Alba Regia. Annales Musei Stephani Regis. – Alba Regia. Az István Király Múzeum Évkönyve. 8.-9. 1967-1968 – Szent István Király Múzeum közleményei: C sorozat (1968)

Tanulmányok – Abhandlungen - Éry Kinga, K.: Reconstruction on the tenth Century Population of Sárbogárd on the Basis of Archaeoloogical and Anthropological Data. – A sárbogárdi X. századi közösség rekonstrukciója régészeti és embertani adatok alapján. VIII–IX, 1967–68. p. 93–147. t. XXVI–XLV.

moved from their positions. There might be one or two more mounts underneath.) The mounts on the belt were not equidistant. Those in the front the waist were more condensed and less so at the back. Let us now turn to the leather sabretache. It was already mentioned that an ornamented leather sabretache was hanging from the belt of the man. The sabretache was fastened to the belt by a strap 10 mm in width, then to prevent the sabretache from sliding a tight knot was made under the belt with a thin leather thong. The method of fastening the sabretache of Bezdéd could also have been similar.

17 It was possible to reconstruct the original pattern from the surviving ornamentation and we could clearly observe the work which required extreme technical skill.

18 (Figure 18). The master cut the design out of thin leather according to a pattern. Then he sewed together the fitted surfaces on the reverse side in such a way that between them he put one narrow strips of leather so that not the contradictory, positive and negative design became prominent but rather its undulating outline. As witnessed by the surviving small remains of thread, the contrast was emphasized even by colored (yellow?) stitches. The sabretache was edged with a narrow leather strip. According to an oral communication from A. Gáborján this is the so-called inlaid technique which is extremely rare and up to now has been found only on leather boots originating from Turkestan. Evidently the conquering Magyars had not only sabretaches with richly ornamented metal plate but they also had such which were decorated only with leather pieces. The find of Sárbogárd is the first to prove this. Earlier research has proved the use of sabretaches ornamented with metal plates as status symbols, but in regard to the finds from Sárbogárd it must be stated that even ornamented leather sabretaches served as status symbols since the wearer was the most respected members of the community. The question is whether there was any status difference between those who used the metal and leather ornamented sabretaches and if there was, what was its degree. It is also possible that the two types of ornamental sabretaches concealed ethnic difference? Finally I would like to briefly di?~uss one more find. On the left shoulder of the dead there lay the tibia of a sheep as the remains of a funeral feast and as food for the journey of the dead. As it is known from ethnographical research among the Turkish tribes it was a custom to give during feasts the part of the animal which was appropriate to the rank or family status of the person. From these descriptions we know that the leg of the sheep was extremely worthless and was usually given to those of the lowest rank.

19 If we apply this data all of our statements on the status of male 33 would be illogical. But since the outstanding role of this man in the community seems undoubtable we must either assume that the people of Sárbogárd did not follow this ranking system when distributing the parts of " A. JÓSA: Arch. Ért. 16 (1896) 385-412. 18 Here let me express my thanks to A. Kralovánszky, A. Pálóczy — Horváth and I. Richter for their reconstruction of the ornamentation of the sabretache and for their drawings. 1

9 Gy. LÁSZLÓ: op. cit. the sheep or —and this is the more likely

—they did not consider that the food placed by the dead for his journey should express the status of the individual. From the aforementioned the following conclusions can be drawn about the dead man in grave 33. The man whose richly ornamented leather sabretache did not disintegrate was a singular member of the community who wore or was entitled to wear a belt with mounts. Not only in his lifetime could he have been an outstanding member of the community, but even after his death his grave was distinctly honored and protected. On account of all these I consider male 33 to have been the head of the community of Sárbogárd. В. Grave of an Armed Man Grave 5 of the Sárbogárd cemetery contained the only member of the community supplied with arms for his burial. The man who was between 47 and 51 years of age lay at a depth of 72 cm. with his head directly towards the west (270°). Both of his lower arms were extended parallel with his body. His grave contained the following objects. On his left side was a bow reaching from his head to his knees. Its length as computed from the distance between the upper and lower bone struts was approximately 120—130 cm. The quiver was placed by the feet of the man, parallel with them, and its opening was directed towards the feet. The quiver contained 7 arrows. The buckle serving for fastening the quiver was on the right pelvic arch. The two stirrups, somewhat distant from each other, were at the height of the femur at the left side of the body. There was likely to have been a saddle between the two stirrups but that disintegrated without leaving any traces. The girth buckle was at the outside of the left upper arm. The bit with side straps was to the left of the skull. The objects were carefully arranged in the grave. The grave deserves attention for two reasons. First is because of the number of arrows discovered in it. Seven is the highest number of arrows found among the remains of conquering Magyars which has been found so far. G y. László

20 who analyzed the cemeteries of the Avar period and of the conquering Magyars believes that the number of arrows symbolizes status. He founded his view about the conquerors on the fact that in the extended-family cemeteries the number of arrows found in the graves gradually reduces as we progress from the centrally located grave of the head of the family towards the periphery. But I believe that this question has still not been unambiguously settled. Nevertheless it is a fact that the persons buried with seven arrows had to be among the ranking members of the community whose graves are rich in other finds too. The second curiosity of grave 5 is that in addition to the quiver filled with seven arrows only the bow, saddle, stirrups and bit of the dead man were put into the grave. This puritan simplicity is quite unusual and singular in case of the warrior buried with seven arrows. I am familiar with grave 18 of the cemetery of Pusztabukova which parallels the treated warrior's to an extent in poorness, but there in addition to a quiver containing seven arrows, го Gy. LÁSZLÓ: op. cit.; id.: АН 34 (1955). 107