Marisia - Maros Megyei Múzeum Évkönyve 33/4. (2013)
Articles
Churchyards in the Transylvanian Basin from the 11th to the first half of the 13th centuries 155 2.2. Stones on the skeleton or a part of it: Däbäca-Casf/e Area IV: Graves 114,129,130,162, 181,93 186.C, 192, 196, 205, 215, 220.B,94 254,95 274, 310, 330,96 349,97 375, 408 and 413, Jucu: Grave 65.98 99 Questionable cases: Giläu: Grave 3." 3. Stone under the skull: Däbäca-Casi/e Area IV: Grave 316. Concerning these graves, our first observation can be made on the geographical area of their occurrence. As can be seen on the maps, both the custom of built graves and the stones placed or thrown in the graves were registered in the graves excavated in the western part of the Basin. Certainly, it should be mentioned that this observation can be considered relative based on the present stage of research, but it is remarkable that in the properly excavated cemeteries in Feldioara and Sighisoara-Dealul Viilor this custom is completely missing. And if we take the example of stones placed in the graves, we cannot talk about the lack of any technological knowledge or community work requiring more physical energy. It is also a remarkable fact that these burials are known from the cemeteries of county centres (Alba Iulia, Cluj-Napoca-Mänästur, Däbäca) or the neighbouring areas (Giläu, Jucu). Graves 92-93 in Cluj-Mänästur, which lie almost next to each other and have highly elaborated stone frames and covers, can be distinguished from the rest of the graves in the cemetery. In the centre-periphery model, the archaeological evidence of the influence made by the later on the previous can be seen on the built graves. Possibly, a technologically much poorer imitation of the Cluj-Mana§tur-Ca/vnn'i7: Graves 92-93 (see Fig. 10.A-B) with brick frames and covers can be observed in the case of the built graves in Cluj-Napoca-Piafa Centralä: Grave 21, Juciiig í a rom: Graves 5, 13, 23 and 83 (and maybe Giläu: Grave 3?). It remains a question how far the cultural radiation of the centre in Cluj-Napoca- Mänästur (a county centre and a Benedictine 93 The documentation clearly shows that the stone was originally placed on the right foot. 94 The documentation clearly shows that the stone was originally placed on the left hand bone. 95 The head of the deceased person was surrounded by stones and another large stone was placed on the head. 96 The head of the deceased person was surrounded with stones and a small stone was placed on the head. 97 The documentation clearly shows that the stone was originally placed on the right shinbone, which has decayed. 98 On the skull. 99 Stones in the grave. Their positions was not registered. monastery) reached. If we think of the quantity and the quality of the renovated built graves in the cemeteries lying 2, 4, and 18 km away from the castle, it seems clear that the highly elaborated and probably valuable tombs did not only have a mnemonic and memory keeping power but they could also have influenced or changed the cultural customs of those living in the surrounding area by representing the prestige of the deceased ones. Some of built graves are constituted by the graves formed in the shape of human body and those called head-niche graves or mummy-shaped grave in the literature. In Romanian literature, mummy-shaped graves were interpreted as ethnic features and connected to immigrant hospites. A weak point in this theory, is the fact that graves built in the graves dug in the shape of human bodies required skill and material investment. Their parallels were mainly or exclusively registered in the centre of the vast County Fehér, in Alba Iulia. It is quite obvious that the graves built in the centre of the county could not follow this custom, they could not possibly have taken it over from the rural communities in S Transylvania, but it was a characteristic burial custom of the Christian elite in the contemporary Europe. In the case of Alba Iulia-Roman Catholic Cathedral it cannot be ruled out that in the mummy-shaped grave were buried the bishops or archbishops of the 12th-13th century Transylvania, a possibility that was also taken into consideration also D. Marcu .100 Similar grave shapes were found in the excavations of the kindred centers (Babócsa- Nárciszos-Basakert), near basilica (Pozega) and in monasteries (Cluj-Napoca-Mänästur, Báta, Cikádor, Frumuseni Grave 111, Vokány, Somogyvár, Rakovac, Macvanska Mitrovica, Ópusztaszer-Monostor: Grave 915 or Csongrád- Ellésmonostor: Grave 102) (see Fig. 10.H).10' In conclusion it can be stated that brick graves built in human body shape did not indicate any ethnic identity but it was a burial fashion among the different elites in Christian Europe, which could have been imitated by ordinary people. Flowever, we do not mean by this that no hospites were buried in the S Transylvanian cemeteries, we just want to point out that it would be a methodological mistake to see a hospes in each mummy-shaped grave pit (some ideas on this question see later). Contrary to built graves, which may have been connected to the symbolisation of the 100 Marcu 2005, 238. 101 Pap 2002, 4. kép 1, 4; Rusu - Burnichioiu 2011, 65-69; Sümegi 1997, 155; Sümegi 1997, 155; Sümegi 2006, 148; Stanojev 2000, 394; Stanojev 2005, 61, note 16.
