KOVÁCS TIBOR: TUMULUS CULTURE CEMETERIES OF TISZAFÜRED / Régészeti Füzetek II/17. (Magyar Nemzeti Múzeum Budapest, 1975)
III.Some considerations on the cemeteries
Sheathed bronze arrowhead V/as found only in grave 99 (fig. 8) next to the body. Its placement into the grave must have been only symbolic, because it is unlikely that a fighter would have only been equipped with one bronze arrowhead. 10 2 It is of great interest what role the battle-hatchet may have played in the weaponry of the Tumulus Culture of the Carpathian region. This weapon was the most characteristic for the people of the Carpathian basin during the Middle and Late Bronze Age. 10 3 At first it may seem misleading that only a very few came to light in our area from the graves of the Tumulus Culture. 10 4 There was only one at Tiszafüred, from the disturbed grave 20 (fig. 4) thus its chronological position is vague in spite of its typological analysis. The existense of the quoted contemporary pieces though indicate unanimously that this battle-hatchet was an important part of weaponry. The low number of pieces can be explained most likely with the changes in burial customs. An example can be mentioned here, supporting this hypothesis, that swords were very seldom placed next to the body; but the number of swords found in rivers grows, meaning that the must have been thrown in there at the time for a sacrificial purpose. 10 5 The difference in apparel and arms found in graves demonstrate the difference between the natives [for example graves 161 (PI. 15), 143 (PI. 12), 176 (PI. 17), 288 (PI. 24)] and the conquerors [for example graves 19 (PI. 2), 5L (PI. 4), 82 (PI. 7), 99 (PI. 9), 135 and 138 (PI. 12), 157 (PI. 14), 174 (PI. 17), 268 (PI. 25), 284 (PL 27), 304 (PL 28), 327 and 330 (PL 17)]. The mixture of the two can be observed in graves 56, 102, 160, 253, 258, 341-342, 354. This grouping can only partly indicate the ethnic origin of the individuals since apparel alone cannot be solely considered as an ethnic marker. 10 6 In the discussion of the remains indicating apparel, facts and hypotheses were used. Since many graves of our cemetery are disturbed, further analysis could lead to misleading conclusions. Further investigation can only be accomplished after the publication of cemeteries of similar dating (like Tápé, Letkes, Maklár, Jánoshida). 4. CONCLUSIONS One of the important results of the excavations at Tiszafüred between 1964 and 1972 is that we were able to find three contemporary burial grounds inhabited from Neolithic times and used for centuries by Bronze Age people of the settlement of Ásotthalom, and that we were able to carry out extensive excavations at Majoroshalom, and smaller ones at Fertőihalom and Kenderföldek. All three cemeteries were established by the Middle Bronze Age inhabitants of Ásotthalom (Füzesabony culture) but their use continued after the invasion of the Tumulus Culture, developed in Central Europe, into the Tisza area. Both the native inhabitants surviving the wars, and the qonquerors settling here, used the traditional places to bury their dead. The material culture of the natives and the newcomers differed so much that it was easy to distinguish between their remains. As a result of this the graves of the Tiszafüred cemetery are very important archaeological proofs of the historical events of the Hungarian Bronze Age. The new burial rites (urn graves, pythos burials 10 7) unknown during the previous centuries over this territory, and the appearance of new pottery and metalware, very different of the local traditions, indicate an ethnic change following a successful conquest. The date of this event, which effected most of the Carpathian basin, according to the hidden treasures of the local people (so called Koszider type treausres), and their archaeological and natural scientific investigation, must be placed to the last decades of the 14th century B. C. 10 8 This provides the approximate date of the beginning of the Hungarian Late Bronze Age (turn of the 14th and 13th centuries B. C.), and the dates of the earliest graves of the introduced cemeteries. We separated five grave groups in the less disturbed northwestern part of the cemetery excavated at Majoroshalom (A—E). We find the older periods (like graves 322, 325, 284, 294, 296, 354) and younger periods (like graves 326-327, 329-300, 291, 341—342) as well among the graves of the B—D group. This seems to support that the supposed grave groups must have been the burial grounds of contemporary families. 10 9 The assimiliation between the native inhabitants and the new settlers of the region 11 0 must have begun shortly after the conquest. The result of this is reflected in the mixture of the different shape and motive repertoire, and can be measured in the mutual changes and influences in apparel (see for example graves 56, 102, 175, 256, 341-342). As a result of the merging of people of different origins, such a new ethnic group came into being at the Hungarian Great Plain during the first centuries of the Late Bronze Age (13th century B. C.) which was a part of the common interest group of the Tumulus Culture, but its spiritual and material culture wore specific characteristics due to the influence of the local traditions. 11 1 This is the reason why their remains can be easily distinguished from the Plain's people of the Tumulus Culture of the Carpathian region (like the group of Hajdúbagos, Rákóczifalva) and from the remains of the cultures of Piliny and Felsőszőcs. It seems that the inhabitants of the northern Plain did not have any close connection with these ethnic groups, it does not show in their remains. 11 2 The finds of our cemetery provides an excellent base for the detailed study of the objects used by the Late Bronze Age people and their customs. We think of those cups here, which bear marks indicating masters or possession by + - scoring (PL 26-271/3, 277/1), 11 3 or the vessels standing on legs preserving the plastic artistic traditions of earlier centuries (PL 30-326/1). 11 4 48
