Garam Éva szerk.: Between East and West - History of the peoples living in hungarian lands (Guide to the Archaeological Exhibition of the Hungarian National Museum; Budapest, 2005)

HALL 8 AND CORRIDOR - The Avar period (567/568-804 A.D.) (Éva Garam)

108. Wheel-turned yellow clay vessels from Kiskőrös-Szücsidűlő, Jánoshida and Szehény. 8th century animals (horse and cattle) bred in the early Avar period, smaller domesticates, such as pig, sheep, goat and poultry, too could be kept for their meat, milk and in part for their wool. Fish too figured prominently in the Avars' diet, whose villages lay by watercourses and lakes. The fish-spears, harpoons and hooks, such as the ones found at Kölked, were used for catching large fishes. The remains of structures where fish was smoked and dried have been uncovered on settlements. 6b. CRAFTS Most communities had their own potters and remains of kilns have been found on several sites. Fine, wheel-turned wares (flasks, jugs, handled vessels) were produced in pottery workshops. In contrast, the simple, poorlyfired, hand-thrown vessels placed into burials were usually made by the women in a family specifically as grave pottery. Potters used the quick wheel driven both by hands and feet. The fine yellow wares (Fig. 108) were often decorated with painted patterns. Certain traits, such as the rounded handle and the grooved and pinched rim, preserved elements of the pottery tradition of their earlier, eastern homeland. The Germanic potters' custom of decorating vessels with stamped patterns too survived for quite a long time. The Avar goldsmiths and blacksmiths were accomplished masters of their craft. Goldsmiths were familiar with late antique traditions, which they had mastered in the Byzantine workshops of the northern Pontic. The goldsmiths and blacksmiths of the Avar khaganate were full members of their communities, who were buried in the community cemetery with their weapons and tools. A blacksmith's burial was uncovered in the Kölked cemetery. He was buried according to the Avar custom: his tools (tongs and hammers)