Folia archeologica 23.
Fodor István: Újabb adatok a bánkúti sír értékeléséhez
242 I. FODOR The Bánkút grave is a horse burial, the animal having been buried with its owner. The body is directed NE, the horse was laid on its right in the opposite direction. The grave was situated at the feet of a long sand-hill. Burials of a similar rite occur between the 12th and 14th century in East Europe and are regarded as Cuman graves. 4 9 Considering above facts as well as the lack of objects characteristic for Mongol graves (bogtaks, anthropomorphic ongon-figures 4 7 —the mirrors themselves were wide-spread objects) further the absence of rites thought as specific for Mongol burials (cove grave, north orientation and usual lack of horse burial) 3 8 we come to the deduction that the Bánkút grave was the burial-place of a noble Cuman lady. The area of the burial-place (between the rivers Körös and Maros) was one of the main dwellings of the Cumans after their immigration to Hungary ( 5 4first immigration: 1239, second one: 1246) until the battle at Hódtó (1282), when the rebellious Cumans, defeated by the royal forces, fled in their bulk from this area. 55 The Bánkút burial can be put with certainty between these two data (1246 and 1282). In this time the Cumans immigrating to Hungary—especially the clan aristocracy—must have clung, among many features of their beliefs, also to their pagan burial rites.
