Matskási István (szerk.): A Magyar Természettudományi Múzeum évkönyve 83. (Budapest 1991)

Ferencz, M.: Joint diseases in Medieval cemetery in Hungary

ANNALES HISTORICO-NATURALES MUSEI NATIONALIS HUNGARICI Tomus 83. Budapest, 1991 p. 277-284. Joint diseases in a Medieval cemetery in Hungary by M. FERENCZ, Budapest FERENCZ, M.: Joint diseases in a Medieval cemetery in Hungary. - Annls hist.-nat. Mus. nam. hung. 1991, 83: 000-000. Abstract - The Medieval village Szentkirály was inhabited by two different populations. The first population lived there in the Árpádian period (ll-13th c), the second used the cemetery from the 14-17th centuries. During the excavation more than 400 graves were dug up. In this paper the author examined the skeletons of 170 grown-up individuals from the aspect of joint diseases (spondylosis deformans, osteoarthrosis deformans). She compared their frequency within the populations and among them. With 1 table, 2 figures and 3 photoplates. The deserted Medieval village Szentkirály was located between the rivers Danube and Tisza, 20 km to East of the market town Kecskemét. The complex archaeological excavation of the settlement and its cemetery was started in 1969 headed by ANDRÁS PÁLÓCZI-HORVÁTH. An integrated interdisciplinary team of researchers has been working on the project (PÁLÓCZI-HORVÁTH 1988). The complex archaeological and anthropological examination is still going on. In this paper we study the joint diseases are that visible on the skeletons. In the Middle Ages this village was twice completely deserted. Two separate communities followed each other there. In the Árpádian-period (11-13th c.) Szentkirály was a royal domain, inhabited by peasants belonging to the social group called castrensis. The first church of the village was built at the turn of the 11-12th centuries. The church was dedicated to the cult of king ST. STEPHEN. The village was named after its church (Szentkirály = Sanctus Rex that is Sacred King). The village was laid waste in the Mongol-Tartar invasion, in the middle of the 13th century. In 1354 King Louis The Great donated this vacant estate to a Cumanian noble family on the condition that they were to settle down there with their peasants. The nomad Cumanians migrated into Hungary from the East in the 13th century. Originally they lived in a tribal-clannish system and their integration in the Hungarian feudal society lasted to the end of the 14th century. This Cumanian population in Szentkirály could be traced to the end of the 16th century, when the internal migration brought about by the Osman-Turkish conquest altered the ethnical composition of the village and its environs. At the turn of the 16-17th centuries Szentkirály was already populated by a mixture of Hungarians and Cumanians. The Turkish levies registered 50-60 families (350-400 individuals) in the village. In the 17th century the population decreased owwing to the permanent Turkish wars. The village was destroyed on more than one occasion. The survivors moved to the nearby market-town Kecskemét (PÁLÓCZI-HORVÁTH 1976). Szentkirály with its above average size and population was an important settlement. It was located on the salt transport road running from Szeged to the royal capital