A Békés Megyei Múzeumok Közleményei 1. (Békéscsaba, 1971)

Pálóczi-Horváth András: Tenth century cemetery in the sand-pit of the model farm of Szabadkígyós

Tenth century cementery in the sand-pit of the model farm of Szabadkígyós ANDRÁS PÁLÓCZI-HORVÁTH In 1962 finds of the time of the Hungarian conquest came to light in the sandpit of the model farm of the Agricultural Technical School of Szabadkígyós. In the course of the rescue excavations it was possible to save in the years of 1962, 1965 and 1968 altogether 27 graves, 20-30 per cent of the cemetery. The original size of the cemetery can be put at 90-140 graves, 30-45 per cent of which were destroyed in the course of the work done by sandmen, while 20-50 per cent remained unexplored. In the analysis of the cemetery it was always taken into consideration that from such fragmentary material conclusions can be drawn only with great caution. The situation is rendered worse by the fact that 21 graves, 80 per cent of the graves uncovered, are looted and ransacked. Among the undisturbed graves it is the grave furniture of grave 15 that is interesting from the point of view of the history of dressing. In the grave lay the skeleton of a girl, 11-13 years old, with torques and a string of pearls on her neck and a bracelet each on both of her arms. On the skeleton 8 thin, press-forged silver rosettes were found, from the position of which it can be concluded that 2 each adorned the neck of the dress on both sides, and the other 4 had been on the hem of one of the laps of the dress closing in the middle. This wear belongs to the type of women' s wear in the time of the Hungarian conquest, retraced by István Dienes. According to the reconstruction such press-forged rosettes adorned the hem of light, gown-like dresses and high caps. In grave 19 a bone needle case was found with a needle in it. In the cemeteries of the time of the conquest this object must be rated a rarity. In Hetény (Chotin, Czechoslovakia) and at Oroszvár (Rusovce, Czechoslovakia) two each were found and, in addition, we know a cylindrical bone object of uncertain purpose from Dormánd (county Heves). From the Great Hungarian Plain and the southern part of the country the needle case of Szabadkígyós is the only specimen known so far. On the basis of our data it can be said that in the 10th and 11th centuries the Hungarian women, on the whole, carried their needle cases on the left side, hanging from the girdle, which can be found, in general, as part of the furniture of poor interments. Grave 9 had been looted but it was possible to observe the rather rare form of the grave which, with its shape like a boat cut off at its head, suggests the ancient interments of the Ob-Ugrians. Regarding the survival in Hungary of the Ugrian 47