Gyöngyössy Márton (szerk.): Perspectives on the Past. Major Excavations in County Pest (Szentendre, 2008)

(2700/2500-800 ВС)

(6100-4500 ВС)

(4500-2700 ВС)

1. Tigress holding a Silenus head

2. The horses and the iron tyre on the grave floor

3. Inlaid harness ornament

4. Iron lance used for stabbing horses

5. Reconstruction of a two-wheeled wagon (by Zsolt Mráv)

6. Wagon ornament depicting an eagle and a basilisk

7. Excavation of a wagon burial

8. Shield boss bearing a depiction of Luna

The early Roman wagon burials uncovered in the cemetery are quite unique. Four undisturbed graves of this type were found. One contained a light, two-wheeled cart, the other three had four-wheeled wagons drawn by two horses, corresponding to the type depicted on gravestones. The carefully harnessed horses were laid to rest first, after being stabbed with iron spears as part of the funeral ceremony, followed by the wagons with iron and bronze fittings and various decorative mounts depicting Bacchus and his followers. These graves represent the burials of the native aristocracy from the earlier and mid-2nd century.

The third century saw the spread of sarcophagus burials, mostly in the centre of smaller graveyards.

The inscription on a sarcophagus from this cemetery revealed that it had been made in the mid- 21 Os for a soldier of the Legio II Adiutrix, who had died in Lauriacum during one of Caracalla’s campaigns against the Germanic Alamanns.

The sarcophagus, which had originally been set on the ground, was found in a secondary position, dug into the earth. It had been looted in antiquity, at the close of the 4th century.