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.
V. PROBLEMS OF ETHNIC IDENTIFICATION Finally one more question should be answered: who were the people of Sárbogárd. The determination of the exact ethnic belonging of the population, however, is not based on unambiguous scientific proof. In the following let us try to put together those links of the archaeological and anthropological data from Sárbogárd which might be helpful in revealing their ethnic origin. The arhaeological finds of the population, on the whole, correspond to the relics of the conquering Magyars of the 10th century. These peculiar new object types are well distinguishable from the finds left by the groups found or living previously in this area. The presence of a few objects, however, resemble these ethnic elements :e. g., an amphora-shaped amber bead preserves Celtic traditions. Such an object is the melon seed-shaped bead which is particularly a late Avar period object. The survival of late Avar period traditions are suggested by the snail and egg burials as well. There are, however, a few characteristic differences in the burial rites of Sárbogárd which did not occur in the burials of the conquering Magyars revealed up to now, but it is not likely that they display the influence of earlier local elements. The peculiar horse burials and the cattle body with chopped off forelegs are such examples. At the same time the customs of both horse and cattle burials are found in the burials of the Turkish-speaking nomads of the Southern Russian steppes inthe9th-13th centuries, 91 but direct parallels can be found in the burials of the Finnish Muroma group by the Oka from the 9th-10th century too. 92 Let us see how these archaeological observations can be coordinated with the anthropological ones. First we have to note that the anthropological, demographical and pathological analyses provide data from which we can make conclusions about the different origins of the males and females of Sárbogárd, i.e., mainly the first conquering generation. We have seen that, on the basis of the generalized distance calculation, the parallels of the Sárbogárd males were found among the series, considered ethnically as Bulgarians, deriving from the Kama delta. This area is concurrently also one of the intens contact zones of the Finno •— Ugric and Turkishspeaking peoples. However, the assumption concerning the ethnic relegation is at the same time made uncertain by the fact that the 8th-9th century series, securely connectable to the Bulgarians, namely Bolshe Tarhan, Kaibel or Zlivka, do not resemble either the Sárbogárd or the two Bolgaru series. Having found the parallels of the Sárbogárd females only in the Central Danube Basin, they had probably originated, at least in part, in the local population. Thus let us assume, that the custom of horse and cattle burial was brought along by the males to the Central Danube Basin and these few material and burial features which are to be regarded as the relics of an era previous to the Magyar conquest of this area were certainly brought by the women to Sárbogárd. Thus from the archaeological and anthropological data " S. A. PLETNEVA: MIA 62 (1958) 151 -226. » 2 V. A. GORODCOV: Drevnosti 24 (1914) 40-216. we can only state in regard to the ethnic belonging of the population, that the males reached Central Danube Basin from the Volga-Kama area together with the conquerors and selected their wives primarily from local elements. The peculiar burial rites of Sárbogárd may have two theoretical interpretations in regard to ethnic belonging: a. The males of Sárbogárd were likely to have belonged to such a tribe or clan of the conquering Magyar whose relics were first found in the cemetery of Sárbogárd and the peculiar burial rites of this group originate from the traditions of this tribe or clan. b. On the basis of the different burial features the males of Sárbogárd could not have belonged to any of the seven tribes of conquering Magyars but rather to the several smaller fragmentary ethnic groups which entered the Central Danube Basin together with them. On the basis of the available data, we seem it more probable to regard the Sárbogárd population as a subsequently allied group. The Bolgaru parallels raise the possibility of the presence of the Bulgarians, while other data substantiate that of the Petchenegs. In the Mezőföld area of the 13th-14th century there were flourishing Petcheneg settlements with independent administration. The memory of these is perserved by several locality names as for instance Tinód adjoining our site and very likely Bogárd too. (The „d", a characteristic Hungarian diminutive suffix, at the end of these Turkish-speaking locality names indicates, however —according to the oral communication of Gy. Győrffy —rather Hungarian locality-nomenclature). The historians and linguists base the origin of these Petcheneg settlements to the second half of the 10th century, to the rule of Princes Taksony or Géza, on the basic of Anonymous and the Kézai chronicles. Actually in the Southern Russian steppes the great Petcheneg tribal confederation disintegrated at this time. 93 Besides the fact that Petcheneg tribes were settled in the time of Taksony or Géza, in theory we must accept the possibility that along with the conquering Magyars smaller separated Petcheneg fragments entered in the Central Danube Basin. But in this case it is difficult to explain the found anthropological parallels by the Volga —Kama area. Namely, the Petchenegs coming from Central Asia invaded the Southern Russian steppes in the 9th and then in the 10th centuries and they could not penetrate the Volga —Kama area 94 . The final solution to this question can be expected from the excavation of cemeteries with similar rites and anthropological composition. 93 M. SZOKOLAY: Föld és Ember 9 (1929) 65-90; L. GLASER: Fejér vármegye kialakulása (The Development of Fejér County). Magyar Városok és Vármegyék Monográfiája 22(1937) 75-101; I. KNIEZSA. Szent István Emlékkönyv (Bp. 1938); Gy. GYŐRFFY: Körösi Csorna Archívum I. suppl. (1935 — 39); id. : Tanulmányok a magyar állam eredetéről (Studies on the Origin of the Hungarian State) (Bp. 1959); id.: Acta Orient. Hung. 18 (1965) 73-81. 9Í S. A. PLETNEVA: op. cit. 125
