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

The animal remains from the Avar cemetery at Felgyő, Ürmös-tanya

406 KÖRÖSI Andrea THE ANIMAL REMAINS FROM THE AVAR CEMETERY AT FELGYŐ, ÜRMÖS- TANYA Andrea KÖRÖSI MATERIALS AND METHODS The excavations conducted by Gyula László between 1955 and 1977 with smaller interruptions brought to light the remains of a Bronze Age settlement and cemetery, as well as of a Sarmatian and Avar cemetery, and an Árpádian Age settlement. Of the 240 inhumation burials, 216 could be assigned to the Avar period, five were Sarmatian (Graves 24, 53, 238-240), and fourteen dated from the Bronze Age (Graves 14, 28, 33-35, 44-45, 60, 142, 144-145, 210-211, 237). Presented in this study are the animal remains from the Avar graves. Gyula László sent the archaeozoological finds from the burials to the Osteological Collection of the Museum of Hungarian Agriculture. János Matolcsy perfonned the species and osteological identification of the material from the 1960, 1962, 1964, 1966, 1971-1974 and 1976-1977 campaigns (Fig. 1, Table 1). The comparison of the field reports, János Matolcsy's lists and the animal bones in the collection revealed that these were often at variance and thus I began the assessment of the entire material anew. I identified the species represented in the sample and recorded the metric data of the bone remains (Table 10). According to the descriptions in the field diary and Matolcsy's notes, animal offerings were placed in 111 burials, with individual graves often containing different types of offerings. Altogether 100 graves contained sacrificial and/or food offerings, 17 burials contained egg shells, 9 contained amulets and 21 graves contained worked bone/bone artefacts. At present, the material from 80 graves is available for study: all the bone remains from 46 graves, while the remains from 34 perished in part and the remains from 31 graves perished completely. 59 graves contained food offerings, while 14 burials contained the remains of funerary sacrifices. Poultry was deposited in 39 graves and domestic mammal remains in 49 graves. The egg shells all perished, with the exception of the ones from Grave 234. 15 graves contained a single worked bone, six contained two, one grave contained three, one grave contained four and one grave contained five. FUNERARY SACRIFICES AND FOOD OFFERINGS The early Avar burials brought to light at Felgyő, Ürmöstanya yielded the bones of three domestic mammals (cattle, sheep and pig), poultry (hen and goose) and two wild species (hare and pigeon) (Table 10). Hen Altogether 51 hen remains were recovered from 33 burials: funerary sacrifices from 21 graves, food offerings from 14 graves and egg fragments from 19 graves (Table 2). Funerary sacrifices: 21 graves contained hen sacrifices: one hen was placed in 17 burials and two hens were deposited in four graves. Two graves also contained food offerings of hens. Hen sacrifices were recovered from 11 male and 9 female burials, as well as a burial which could not be sexed (Table 3). Graves 5 and 100 contained the remains of a rooster: the former was a female, the latter a male burial. 18 graves contained food offerings in addition to the hen sacrifice: sheep remains in four graves, cattle remains in three graves, pig and sheep in one grave, pig and cattle in three graves, and sheep and cattle remains in five graves. Three graves also yielded an amulet. Food offerings: Hen food offerings were deposited in fourteen graves: eight burials contained one hen offering, while six burials several hen offerings. With the exception of Grave 101, the food offerings in these burials were placed beside the arms and legs. Graves with two hen offerings usually contained a wing and the foot, while graves with three hen offerings contained both wings and a foot, except for Grave 96, which contained one wing and two feet. The hen food offerings in the Avar cemetery at Vác too contained the remains of hen carved up in different ways (VÖRÖS 2000, 36). In addition to hen, the meat of other species was found in seven graves: cattle and sheep in four graves, cattle and pig in one grave, cattle in one grave and sheep in one grave. Two graves yielded both hen food offerings and hen sacrifices. Hen food offerings were found in six male, four female and three child burials (Table 3). Attribute: A hen attribute was brought to light from a single burial (Grave 119), which together with domestic goose and hare bones formed part of an assemblage. The four carpometacarpals comprised three left and one right wing bone. István Dienes interpreted finds of perforated bird and hare bones as the paraphernalia of the ongon cult (DIENES 1972,97-108). Zoological characteristics: The bones indicate that the hens placed in the burials as food offerings or sacrifices by the Avar community of Felgyő were small sized creatures (Table 8). Hens of a similar size were found in the cemeteries at Gyenesdiás (MATOLCSI 1968, 119), Halimba (VÖRÖS 1999, 54), Sopronkőhida (BÖKÖNYI 1973, 123-129), Szekszárd (KÖRÖSI 2007, 231), Székkutas (KÖRÖSI 2005, 245) and Vác (VÖRÖS 2000, 38). Domestic goose The remains of domestic geese were recovered from seven graves (seven deposits), which had belonged to at least thirteen individuals. The metacarpal functioned as an amulet in six graves. A goose sacrifice was found in Grave 188 (Table 2). None of the graves contained goose food offerings. Funerary sacrifices: Grave 188 yielded the skull and the rump of a domestic goose. The intact skull with the upper and lower mandible, the atlas, the lumbosacrale, the pelvis, the caudal vertebrae and the pygostyle. The lumbosacrale and the pelvic bones were fused. The limb bones, the ribs and the breast bone, the back bones and the neck bones were almost entirely missing. The head was severed from the neck vertebrae and thrown into the grave, whereby the atlas survived on the condyluses. The goose offering was recovered from a male burial (Table 3). Attributes: The carpometacarpals of twelve domestic geese were brought to light from six graves. Four graves con-