Kaszab Zoltán (szerk.): A Magyar Természettudományi Múzeum évkönyve 64. (Budapest 1972)

Wenger, S.: Data to the anthropology of the Avar Period population in Northern Plains, Hungary

Data to the Anthropology of the Avar Period Population in the Northern Plains, Hungary By S. WENGER. Budapest The Jósa András Museum, Nyíregyháza, excavated in 1959-1961 four cemeteries originating from the Avar Period in the village Tiszavasvári about 30 km W of Nyíregyháza (the nearer designation of the localities are : 1. on and near the property of L. Kaba, Petőfi u. 49; 2. the agricultural cooperative "Városföldje — Béke"; 3. the a. c. Zöldmező; and 4. on the site of the so-called Koldusdomb). The excavations were led by D. CSAELÁNY, director of the Museum of the Comitat Szabolcs-Szatmár; N. KAEICZ, archeologist, the visiting Rumanian archeologist ENECHESCU, and the present author participated in the excavations on the Koldusdomb, while A. GOMBÁS, teacher, rendered valuable assistance in the work done on the site of the Városföldje — Béke field. During the excavations the osteological material of 133 graves have been exposed in the four localities (Koldusdomb: 43, Petőfi u. 49: 42, Városföldje — Béke: 30; Zöldmező: 45) and deposited in the Anthropological Department of the Hungarian Natural History Museum, Budapest. With the exception of Tisza vasvár-Koldusdomb (CSALLÁNY, 1958), the aroheological finds of the excavations are still unpublished. The age of the cemeteries is, on the basis of the aroheological finds and the diaries of the excavations, referable to the seventh century A. D., allowing a combined analysis of the partial populations discovered in the four sites. Prior to discussing the results of investigations conducted on the osteological material, I should like to deal especially with the skeleton found in Grave 9 of the cemetery at Petőfi u. 9, Tisza vasvár. This grave contained a distorted skull, a very rare occurrence. Distorted skulls originating from the IV-V centuries have been found on the Eurasian continent from Central Asia to the eastern confines of France. In historic times, the usage arrived from the area of the Amu Darya and the Syr Darya by the mediation of peoples from the Sarmatian and later from the Hun Periods to the southern territories of the Soviet Union, and then from that region through Rumania and Yugoslavia to Hungary. From here, it radiated in two directions : to Germany in the North and to France in the West. The most significant European localities of occurrence are in Hungary ( L

15 finds). The distorted skulls found in Hungary originate from the Hun-German Period, with some of them deriving even from the Gepids of the Avar Period. Three general methods to distort skulls can be reconstructed. The Eurasian and Hungarian distorted skulls belong to the circular and fronto-occipital groups. Distorting plates and bandages had been used during the process, by applying them after birth of the child and changing the devices in all probability also in later childhood so that the final form of the distorted skull evolved by the end of the juvenile age. There are highly divergent assumptions concerning purpose. In all likelihood it was applied to signify ethnic and social distinction and as a feature of rank.