Bíró Gyöngyvér: Gellértegyháza és problémaköre. In: Új nemzedék: a szegedi Régészeti Tanszék tehetséggondozásának elmúlt évtizedei : Ünnepi kötet B. Tóth Ágnes, Kulcsár Valéria, Vörös Gabriella és Wolf Mária tiszteletére, (7). pp. 323-370. (2020)
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Abstract
The concept of the so-called Gellértegyháza-type cemetery is well-known among archaeologists in Hungary. This term usually refers to cemeteries where the transition between an earlier pagan burial site and a subsequent phase with burials around a church can clearly be observed. In other words, at these sites, a former pagan burial place was later used as a Christian cemetery. Paradoxically, it has still not been clarified whether the eponymous site itself is indeed a “Gellértegyház-type” cemetery in this sense. The aim of this paper is to identify the controversies around the cemetery excavated in Orosháza–Rákóczitelep, Újosztás, which had been identified as the cemetery of the settlement called Gellértegyháza, and to provide some explanations where possible. The site is situated in the western outskirts of Orosháza, on the brow of a hill running from northwest to southeast. Only the northern and the southern parts of the hill are under agricultural cultivation today. Large-scale excavation works were carried out at the site of the former church and cemetery between 1949 and 1950, when the establishment of a military training ground was planned there. The middle part of the hill brow was removed. Today this area functions as the Gellértegyháza Historical Park (Map 1). The earthmoving activities uncovered some human bones, which was reported to the relevant authorities. Following this, archaeologist Elemér Zalotay unearthed 344 graves in 1951, and further 336 graves in 1952 [Map 2: 1–2]. Rescue excavations carried out by Irene Juhász in 1970 uncovered further two graves. A more recent field survey combined with metal detecting research revealed that the settlement was situated north from the cemetery and church, on the same hill brow. The dividing line between the settlement and the cemetery might have run somewhere by the northern border of today’s historical park [Map 3]. The revision of the archaeological documentation, the archival documents, and the archaeological finds contributed significantly to our knowledge about the cemetery excavated at Rákóczitelep compared to the observations presented in the publication from 1957. The validity of the information coming from the excavation carried out sixty-five years ago has been questioned, though the documents stored in the database of the Nagy Gyula Regional Museum (Orosháza), especially the photos taken during the excavation serve as reliable evidence regarding the ground plan of the church, the environment of the cemetery, and the location of the graves. Zalotay’s observations as presented in his notes are supported by the analysis of the finds. The most recent research confirmed that the cemetery fragment excavated at Orosháza–Rákóczitelep, Újosztás was in use for at least one hundred years, and during this period, three phases can be distinguished. The cemetery seems to have been established at the end of the 10th or the beginning of the 11th century, and the first burials still display the traces of pagan traditions (burial with horse, the presence of pagan symbols, everyday objects placed in the grave, etc.). Such traces could be observed, for example, in grave No. 374 [Table 2: 3; Table 6: 14; Table 7: 6; Table 8: 1; Table 9: 2–3]. Later, as a result of Christianization, the number of grave goods decreased, and it appears that pagan rites were gradually abandoned. In the second phase of the cemetery, the number of finds is significantly lower than in the first phase. Some characteristic finds are clothing accessories (an S-terminalled lockring, a few beads) and coins of King Solomon (1063–1074) and King László I(1077–1095) [Table 5: 1–3]. Sometime during the 11th century, they started to build a brick church with a horseshoe-shaped apse [Table 1: 1–4], which, from that time on, defined the arrangement of the newly established graves until the cemetery ceased to function. The graves from this third phase of the cemetery contained only a few finds which were mostly clothing accessories, such as a ribbed S-terminalled lockring, finger rings, earrings, a buckle [Table 6: 3; Table 7: 1; Table 6: 6; Table 7: 5] and in some cases 12th century anonymous coins were deposited with the dead [Table 5: 4–6]. Burials established in the first phase of the cemetery were scattered along the brow of the hill, in a northwest-southeast direction. Graves from the second phase were identified mostly at the southern part of the hill, while those from the third phase were located north from this area, around the church. Both the archaeological and the suggest that the three phases were consecutive, which testifies of the process of Christianization. Consequently, it is justified to label the burial site at Rákóczitelep as a “Gellértegyháza-type” cemetery, though the identification of the village connected to the cemetery as Gellértegyháza represents another research problem. Since this identification can neither be proved nor disproved according to our present knowledge, we suggest using the name Orosháza–Rákóczitelep, Újosztás for the archaeological site.
Item Type: | Book Section |
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Other title: | Gellértegyháza and some related questions |
Journal or Publication Title: | Új nemzedék: a szegedi Régészeti Tanszék tehetséggondozásának elmúlt évtizedei : Ünnepi kötet B. Tóth Ágnes, Kulcsár Valéria, Vörös Gabriella és Wolf Mária tiszteletére |
Date: | 2020 |
Volume: | 7 |
ISSN: | 2062-9877 |
ISBN: | 978-963-306-733-8 |
Page Range: | pp. 323-370 |
Series Name: | Monográfiák a Szegedi Tudományegyetem Régészeti Tanszékéről |
Language: | Hungarian, English |
Place of Publication: | Szeged |
Related URLs: | http://acta.bibl.u-szeged.hu/70805/ |
Uncontrolled Keywords: | Régészet - leletek - Magyarország |
Additional Information: | Bibliogr.: p. 345-349. és a lábjegyzetekben ; ill. ; összefoglalás angol nyelven |
Subjects: | 06. Humanities 06. Humanities > 06.01. History and archaeology |
Date Deposited: | 2020. Nov. 27. 13:05 |
Last Modified: | 2023. Mar. 28. 10:48 |
URI: | http://acta.bibl.u-szeged.hu/id/eprint/70894 |
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