Garam Éva szerk.: Between East and West - History of the peoples living in hungarian lands (Guide to the Archaeological Exhibition of the Hungarian National Museum; Budapest, 2005)
HALL 3-4 - The Bronze Age (2800-800 B.C.) (Ildikó Szathmári)
routes, ran near Sopron and Velem-Szentvid. Amber (petrified resin) from the Baltic was transported to Mycenae, the Levant and even farther along this route. Clay vessels were rarely traded owing to their fragility, which made their transportation a rather risky venture. One exception is the lovely pottery decorated with lively, lime encrusted patterns made by a Transdanubian population group named the Encrusted Pottery culture after its pottery (17th— 16th centuries B.C.) which has been found on most sites of contemporary cultures in the Carpathian Basin. The bronze bracelets with flaring, often flamboyantly decorated terminals found in Transdanubia dating to the Koszider period (14th century B.C.) were probably imported from Croatia and Serbia. The most magnificent products of the bronzesmiths in the Tisza region at the close of the Bronze Age (10th—9th centuries B.C.) were the bronze vessels. Bronze cauldrons made in their workshops have been found in faraway regions such as eastern France and northern Germany. The craftsmen working in the Tisza region often copied products originating from other regions, such as the knob decorated cups which were first made in Central Europe. 9. CEMETERIES: THE GATEWAY TO THE OTHERWORLD The beliefs of the Bronze Age communities of the Carpathian Basin can best be reconstructed from their burial customs. The many thousands of excavated graves - a part of which were inhumation burials with the deceased laid to rest in their clothing - indicate that life after death was conceived as a continuation of earthly life. Irrespective of whether a particular community cremated or inhumed its dead, the burial rites practiced by the different groups coming from diverse ethnic backgrounds were governed by strict rules. The burial mode and the position of the costume ornaments, jewellery pieces and other articles in the grave reflected the gender, age and social status of the deceased. Inhumation and cremation were the two main burial modes during the Bronze Age. In most inhumation burials, the deceased were laid to rest in a contracted position. This burial mode was practiced by the tell cultures of the Tisza region during the first half of the Bronze Age and by the pastoralist-hunter communities of the Tumulus culture settling in the Middle Danube Basin during the 15th—14th centuries B.C. Cremation, the other burial mode, was more common in the Bronze Age and became the dominant rite from the 12th century B.C. in this region. The inhumation graves uncovered at Tiszafüred reflect the strict burial rites practiced by the communities living in eastern Hungary during the middle third of the 2nd millennium B.C. (Füzesabony culture): men were always laid on their right side, women on their left side in a contracted position, with their faces looking to the east. The grave goods were usually costume ornaments, jewellery, weapons and pottery vessels. The position of the former in the grave corresponded to how these articles were worn in life. The dress fastening pins lay by the shoulders in the female and child burials, the pendants in the breast region, while the anklets were found around the ankles. One unique find from this cemetery is the bronze weapon from grave 54, a male burial. The bronze plaque covering the haft of the battleaxe survived almost intact. The pottery grave goods included bowls, deposited near the feet, as well as cups and jugs which were placed near the knees and ankles of the deceased. The inurned burials displayed in the exhibition come from different periods of the huge burial ground at Dunaújváros used over several centuries, where some 1600 graves were uncovered (Nagyrév, Kisapostag, Vatya cultures; 1900-1450 B.C.). The overall layout of the cemetery, the arrangement of burials into oval grave groups was a reflection of a society
