Abstract: The paper deals with the 8 pilgrim badges and medals together with a reliquary cross fragment acquired by the Rippl-Rónai Museum in 2015 through the private donation of Károly Szulok.
Keywords: pilgrimage, Aachen, Maastricht, Kiev-type reliquary cross
Abstract: Those Conquering-period horse burials found in Landler Jenő street in Balatonszemes, 4 Arany János Street in Balatonlelle, and Magyar Bálint Elementary School in Fonyód are similar to those solitary and symbolic horse burials found in other areas of the Carpathian Basin, which cannot be tied to settlement areas.
Keywords: Hungarian Conquest Period, symbolic horse burial, physical anthropology
Abstract: After developing protein hydrolysis method with low racemization, a method has been developed to determine the age of fossil bone samples based on amino acid racemization (AAR). Approximately one hundred fossil bone samples of known age from Hungary were collected and analysed for D- and L- amino acids. As the racemization of amino acids is affected by temperature, pH, metal content of the soil, and time passed since death, these factors were eliminated by comparing the estimated age to age determined by the radiocarbon method. Determining the D- and L- amino acid contents in samples of known age, determining the half life of racemization, and plotting the D/L ratio as a function of time, calibration curves were obtained. These curves can be used for the age estimation of samples after determining their D- and L- amino acid content. The D/L ratio for 2 to 3 amino acids was determined for each sample and the mean value of estimated ages based on calibration curves was considered to estimate age of the fossil samples.
Keywords: fossil bones, amino acids, racemization, epimerization, age determination
Abstract: Archaeometric investigations have been carried out on two glass fragments found in a 12th-13th century settlement (near Orosháza, Hungary), where supposedly Islamic inhabitants lived. The identical texture and the fairly close chemical compositions of the glassy materials indicate that the two pieces might belong to one vessel or the two vessels were made in the same workshop. The glass chemistry (soda plant ash) fits well both contemporary Islamic and Venetian glasses. The form of one of the vessels (biconical, or bottle with body-tubular ring) is a well-known Venetian type, but it was known in the Islamic world as well. The probably origin of the studied glass is that they were made in the Venetian glassmaking centre from Levantine raw glass, but the Islamic provenience cannot be excluded.
Keywords: glass fragments, Islamic glass, Venetian glass, chemical composition, Medieval Hungary, Árpádian Period
Abstract: Discussed here are the basic work phases of Avar-period ironworking alongside the smith’s craft. We offer an overview of the period’s smelting procedures and the salient traits of the smith’s craft. Next, we seek an answer to questions of “who?”, “what?”, “where?” and “how?”, in the hope of mapping how this craft was practiced by looking also at the archaeological, experimental archaeological, archaeometric, historic and ethnographic aspects of smithing. We expect to gain conclusive answers to our questions following the meticulous assessment of the evidence on Avar-period ironworking and the reconstruction of its processes.
Keywords: Avar-period ironworking, smelting, bloom production, smith, differentiation, ironworking society
Abstract: The study offers a comparison of the eight-century Avar, ninth-century Pannonian Carolingian and the tenth-eleventh-century post-Conquest period bloomery furnaces and the iron blooms found in their proximity, which suggested that a local population with stable craft skills preserving the late Avar traditions can be assumed in the light of the technological continuity.
Keywords: blommery furnaces, iron blooms, Early Medieval Times, continuity
Abstract: In 1960, an isolated grave - dated to the early Avar period - was found in Tiszavasvári, on the plot of Miklós Eszenyi. According to the burial customs (the NEE-SWW orientation of the deceased, the niche grave, the horse skin burial), this grave fits well into the type characteristic of the Early Avar period the Trans-Tisza region. In this article, we examine two parts of the horse harness in detail, i.e. the bone cylinder for fastening the stirrup leather and the omega shaped iron object which was attached to the saddle for fixing the bridle.
Keywords: isolated burial, early Avar period, amphora, bone cylinder for fastening the stirrup leather
Abstract: Attila Horváth and Elvira H. Tóth excavated a relatively small Avar burial site of 68 graves at Szabadszállás between 1972 and 1975. Based on the findings the site was in use between the second half of the 7th century and the middle of the 8th century. Most of the graves have been robbed or with a few grave goods. However, during the 1974 works, a dual mount was found among the belt mounts with griffins of the no 34 undisturbed male burial. Only one similar piece is known in the whole country.
Keywords: cemetery, Late Avar period, belt mounts with griffins
Abstract: Offered here is a brief preview of a book scheduled for publication in the near future. The book, Guide to the Baths of Pannonia, is a joint publication by the Rippl-Rónai Museum of Kaposvár and GeniaNet Publishing, scheduled to appear in 2019. The authors, Szilvia Horváth and Magdolna Kiss, have studied the Roman-period antecedents and remains of the baths of the province of Pannonia, which in addition to modern Transdanubia, also incorporated part of Slovenia, Croatia and Austria (Burgenland) - the book summarizes their research conducted since the early 2000s in an academic format also intended for the broader public with lavish illustrations.
Keywords: Pannonian thermal baths, medicinal springs, thermal springs, thermae, balneum, Roman bath culture, medicinal tourism, bathing facilities, bath equipment, spring capping, Aquae, aqueducts, hypocaustum, inscriptions
Abstract: Judging from the small weight of Enkomi T67, it could be justifiably assumed that the mould discussed here had been used for casting miniature weights or some other measures of value. It is noteworthy that a similar, but somewhat larger bunshaped ingot occurs together with a “Keftiu”-type ingot in the Lovasberény hoard. However, we cannot reject the possibility that the mould had been used for producing punches, engravers or tattoo needles, or perhaps arrowheads. The object with triangular section has some relevance for the artefact’s date because this was a rare, but nevertheless widespread trait from the onset to the close of the Urnfield period. A similar piece from Sveti Petar would suggest a date in the later Urnfield period.
Keywords: weight mould fragment, Urnfield cultura, West Transdanubium
Abstract: A comparison of the assortment of metal threads mentioned in different documents with the results of the scientific investigations of samples is given in the study, aiming to discover the meaning of the denotations “Hungarian” and ”Turkish” in connection with gold and silver threads of the period.
Keywords: metal thread, gold thread, silver thread, embroidery, study of written sources, scientific investigation
Abstract: Discussed here is the Sorokpolány-Berekalja site, the first row-grave cemetery excavated in County Vas, and the relationship between the row-grave cemeteries and the period’s settlements often established beside these burial grounds in County Vas. It was noted in the case of about one-half of the known row-grave cemeteries that the area of the former burial ground was used mainly for economic activities following its abandonment and the opening of the graveyard around the church. Although we have no explanation for this practice at present, the phenomenon itself deserves scholarly attention.
Keywords: cemetery and settlement, Early Árpádian Age, churchyard
Abstract: Discussed here are the burials containing goldsmiths’ and smiths’ tools from a fairly closed area. Most of these graves have already been published (e.g. by Zsófia Rácz) and are therefore known to the archaeological community. The main focus of this study is whether the craftsmen interred in these graves occupied a specific position in the period’s social hierarchy or in their own community.
Keywords: goldsmiths’ and smiths’ graves; metalworking; craftsmen, community; society
Abstract: The author collected the material of ca. 250 find places by types. He examined the material, manufacturing technique, and chronology of the bracelets, as well as their distribution by social layers and gender, and their direct analogies in Russia and the Balkans. The ancient Hungarians of the Conquest period appeared in the Carpathian Basin with a new archaeological culture in the turn of the 9th and the 10th centuries. Band bracelets were characteristic pieces of this material culture. Today they are represented by three main types: 1. band with rounded terminals, 2. band with coiled terminals, 3. hinged band. The first type has many variants. The terminal of the bracelet can be disc-like rounded, but mostly it just ends in a semicircular form. The band can be undecorated, decorated with punched palmette-tendril ornaments, or sometimes with geometric (zigzag) motifs, and applied decoration can also appear at the end of the band. In the beginning of the 11th century only bronze bands occurred, with various punched dotted circle decorations. A punched hole can often be observed at both ends of the bands. This might have served for sewing the band on, however, others believe that a string threaded through the holes pulled the band together. The most frequent decorations of bracelets with coiled terminals are punched zigzag motifs, and sometimes palmette-tendrils also occurs. While the former type is frequent by both men and women, bracelets with twisted terminals rarely occur by men. Hinged bracelets either copied Byzantine antecedents, or they arrived as imports. The ends of the sleeves of the funerary dress, the cuffs were decorated by thin silver or gold ribbons that were sewed on the hem of the dress.
Keywords: band bracelets, Hungarian conquest period, chronology, decoration, main types of the bracelets
Abstract: In my study I present two brick burning kilns found in Somogy county. In the kiln in Bódvica (dated to the turn of the 13-14th centuries), bricks made to build the medieval church of the village. The kiln excavated near Lulla was likely to used during the 18-19th centuries.
Keywords: brick kilns, middle ages, 13-14th centuries, 18-19th centuries
Abstract: Historical records preserved the memory of Miklós Zrínyi’s deed (Nikola Zrinski) when in 1662, he connected the River Mura with the Kanizsa Creek via a ditch. The military engineer Holst has illustrated these ditches, but it is also visible that two natural water catchment areas were also incorporated into the system. When examining the GIS (Geographical Information System) materials of the area, we can recognize the remains of the Zrínyi Ditch in a ditch still existing at Kollátszeg. Even today, it still connects the river and the creek, and traverses two adjacent backwaters, of which the one on the east is more recognizable from the street system of the settlement. The current lines of the ditch on the western side do not match with those drawn by the military engineer Holst, so with field research we have proven that this section of the Zrínyi Ditch has been filled by now, but it still has recognizable features both on the ground and in the micro terrain of the area too. The significance of this research is the fact that the ditch is only the second work - after Novi Zrin - inside Hungary that is directly connected to Miklós Zrínyi (Nikola Zrinski). This construction also proves that Zrínyi (Zrinski) was far ahead of his time even in this field. He recognized and utilized on a high level the potential of the terrain, and this way he increased the efficiency of defence when protecting his beloved country.
Keywords: Miklós Zrínyi, Medimurje, military fortification, ditch, engineer obstacle
Abstract: 47 graves, out of the 169, contained beads in the Avar cemetery of Hajós-Cifrahegy. From the point of view of the evaluation it is important to state that the majority of the graves were undisturbed or only disturbed by animals. Bead sor bead necklace were found mostly at the graves of the age group of adultus and maturus, less frequently at senium and young female, male and children graves. Some pearls were placed into or upon a sabretache, or were worn around the neck. The short strings of pearls were also widely popular.
Keywords: pearl type, monochrome, decorated pearls, melon-shaped pearls, beads, chronology
Abstract: A total of 616 burials were uncovered in 583 graves of the cemetery investigated in 2002, 2009-2010 and 2013. The burial ground is unusual in that the small, narrow valley lying north of Road 71 on the outskirts of Balatonudvari was used during several periods. The site’s upper layer contained west to east oriented burials from the tenth-eleventh centuries, underneath which lay north to south oriented burials from the middle and late Avar period. Some grave pits of the Avar period had been repeatedly re-used and we documented several superimposed burials. The two unusual, rare finds presented and discussed here came to light in the cemetery’s northern part: a braid comb from Grave 309 and a woodworking adze from Grave 516, both part of the eastern heritage of the Avar population.
Keywords: Avars, braid comb, Maltese cross-shaped buckle, Pápa-type buckle, woodworking adze
Abstract: The area along the County Somogy section of the River Drava was an archaeological blank spot until recent decades. Several previously unknown archaeological sites from the Neolithic to the Early Modern Age were identified during the field surveys conducted by the author since the 1970s. Described and discussed here are a few sites associated with medieval iron smelting dating from the ninth to the fifteenth century.
Keywords: early Medieval, Drava region, iron, slag, meadow-ore
Abstract: Discussed here are the different lion depictions appearing in the social display of late Avar society with a broad regional and chronological perspective.
Keywords: late Avar period, lion, senmurv and sphinx depictions
Abstract: The paper presents the data revealed from the anthropological examination of the remains of 36 persons dug up in Slovakia. Naszvad surrounding area since the 1930s, known conquerors graves. People living in the area of biological characteristics are uniform. Examination of the 1970-71’s excavations bone material confirms this understanding. The bad conditions of mortality may have caused the spread of tuberculosis. A woman’s skull symbolic trephination examined (ritual healing method).
Keywords: Early Hungarians, tuberculosis, cranial surgery
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