Balogh Csilla – P. Fischl Klára: Felgyő, Ürmös-tanya. A Móra Ferenc Múzeum Évkönyve: Monumenta Archeologica 1. (Szeged, 2010)

The Avar Cemetery at Felgyő, Ürmős-Tanya

A Felgyő, Ünnös-tanyai avar kori temető 263 precisely, of the grave pit; a more detailed drawing was only made of the skeleton. Fortunately, a photograph of the grave has survived (Fig. 103. 1) which clearly shows that in contrast to the description in the field diary, Grave 83 was not a niche grave. The inurned burial in Grave 56 was undisturbed, which would only have been possible if the niche had extended underneath the Bronze Age grave, which in turn would imply that the Avar man interred with his belt and sword had not been laid to rest in the niche, but in the grave shaft, a practice which has not yet been documented in the Carpathian Basin. According to the description, the niche recessed into right side of the grave pit conformed to the formal traits of graves with a side niche because its side was curved. At the same time, however, the excavators claimed that the niche was empty, and thus it had no practical function, implying that the grave was not a niche grave after all. Grave 4 was described as a shaft grave with the remark that the floor of the grave pit was remarkably sloped and that the skeleton was found "in a sitting position". No drawing has survived of this grave, only its photo (Fig. 100. 4). It is possible that the grave was indeed a niche grave with the niche dug at the end of the grave pit, at least judging from the sloping of the grave pit's tloor and the skeleton's unusual position, although in this case the excavators apparently failed to observe the shaft. Niche graves of this type with the niche dug outward at an oblique angle at one end of the grave pit appeared in the later Avar period in the Danube Tisza Interfluve; 54 burials uncovered in four cemeteries can be assigned to this type (Table 2). With its 49 niche graves, the cemetery investigated at Szeged-Makkoserdö certainly stands out from among the known sites with burials of this type in the Carpathian Basin. Similar graves are known from two burial grounds in northern Bácska (Backi Sokolac and Stara Moravica in Serbia): the similar graves at Szeged-Kiskundorozsma-Daruhalom-dűlő, Cemetery II and the Felgyő,Ürmös-tanya site lie some 60 km to the north-east of the former sites." The niche graves fit into the overall pattern of the cemetery: they generally form a separate cluster or lie in one row, similarly as in the other cemeteries in the main distribution of late niche graves (Orosháza-Béke Co-operative-Sandpit, Orosháza-Bónum Brickyard, Szarvas-Graxa Brickyard, Székkutas-Kápolnadűlö). In contrast, the two niche graves in the Moravica cemetery lay some 15-22 m apart by the south-eastern edge of the burial ground, similarly to the niche graves in the Avar cemeteries at Rákóczifalva-Kastélydomb (SELMECZI MADARAS 1980, 146-147, Map 4) and Pitvaros (BENDE 2000.250), which also lay near the cemetery's edge. Disregarding the Szeged-Makkoserdo burial ground, only a handful of niche graves are known from the Danube-Tisza Interfluve; most of these burials can be dated to the later Avar period. The structure of the late niche graves differs little from those of the Early Avar period, although the shaft tended to be less deep and the niches became steeper. The niche graves of the Szeged-Makkoserdö cemetery provide good anchors for dating the appearance of this burial custom in the Danube-Tisza Interfluve. The cemetery's earliest niche graves contained the burials of men wearing belts adorned with rectangular mounts or wide belts studded with mounts and a pouch. The position of Graves 24, 38, 58, 81, 209 and 241 shows that the earliest burials in the newlyopened cemetery lay along the cemetery's axis. This horizon is dated by the solidi of Constans II and Constantine IV (654-659) from Grave 24 (SOMOGYI 1997, 81). The earring with a long spiral pendant from Grave 73 and the belt set of openwork, narrow shield shaped belt mounts decorated with a scale pattern, openwork, scroll-decorated strap ends and hole guards with a punched scrollwork pattern are not only the latest graves among the niche graves, but also represent the latest burials in the cemetery. It would appear that niche graves were used both when the cemetery was opened and at the end of its use, with a gap of several generations between the two dates. It is unclear why the custom of burying the deceased in niche graves was abandoned toward the close of the 7th century and why it was revived several generations later, at the end of the 8th century. While classical belt sets decorated with griffin and tendril mounts have not been recovered from niche graves, they were found in the cemetery's shaft graves, indicating the continuous use of the burial ground. Several elements of the funerary rite noted in the niche graves, such as the placement of the vessel by the skull, partial animal burials and the occurrence of sheep vertebrae and the sacrum in the burials (Körös-Tisza-Maros area), share similarities with the Early Avar burial customs of the Danube-Tisza Interfluve.

3 The sporadic occurrence of niche graves in the inner areas of the Danube-Tisza Interfluve and along the right bank of the Danube suggests a slight westward migration of the communities practicing this rite from eastern Hungary, the main distribution of niche graves in the mid-7th century, immediately after the Early Avar period. In the lack of a reliable chronological framework for the Early Avar burials of eastern Hungary and because most of the cemeteries from this period are still unpublished, it is impossible to determine from which part of eastern Hungary the communities interring their dead in niche graves arrived to the Danube-Tisza Interfluve. THE ANTHROPOLOGY OF THE AVAR CEMETERY Even though the skeletal remains of 219 individuals were recovered from the 216 excavated graves, only the remains of 160 individuals were available for study. The age distribution was as follows: 58 children (Infans I. II and juvenile; 35.4%) and 108 adults (64.6%). The adults comprised 59 males (55%) and 49 females (49%). The observations made in the field and the grave goods suggest that 62 graves contained child burials (28.8%) and 154 graves contained adult burials (71.3%); 78 2 Burials with skeletons described as having been found in a "sitting position " can be tentatively interpreted as niche graves: Bogojevo-Cemetery I, Grave 5 in Serbia (CZIRÁKY IHM. 274). Budapest, XX. Pesterzsébet. 42/A Klauzál Street. Grave 3 (NAGY I WH. 140). Kiskunmajsa-Kökút. Grave 16. 3 Simultaneously, several changes can be noted in the burial rite in the newly opened cemeteries with niche graves in the Körös-Tisza Maros area in eastern Hungary, such as a shift in the orientation of the deceased, a perceptible decline in the deposition of food offerings (as well as in their composition), the modes of animal skinning in the case of partial animal burials, the disappearance of partial horse burials and the appearance of the custom of depositing harness sets, which indicate changes in tmortuary beliefs (BENDE 2000. 252) and also mark a chronological boundary.