Petercsák Tivadar – Váradi Adél szerk.: A népvándorláskor kutatóinak kilencedik konferenciája : Eger, 1998. szeptember 18-20. / Heves megyei régészeti közlemények 2. (Eger, 2000)
X-Ray Fluorescent Analysis of „Conquest Period" Bracelets Taken into the Inventory of the Hungarian National Museum from the Provenance of Jászfényszaru
224 KURUNCZI SÁNDOR - LANGÓ PÉTER X-RAY FLUORESCENT ANALYSIS OF „CONQUEST PERIOD" BRACELETS TAKEN INTO THE INVENTORY OF THE HUNGARIAN NATIONAL MUSEUM FROM THE PROVENANCE OF JÁSZFÉNYSZARU Sándor Kurunczi - Péter Langó The paper deals with a pair of bracelets of unique execution bearing animal head ornaments, which are considered to have come from the Conquest period. Research could not agree concerning this dating. Some thought it was made by the conquering Hungarians (SZŐKE 1962, 70), others grouped them among the jewellery of the broken silver treasure horizon ( SZABÓ 1980, 113. N. 106), and there were some who thought them to be Roman products from the 3 r d - 4 t h centuries (M. POLL 1934, 77; FEHÉR 1957, 286). After the physical and typological analyses, we agree with the latter opinion and enlist arguments to support it. Beside the problematic pair of bracelets, other silver objects dated from the 10 t h century were analysed for the sake of comparison. The X-ray fluorescent analysis was made in the laboratory of the KFKI, AEKI (Fig. 4). The analyses revealed that both bracelets were made of pure silver as compared to the other objects although some difference could be observed between the two silver Kurunczi Sándor KFKI, AEKI Sugárvédelmi és Környezetfizikai Laboratórium 1121 Budapest Konkoly-Thege u. 27-33. bracelets. We could not find any element during the measuring that is present only in the Jászfényszaru bracelets (or one that is missing only from them), which could differentiate them from the rest of the objects. Besides, the Jászfényszaru silver seemed to contain less relative impurity than the objects of everyday use and the pieces of jewellery certainly made by our conquering ancestors. So it seems probable that the pair of bracelets was mixed later among the finds. It is also possible that the pair of jewellery was really found with the assemblage of the Conquest period, in which case the owner must have found them somewhere. Another possibility is that the pair of bracelets belonged among the finds of the Sarmatian graves dated to the 3 r d - 4 t h centuries, which were found in 1895 in the neighbouring Pusztamonostor (formerly Jász-Monostor) (H 1896), perhaps the grave containing the bracelets was violated somewhat later so its find material was not transferred to the museum. Translated by Katalin Simán Langó Péter ELTE BTK Régészettudományi Intézet 1088 Budapest Múzeum krt. 4/B.
