Wicker Erika: Rácok és vlahok a hódoltság kori Észak-Bácskában (Kecskemét, 2008.)

VIII. RÁC AND VLACH PEOPLE IN THE NORTHERN-BÁCSKA REGION DURING THE TURKISH RULE. SUMMARY

already been living for several generations under Turkish rule, where they could have easily adopted certain elements of the customs and practice of the conquerors. Characteristic items of the Rác-Vlach material of finds are the various pins, made from iron, decorated with small balls or beads, or sometimes with bigger hollow balls. These pins were used to fix the shawl or veil to the simpler, less ornamented head-dress beneath. The Rác-Vlach people in the Northern-Bácska region did not wear that type of head-dress with which a large number of pins were used (the so-called "winding" head-dress). The head-dresses worn by the Rác-Vlach people were decorated with beads and also with kaori-shells and various metal- and glass objects - the latter being characteristic in the material of finds of this period only of the population of the Balkan. Among the pieces of their jewellery, the pair of earrings discovered in Katymár, which was made to be worn as a decoration on the temple, is unique, its shape reflects the characteristics of the hollow lunula that used to be worn in Macedonia and Serbia, whereas its ornaments show some sort of a relation with the discshaped earrings found in Serbia. Beads and pendants worn in the neck were less common, while fibulas have only been found in treasure-troves dating from the period. Rings with characteristically chiselled heads were among their most popular jewellery. Only such finds as objects made from lasting materials provide some hints concerning these people's clothes. They used buttons made from silver, bronze, tin, bone, glass, and seldom from lead and iron, as well as simple bronze and iron hooks to fasten the garment or the trousers around the neck or at the waist, respectively. The costume fastened with several buttons, hooks or copper rings in the front of the garment was another style, which was more popular among the urban type of Rác population in Transdanubia. In some cases they decorated their garments with metal- or glass plates, and stitched braid or lacing around the neck-line. It is only the iron heels once fitted on boots, found in bigger Rác cemeteries, which provide some sort of an indication of their footwear. Utensils, tools and weapons have seldom been buried with the dead person, and it only occurred among the Rác and Vlach people in Transdanubia. However, giving money to the dead was known and practised also among the Balkan population of the Northern-Bácska region. It occurred both in Transdanubia and in the Bácska region that certain objects were thrown into the grave pit during the funeral. Similarly, the strikingly large number of the pieces of iron discovered in the RácVlach graves, the function of which is impossible to identify by now, might be associated with some sort of a cult or ritual. In accordance with both the Christian and Islamic traditions, food and drink were never part of the grave-goods. The objective of the dissertation was to identify and analyse the archaeological material of finds of the Balkan population who had lived here during the Turkish occupation of Hungary, together with those archaeological sites in the Northern-Bácska region which are located on the territory that is now part of Hungary, and can be associated with this Rác-Vlach population. May I express the hope that I have effectually performed my task. At the same time I also hope that on the basis of this paper the remains of the Rác-Vlach "tent-dweller herdsmen", who moved to Hungary in the 16

th century, will be distinguishable among those sites which have been so far identified as the archaeological sites of the Hungarian population of the late medieval-early modern times of history. The manuscript was completed on 10 March 2008.