A Békés Megyei Múzeumok Közleményei 2. (Békéscsaba, 1973)

Bakay Kornél–Kiszely István: Újabb adatok Békés megye honfoglaláskori történetéhez

New data on the history of the county of Békés in the period of the Hungarian conquest KORNÉL BAKAY and ISTVÁN KISZELY A brief factual account is presented of archaeological and anthropological relics from Gerendás and Mezőkovácsháza, where two cemeteries dating from the period of the Hungarian conquest were excavated during archaeological topographic operations. In both sites incomplete cemeteries came to light in the course of the digging, with 5 graves at Gerendás and 7 graves at Mezőkovácsháza. The cemeteries can be dated to the 10th

—11th centuries. The finds do not display particular characteristics, and did not permit conclusions as to the internal order of the cemetery. The equestrian interment in grave 1 at Gerendás supports the assumption that in this burial form the stripped-off horse-skin was folded together; this form of burial is very widespread in the common Hungarian interments and is also frequent in the county of Békés. As regards the anthropological characterization, the article contains the R. Martintype data of these 12 graves, and their brief taxonomic analysis in the nomenclature of P. Lipták. Turanian and Turkic features belonging to the ruling layer of the Magyars do not occur in the Gerendás cemeteries, and the Cro-Magnon type feature may be traced from either the local inhabitants or from the original home of the Magyars. At the same time, grave 1 in the Mezőkovácsháza cemetery is of mixed Turanian-Eastern Baltic type, which is a characteristic of the "good" early Magyar cemeteries in this region in this age. At the end of the article there is a brief summary of the findings of János Matolcsi regarding the animal bones. The aim of the article was to subject two valuable cemetery sections to a complex scientific data-presentation treatment, in order to establish the facts for posterity and for a future larger review work. 7 97