Bárkányi Ildikó – F. Lajkó Orsolya (szerk.): A Móra Ferenc Múzeum Évkönyve 2017., Új folyam 4. (Szeged, 2018)
Régészet
Noémi Ninetta Keresztes - Attila Kiss P. Who is tearing up my battle vest? Who disturbs my slumber? "Who is tearing up my battle vest? Who disturbs my slumber?" did Gepidic and Langobardic women exist in the Carpathian Basin? Noémi Ninetta Keresztes - Attila Kiss P. Warfare, fighting and armed rites and the prominent cult of related notions and ides have been an integral part of Germanic culture from Ancient History right until the late ScandinavianViking period. There are several accounts of women appearing next to armed men in these prevalent cult activities. According to Tacitus and several authors from Antiquity women frequently accompanied men into fights as well, a late mythologized imprint of which is evident from the warrior woman figures surrounding Siegfried. The Origó Gentis Langobardorum even speaks of women going against traditional gender roles and being "masked” as men. On the other hand, we have no knowledge of real, existing alter egos for the warrior "Brynildr” surrounded by the fog of mythology in the continental Germanic culture of later periods. Rather than modifying it, archeological findings from this period only nuance the image coming from written sources. Female burial sites in the line cemeteries of the Merovingian culture contained weapons on only the rarest occasions. In the easternmost areas of the line row-grave cemetery culture (Germ. Reihengräberfelder), i.e.: in the case of Gepidsae and the Langobards, similar burial customs may be observed regarding items placed next to the deceased. It may also be observed in the case of Gepidsae from the area surrounding the river Tisza and in case of Transdanubian Longobards that in most cases, only adult males were given weapons for their journey to the other side. It must be noted however that both regions had female burial sites from which weapons were uncovered. The most common finds at the women burial sites of Gepidic and Longobardic areas are rusted chain links, identifiable as chain armor. These - mainly due to their form showing major discrepancies - could not have had genuine wartime purpose, rather these items had an apotropaic function and were buried next to the deceased due to the pars pro toto principle and a belief in the magical properties of iron. Moreover, more possibilities came up during the interpretation of the unique ritual elements (protection against the dead, a symbol of men and women belonging together etc.) The tradition is not at all unknown incase of Germans of the Merovingian period, similar phenomena may be observed with the Alemannsi of the Southern Germaenic areas who also placed pieces of lamella armor as protective amulets in the graves of noblewomen and children. 65
