Budapest Régiségei 23. (1973)

TANULMÁNYOK - Nagy Margit: A Fehérvári úti avar temető 59-87

MARGIT NAGY THE AVAR CEMETERY OF BUDAPEST - FEHÉRVÁRI ŰT In 1960 on the plot Budapest XI. Fehérvári út nos 149-155 the earth works of the construction of an Institute for Vocational Training have disturbed some graves of the Avar period. Rescue excavations were carried out by Rózsa Schreiber in the same year; she unearthed 11 graves in the fundamental ditches of the central edifice of the Institute (Graves 1 to 11). Rescue excavations were continued in 1968 and 1969 on the plot Petzvál J. utca no. 110, north-west of the site Fehérvári út nos 149-155. On the fresh ground we unearthed 34 burials (Graves 12 to 45), representing the north-western group of graves of an extensive Avar cemetery. Owing to actually used buildings and parks the northern, eastern and southern parts of the cemetery cannot be uncovered as yet. (Fig. 1.) BURIAL CUSTOMS Before the construction the area of the cemetery used to be a wet, marshy, reedy region, lacking water only in the time of an excessive draught. In the last decades the almost trough-like territory has been filled up step by step. Modern filling up resulted in a layer of 20 to 25 cm; below we find a stratum of humus to the average depth of 60 cm, then we hit a yellow, loamy virgin soil. The average depth ofthe graves (up to 180 cm) surpasses the usual average depth of the Avar cemeteries by far. The despoiled graves reached a depth of 180 to 200 cm usually. The difference between the depths ofthe graves did not show any regularity. Graves were dug to a large size in an oblong shape as a rule. Also some varieties of this form could be observed, thus the rounding off of the eastern end of the grave (grave 12), the trapezoidal pits broadening towards the eastern end (graves 19, 31, 38) and contrariwise graves where the western end, meant for the head, was broader (graves 17, 34, 42). It was a frequent custom in the cemetery to deepen the grave at a width of 20 to 40 cm stepwise, under the head and the feet (Figs 2, 5, 7, 8). We may suppose that in the course of burials the pits were filled up by some organic material, since the skeletons lay at an identical level usually (graves 20, 31, 39, 42, 44). A similar burial custom was observed by Gyula László on grave LX (65) of KiskőrösVágóhíd. One grave of the Münchendorf cemetery and several of the Nővé Zámky and the Zitavska Ton ones presented a similar phenomenon. In the part ofthe cemetery uncovered in 19681969 the graves were dug in the directions W-E and NW-SE. The most conspicuous ritual difference between the portions unearthed in 1960 and more recently is observed in the orientation ofthe graves; the 1960 graves lay mostly in the direction SW-NE. Among the graves uncovered in 1960 there was no burial with a coffin. In the course ofthe 19681969 excavations we could observe fourteen instances of the traces of coffins (Graves 12, 18, 19, 20, 22, 25, 26, 33, 35, 38, 39, 43, 44, 45). In this group of graves we find a general form : the straight-walled type of coffin, made of thin boards, held together probably by wooden screws, tapering towards the feet, the top and the bottom of which is formed of wider upper and lower boards (Figs 2, 4). In both parts of the cemetery the dead were buried on their backs in an extended position, their arms were placed beside the pelvis or rarer on it. The undisturbed graves presented the following irregularities: from grave 18 the feet, from grave 37 the right lower arm and the hand, the right hand and the feet were missing. The whole right arm of the female dead of grave 38 has been severed from the trunk, since those bones lay rather far from the shoulder and the ribs. In grave 17 the middle-aged woman was buried on her stomach, probably bound. The majority of the graves of both parts of the cemetery was disturbed and despoiled. In the 1960 part the despoiled graves may be classified into two groups. In the graves of the first group only the skull was missing (graves 1, 2, 3), whereas in those of the second group also the remaining bones of the skeleton were defective and lay topsy-turvy (graves 8, 9). In the recently uncovered part of the cemetery we found 29% of the graves (10 graves) disturbed. The despoiling pits of irregular shape were directed towards the skull and the trunk in each case; the situation ofthe bones revealed clearly that the disturbing was motivated by the hope of valuable grave-goods. The methodical despoiling observed in the major, north-western group of graves happened later than the cemetery fell into disuse probably, it also extended to the entire area. The same action may have devastated also graves 8 and 9 of the south-eastern group. CHRONOLOGY OF THE FINDS AND THE CEMETERY Among the graves uncovered in 1960 the finds of grave 8 deserve mention in the first place. In spite of the thorough despoiling the supposedly