Gulyás Katalin et al. (szerk.): Tisicum - A Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok Megyei Múzeumok Évkönyve 22. (Szolnok, 2013)
Régészet - Költő László–László Anett: Nyakláncok a kereki késő avar kori temetőből
KÖLTŐ LÁSZLÓ-LÁSZLÓ ANETT: NYAKLÁNCOK A KEREKI KÉSŐ AVAR KORI TEMETŐBŐL 119. sír: (Gyerek 5-7 év). 2 db érme: (1.) Római kisbronz, IV. század közepe, verdejegye SIS, vagyis sirmiumi veret. FEL TEMP REPATRIO típus, Virtus lovas csatajelenetben. Constans (333-337-350) és II. Constantius (324-337-361) uralkodása alatt készültek ezek a hátlapok. (2.) Nagyon rossz állapotú, meghatározásra alkalmatlan darab. Az érmék nincsenek átfúrva, a jobb comb külső részén voltak, valószínűleg a tarsolyban. László Költő-Anett László Necklaces from the Late Avar cemetery from Kereki The cemetery of 150 graves and 4 burial groups was excavated at the sand-pit of Kereki by the team of the Rippl-Rónai Museum led by László Költő between the end of May 1987 and the middle of March 1988 with lesser and larger interruptions. Our paper - due to its limits - deals with an exceptional element of women attire - particularly necklaces, and their components. The necklaces were based on various types of beads. Beads occur within the scope of 58 burials - 34 female, 10 male, 13 children and in 1 case indefinable - meaning that slightly more then 1/3 of the graves contained this object. The graves with beads belonged mainly to the 2. and 3. groups. From the cemetery more than 2721 beads were collected, out of which the material of 33 could not be determined. Generally the necklaces contained mixed types of beads, e.g. grain, millet and melon seeds as well as various glass bead combinations. Frequently the necklaces were adorned by 20-30-40 or even 70 pieces of beads. In grave number 53. the female skeleton wore a necklace consisting about 220 mixed beads. These type of long, one or two lined necklaces were widespread between the first half of the 8. and the beginning of the 9. centuries. Early necklaces, exclusively made from grain beads are missing from the cemetery. Within the scope of melon seed necklaces we can seldom find a few grain beads. In the female graves the necklaces were adorned by other objects as well. The most significant was a lunula made from lead, a round bronze medal (originally a belt mounting), a stamped bronze semicircle with a tiny hook inside, an onion button fibula, a lead pendant made from a cylinder shaped bead and a fitting plate, a small lead radial disc, a bronze bulla, a pendant belt mounting, a hemisphere shaped bronze ornament, a round bronze plate, and a bronze pendant with glass bead. Pierced Roman bronze coins were collected from the female (No: 18., 53., 62., 80., 104/A., 111.) and children graves (No: 48., 115., 116.). Armor chain pieces were found in female (No: 27., 53., 63., 65., 104/A., 111., 141.) and male (No: 71.) burials. We classified the beads according to their material and form using the bead typology created by Adrienn Pásztor. The majority of the beads are made from glass, of which 1722 pieces can be classified to the spherical group. In this group we can find depressed sphere and sphere shapes as well as millet beads, which were most popular in yellow, black, green and brown colors. Another popular type was the cylinder form (475 pieces) and the melon seed type (347 pieces), while relatively many were atypical (52 pieces). The conical (30 pieces), the twin spherical (7 pieces) and the amphora (5 pieces) shapes were rare. Beside the glass beads, metal beads of different material (silver, bronze, lead), a few bone beads, one or two chalcedony or carnelian beads also occur. In the No. 106. female grave a large, depressed spherical clay bead was painted red. The 9 glass beads of the necklace of grave No. 13A. were subjected to analytic research conducted at the Mineralogy, Geochemistry and Petrography Department of the SZTE-TTIK. Within the scope of the glass types of the examined beads 3 groups could be identified. The largest, first group consisted of the so-called Roman glass containing soda, while in lesser numbers the so-called Mesopotamian type prepared with the use of herbal ash was also present. The grain shaped beads belonged to this second group. The third group consisted of only one bead, which provided a transition between the two former groups. The colors of the glass beads were formed consciously through the addition of copper (green, ochre-red), iron and manganese (black), while the white color on the inserted decoration on the beads was most probably due to the use of tin white (Sn02). Yellow was produced from tin-lead- yellow pigments (lead-stannate). The color of green decoration was due to the use of CU2+ ions present in large quantities (4-6%). Blue color is a signal of the presence of copper within the range of the inserted decoration as well. The base glass material of beads as well as the insertments - not counting a single transparent bead - both belong to the so-called opaque group. Translated by Csilla Aradi 161
