Budapest Régiségei 14. (1945)

ÉRTESÍTŐ - Nagy Tibor: Avarkori temető és honfoglaláskori sírok Rákosról : előzetes jelentés 491-507

protecting the holes. The rest of the grave furniture was heaped up at the upper end of the grave. The pieces of this incomplete weapon-belt garniture are shown" in plate 2. Except the pieces No. 2, 4, and 7-11, they are cut out from thin pressed bronze plates, the rest is „bronze mould. The decoration of this weapon-belt consists of the three interlaced gilt mounts with griffins. The dimensions of all three are the same, measuring together with the plain lath frame 5-2 by 3*2 cm. To save material and to make the bigger pieces lighter, these belt-ornaments with griffins were cast hollow. The body of the griffins and the frame are punched. The punching already took place in the negative mould. These mounts with griffins correspond even in their tiniest details to one of the belt ornaments with griffins found in grave 54 in the grave field of Csûny (County Moson : N. Fettich, SxwdistÁ 2. Pl. VI. fig. 10 and p. 26). Even their dimensions are the same, so that the belt ornaments with griffins from Csuny and those from Rákos may go back to a common mould. Grave No. 28. Orientation : NW-SE- In the 2-05 m long, 1-55 m wide and 2-10 deep hollow lay an extended female skeleton without any coffin. In figure 3. we show the arrangement of the skeleton and of the grave furniture. Prom the haunches downwards, the skeleton was not disturbed, while the upper part was thrown out probably about 1920 when the trenches were dug. Luckily the belt-ornaments could be observed in full number and in the original arrangement. In the middle of the pelvis lay a bronze buckle. To its right and left, a round button was discovered with a lion running to the left, turning his head backwards. Two other identical pieces were discovered under the pelvic bone, with the representation turned upside down. The 8-7 cm long »big-strap«end having two sides was discovered outside the left thigh-bone close to the pelvic bone. The front is decorated with lions running above one another alternately to the right and to the left while on the back part we see three-leaved tendrils pl

aceoin couples side by side. The counterpart of this piece among the belt-ornaments, a 4-7 cm long >>small-strap«-end was discovered on the left side, among the pelvic bones and those of the forearm, acress it lay an awl-like iron pin. Two other »small strap «-end s being identical with this were found under the pelvis, the side with the lion turned downwards. All pieces were cast and gilt, except the simple buckle which lacks all decoration. On both sides of the »great strap«-end, the golden background is punched (fig. 4.). The characteristic pieces of this equipment are the belt-ornaments set in medallions with the lions turning their heads back. Such disk-shaped decorations representing animals are common in the find-material of the Avar period. If we draw a map containing the places of discovery of the disk-shaped belt-mouts representing animals, we get a well-limited district, bordered to the east by Gátér (Kun-Kisszállás), N. by Szirák (County Nógrád) while towards the West, along the Danube (Győr) they reached the western borderlands of the Avar empire (Margarethen am Moos). Here we may mention, that an indistinct representation of an animal found in the Szirák grave-field also displays a lion. So wè can designate a territory in Centraland Western Hungary, where the disk with the representation of animals is one ot the characteristic mounts. This lion often occuring on disk-shaped decorations is taken from a hunting scene. In the Hungarian find-material belonging to the Avar period, the complete scene is not to be found. The »big strap«-ends from Boldog and Nagysurány (J. Hampel, Alterth. I. fig. 643., 644.) show another variety of this theme. It is well-known, that the Iranian-Sassanid as well as the GreekRoman art often represented this phase of lion hunting, when the wild beast driven into a corner is stabbed to death. The animal, tossing its head back, gathers once more strength to avoid its fate. The antique representations of this scene — we only 505