancient habit but finally it was proved that the position of the hands is completely random and it is not probable that they had any meaning3. The random character of the hands’ position is revealed in the case of the Tärgu Mure§ burials as well, as we have 3 graves where the hands were placed on the pelvis, 5 burials when the hands were placed along the body, in case of 2 burials the hands were placed on the chest, in case of 2 skeletons the hands were mixed one along the body and one on the chest. The rest of the 9 graves were fragmentary preserved, therefore we could not identify the position of the hands. The large number of the male burials proves that the cemetery was first of all used by the friars. In a number of cases male burials could belong to the donors as well. It is almost impossible to establish about a burial if it belongs to a friar or a donor, since the number of the artefacts in the graves is very low according to the medieval burial habits. Therefore there is no difference between the grave of laic or church people. The presence of child burials means that in some cases members of important donor families or influent people could be buried in the friary’s graveyard in case of the donation of money or other goods. Seven graves out of 22 belonged to laic people if we take into account the five children and the two female. We assume that at least two or three male persons could be the father of these children meaning that out of the 22 identified burials 10-11 belonged to non friars. This means that only around 50% of the burials belonged to friars and the rest of the burials belonged to donors. Although in the case of the friary from Tärgu Mure$ we have no written sources about the income of the friars, from other cases we know that this represented an important part of the friaries’ budget. In some cases we know about trials between the parish church and the friary because of the burial rights within a settlement.4 In case of Tärgu Mure§ 3 Hatházy 2004; Selmeczi 1992. 4 It is the case of the friary from Sibiu/Nagyszeben.
