"The 216 Avar graves uncovered by Gyula László (1960–1977) at the Ürmös-tanya site do not represent the entire cemetery: it is quite certain that unexcavated burials still lie north-east, east, west and south-west of the excavated area....
more"The 216 Avar graves uncovered by Gyula László (1960–1977) at the Ürmös-tanya site do not represent the entire cemetery: it is quite certain that unexcavated burials still lie north-east, east, west and south-west of the excavated area. The cemetery was opened during the Early Avar period. The Early Avar graves were oriented north–north-west to south–south-east, and rarely contained pottery or food offerings. The finds include earrings with large or small spherical pendant, necklaces strung of a handful of eye beads, and spindle whorls. The belt mounts from Graves 83 and 215 provide good anchors for dating the early burials to the second quarter of the 7th century. The next horizon is represented by the burials from after the mid-7th century. Most of these graves lay next to each other in northern part of the cemetery, forming a north–north-east to south–south-west oriented group, with the exception of three graves in the cemetery’s middle. While the grave furniture from these burials is predominantly characterised by Early Avar artefacts, new types too make an appearance. Some graves yielded articles made in the Avar style. The women wore necklaces strung of the earlier eye beads together with trailed beads, millet seed beads and segmented flattened globular beads, and earrings with a large or small spherical pendant decorated with granulation. None of the belts were fitted with mounts, except for the one in Grave 62. The bone disentangling hooks and mouthpieces, as well as some of the amulets, were recovered from these burials. Another group, also falling into the same horizon, stands out by the poorness of the grave goods and the presence of artefacts reflecting a Germanic (or Gepidic) taste, rather than typical Avar wares, such as the double-sided comb from Grave 39, the shield-tongue oval buckle from Grave 89 and the iron mounts from Graves 14 and 74. New elements made their appearance in the burial rite too: most graves were north-west to south-east oriented, the grave pits and the coffins were trapezoidal, and the burials were amply provided with food offerings (marked by the presence of vessels and animal bones). Burials with harness sets can be assigned to this group too. While several finds indisputably reflect a Germanic taste, it yet remains to be proven that these burials represent the heritage of the latest descendants of the Gepids in the eastern fringes of the Danube–Tisza Interfluve, or whether the artefacts came from some nearby settlement. The fact that the artefacts in question were found in a position conforming to the way they were worn (and were not in a secondary position) seems to contradict the latter possibility. At the same time, the currently available evidence is insufficient for confirming their possible acquisition through trade.
In contrast to earlier views (BÓNA 1984, Map 24), it is by now clear that the Gepidic settlement territory extended to a 30–40 km wide zone along the Tisza (KISS 1998). “Germanic” artefacts have also been reported from other cemeteries near the river too (Abony, Gátér and Szeged-Kundomb), none of which came from the earliest graves of these burial sites.
The upper boundary of the cemetery’s use-life is marked by the male burials with cast belt sets, necklaces strung of late beads and earrings with oval hoop and bead pendant or prismatic bead pendant. These burials can be assigned to the close of the 8th and the onset of the 9th century (Late Avar III period)."
