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

tery in Bácsalmás. Having relied on the results of the recently conducted archaeological investigation in Transdanubia (Dombóvár), the characteristic remains of the Rác-Vlach population have been successfully identified and distinguished from other remains, thereby several archaeological sites that had previously been associated with the Hungarian population of medieval times, have now become the subject of scientific investigation. On the basis of the analysis of the Rác-Vlach material of finds, a clear distinction can be made between the cemeteries of a rural type of Rác-Vlach population, uncovered in Dombóvár as well as in the Northern-Bácska region, and those of the more urban type of "civil-military" Balkan people whose cemeteries have been identified so far only in Transdanubia (Győr, Esztergom). The Rác and Vlach people, who moved to Hungary around the middle of the 16

th century, settled in depopulated Hungarian villages or in the close vicinity of these villages, but they buried the dead further away from the settlements, on a high hill. These cemeteries, in which no church buildings have been found, are one-layered, i. e. over-burial was not at all, or just very rarely practised. The layout of the tombs shows a pattern of groups of relatively precisely arranged rows of tombs, supposedly these groups of tombs can be associated with one particular family each. The grave pits which were usually of the shape of a rectangle, sometimes of a slightly trapezoid form, or of an oval form, were in most cases dug with an orientation of South-West-North-East and West-East, in some cases the orientation was North-West-South-East. The bottom of the pits are only rarely level ground or it is slightly bent; in the overall majority of the pits the characteristic architectural form is a particular way of shaping benches; but grave pits with side-recesses (niches) can also be found. The excavated part, i. e. the indentation between the two benches was usually in the middle of the grave pit (benches situated on two sides), whereas the asymmetrical arrangement (a bench formed only on one side), as well as the excavation of the bottom of the pit in the shape of a pointed, tapering cross-section, were less frequently applied features. Before the corpse was rolled into the winding-sheet, or put in the coffin, the arms of the dead person had been adjusted to be placed in the traditional position. In most cases the forearms were placed in a position near to the waist, whereas forearms bent backwards right to the shoulders occurred less frequently. Burial using box- or case type coffins was observed only in a small number of graves; coffins of both the type of coffins fixed with some iron nails and the type of timbered wooden coffins were used. In the burying practice of the Rác population during the Turkish rule the most commonly applied method was the use of the so-called bench-coffins, i. e. using the excavated indentation between the benches as a coffin, and then covering it on the top. The indentation between the benches had been lined with some sort of an organic matter, before the corpse was put in, then the indentation, depending on the depth of it, was boarded up with planks placed there either straight or diagonally, or with two planks placed in a way to form a pointed cross-section. In the latter case bulky branches, smaller tree-trunks, occasionally bundles of reed or brush-wood were placed on the benches in order to prevent the covering planks from sliding apart. The side-recesses were covered with planks placed on the bottom of the grave pit and leaned against the top of the side-recess. One dead person was buried in one grave; the number of group-burials is insignificant. One of the characteristic features of the Rác cemeteries - though it has only been discovered in Bácsalmás so far - is the specific way of backfilling the grave pit. They did not throw earth directly on the corpse lying in the grave pit, already covered and thereby protected with planks, but the pit was first covered with bulky branches or smaller tree-trunks, then some sort of a textile was spread on top of the tree-trunks, and at last it was covered with earth only on top of the textile. This structure constructed on the surface soon collapsed right into the grave pit, thereby finally filling it up. The graves, in all probability, were marked. The remains of the one-time wooden grave-posts are known from two of the graves, and the bricks and brick-bats found close to the surface of some of the graves can probably be associated also with grave markers. Some of the Rác cemeteries were surrounded by ditches, supposedly to protect the area from the grazing animals. The features mentioned above reflect the characteristics of not only the traditions of the burial practices of the Rác population of the period of the Turkish rule, but also those of the Islamic traditions. Although the defters dating from 1570 and 1578 do not indicate inhabitants of the settlements of the Northern-Bácska region in question, who had converted to the Islamic faith, however, the ancestors of the Rác-Vlach people moving from the Balkan-peninsula to the Northern-Bácska region, had