Janus Pannonius Múzeum Évkönyve 13 (1968) (Pécs, 1971)

Régészet - Kralovánszky, Alán: The Paleosociographical Reconstruction of the Eleventh Century Population of Kérpuszta. Methodological Study

88 KRALOVÁNSZKY 4. The scarce occurence of objects falling under the heads of economic implements and those of a ritual purpose is connected with Christianity in the first place. d) The General Occurrence of the Types of Finds According to Graves The cemetery yielded a total of 12 types of finds. Among them mainly S-ended hair rings (23,8 per cent) were hidden in the graves, then a decreasing number of rings (8,1 per cent), beads (7,5 per cent), coins (3,2 per cent), knives (2,5 per cent), simple hair rings (2,0 per cent), rosettas (0,7 per cent), strike-a-lights (0

;

5 per cent), finally rattles, shank buttons, buckles and brand tongs (0,2 — 0,2 per cent). The addition of these ratios'

0 gives the proportion of supply with grave-furniture in relation to the total of the persons inhumed in the entire cemetery, the so-called ratio of archaeological supply: 49,1. Further if we divide this ratio with the number of the given types of finds, we get the value of the reduced supply index: 4.0916 (Table 19.) The order of the finds is especially important for us, since it illustrates the outside appearance of the member of a small community. For example one of them wears mainly a bracelet, the other does not wear beads, etc. Further we learn which objects were regarded by the small community as necessary grave-goods for the burial rite. Classifying the types of finds according to the inner chronology of the cemetery, we may observe some changes. In section I the order of occurrence is the following: S-ended hair ring, bead, knife, ring, simple hair ring, shank button, rosetta, strikea-light, rattle. On the contrary, section II shows the following order: S-ended hair ring, ring, bead, money, simple hair ring, knife, rosetta, buckle, brand tongs. A decreasing trend may be observed in the following cases: simple hair ring (4,6 — 1,3); bead (10,3 — 6,8); rosetta (2,4 — 0,3); shank button (2,4 — 0,0); rattle (1,1 — 0,0); knife (9,2 — ,7); strike-a-light (2,4 — 0,0). S-ended hair ring (17,2 — 25,6), money (0,0 — 4,2), buckle (0,0 — 0,3) and brand tongs (0,0 — 0,3) show an increasing tendency. The ring occurs in the same proportion in both sections (8,0 — 8,1). The decreasing trend may be and has to be regarded as the mark of antiquating, disappearing types of objects, the inreasing one as that of new, developing types. 40 The »ratios« of the single objects are identical with the percentage of occurrence related to all graves. A hitherto not utilized chance of valuation is given by the analysis of the material of metal finds except iron. The S-ended hair ring and the ring, since they are known in the Kérpuszta cemetery in a rather large quantity, are the most suitable for this purpose. In section II the earlier balanced proportion changes, the number of silver S-ended hair rings and rings increases. Specimens made of lead, white alloy and glass are only found in section II as well (Table 20). The growing number of silver objects seems to prove an economic prosperity. The population, rather poor at the beginning of the eleventh century, has become economically stronger in its second half and was able to purchase the evidently expensive silver jewels of higher value. In Table 21 we present the occurrence of the various types of finds according to a division to sexes, regarding also the inner chronology of the cemetery. We notice that the children recived S-ended hair rings, beads, simple hair rings, money, rattle, shank button and ring at occassion of their burial. The order of the enumeration means that of frequency at the same time. The simple hair ring, bead, shank button, ring and knife show a decreasing trend, so they occur rarer in section II of the cemetery. Women were buried with S-ended rings, rings, beads, coins, rosettes, simple hair rings, shank buttons, buckles, brad tongs. A decreasing trend is noticed in the case of simple hair rings, beads, shank buttons, rosettas; an increasing one in the case of S-ended hair rings, rings and brand tongs. Men were buried with knives, strike-a-lights, coins and simple hair rings. The simple hair ring, knife and strike-a-light show a decreasing trend. The ratios of archeological supply mirror the changes well: children = I: 40,0; II: 26,3; women = I: 113,5; II: 118,3; men = I: 27,0; II: 10,4. The joint data of sex and age present the following picture (Table 22). The rattle is the only object which is found in children's graves alone (under 5 years of age). On the contrary, rosetta, buckle, strike-alight and brand tongs were yielded only by adult's graves. Simple hair rings are found in all age groups. The small number of cases excludes any valuation. S-ended hair rings occur in the graves of females and children (evidently girls) during all their lives, both in the early and the late phases of the cemetery.