Kelebia - A cemetery on the land of railways 2.

The graves abounded with artefacts typical of the Middle and Late Avar periods, i.e., the second half of the 7th–early 9th centuries AD. Women were buried with jewellery, belt buckles, spindle whorls, bone needlecases, and iron knives, while men’s graves contained jewellery, the mounts and fittings of the belt set, sabres, and iron knives. Altogether, 86% of adults’ and 65% of children’s burials contained at least one item.
Vessels were found in 48 graves. Most of them are hand-made and fairly rough, but some are more elaborate and wheel-turned. As for vessel type, the vast majority is a personal small pot or mug, which contained the food offered to the deceased for their afterlife journey.
Jewellery was an integral part of the Avar attire. Children were given exclusively simple hoop earrings, while adults may also wore more elaborate copper alloy and silver pieces, and Grave 383 contained a pair of small gold spherical pendant earrings. Bracelets made of bronze or iron were rare. Two men wore braid rings: the one in Grave 225 had a rectangular copper alloy specimen, while the braid ring in Grave 370 was pressed from silver sheets. Neck jewellery comprised bead necklaces strung with a wide variety of beads in diverse colours and shapes.
Clothing accessories were frequent finds, including buckles, decorative mounts, strap ends of belts, and iron strap fasteners and buttons. The richest belt sets were found in Graves 225, 234, and 461. The remains of organic materials (textile, leather, or threads) were observed beside or corroded onto several metal artefacts.
Weapons marked the highlighted social position of the owner throughout the period; they count as rare finds in the Middle and Late Avar Period cemeteries of the Danube–Tisza Interfluve. Graves 234 and 242 contained a sabre each.
The most frequently added personal tool is a knife, usually found in the hip area as they were kept hanging from the belt; many knives were placed in a wooden case beside the deceased. Purses with the small objects necessary for daily life (a needle case, a fire kit, or a spindle whorl) were also suspended from the belt; usually, only a bone buckle and a bronze chain remained of them. Most needle cases were lathed of bone; some were covered with carved vegetal patterns. One of the women had a bronze pinzette with zigzag patterns on its arms. Most women's graves included a spindle whorl, usually found in the chest or waist area.
In summary, the cemetery was the burial place, used for a long period, of a Middle and Late Avar community at Kelebia. The find material and observed elements of the funerary ritual fit the mortuary practice of the Danube–Tisza Interfluve. The graves, arranged in rows, formed two clusters; a third small cluster, farther from the two big ones, was observed with weapon burials in the centre. Relatively rich graves were concentrated in the southern half of the cemetery, while the northern one comprised the most moderately furnished ones and the burials of children and newborns.