Matskási István (szerk.): A Magyar Természettudományi Múzeum évkönyve 82. (Budapest 1990)
Fóthi, E. ; Pap, I.: Changes of way of life during the 6-12th centuries in the territory of Hungary
ANNALES fflSTORICO-NATURALES MUSEI NATIONALIS HUNGARICI Tomus 82. Budapest, 1990 p. 259-269. Changes of way of life during the 6-12th centuries in the territory of Hungary* by E. FÓTHI & I. PAP, Budapest E. FÚTHI & I. PAP: Changes of way of life during the 6-12th centuries in the territory of Hungary. - Annls hist.-nat. Mus, natn. hung. 1990, 82: 259-269. Abstract - The authors tried to add some anthropological evidence to the reconstruction of the everyday life of the 6-12th century populations. They were looking for possible relationships among skeletal remains, diet and way of life. They found that the anthropological material reflected the social changes from half-nomadic pastoralism to an agricultural system. Of course no close and direct parallel can be set between given historical events and changes in health and body constitution but really important historical changes nevertheless left their marks on the populations. With 6 tables and 4 figures. The 6th to 12th centuries saw dramatic historical changes in the centre of the Carpathian Basin that is the present territory of Hungary. The powerful nomadic Avars conquered it and lived here first as a feared ally of Byzantium. They were getting the usual annual gold fee all previous and later nomadic empires enjoyed. After centuries of lost struggles with their archenemies the Bulgarians they lost not only the favour and money of Byzantium to the extent that they had to forge grave obuli for their dead but they were forced to start the dreaded transition of their nomadic pastoralism to some form of early settled agricultural way of life. For the end of the eight century their empire was crushed between the hammer of the relentless Bulgarians of the East and the anvil of the emerging Frankish empire of CHARLES THE GREAT in the West. This destruction included the almost complete extinction of their aristocracy and the forced migration of a great number of their craftsmen . By the nature of things the Conquering Hungarians found a mixture of peoples in this territory at the end of the ninth century. Avar fragments were probably also present among them. After a century of vain attempts to keep their half-nomadic pastoral system working it was the Hungarians turn to force their own transition into the European pattern of settled agricultural Christian and feudal society. This transition took up the first two centuries of the second millennia after the brutally efficient first efforts of the first king of Hungary the later canonized STEPHEN THE FIRST of the ÁRPÁD dynasty. This transition was the question of life and death for all the peoples of the Great Migration arriving to this region and their answers to this challenge form the secular trend behind all the dramatic historical events of this period. Paper presented at the "Diachronie trends in historical anthropology" meeting, Prague, 1989.
