Hajós - Avar from the wine cellars

Teams of the Koszta József Museum monitored the construction of diverse facilities at several venues in the southern part of Bács-Kiskun County within the frame of the Upper Bácska Potable Water Improvement Project in 2015–2016. The construction area of the waterworks at Hajós–Pincesor [‘Wine cellar row’] included a part of an Avar cemetery on 332 m2. Of the 59 identified archaeological features, 52 were Avar Period graves, six belonged to an Árpád Age settlement, and the age of a ditch could not be determined. The extent of the cemetery remained unknown as its limits were not reached in either direction; however, the construction of the wine cellars had certainly destroyed many. Based on the recovered find material, the cemetery was in use during the Middle and Late Avar Periods, that is, from the second half of the 7th to the early 9th century AD.
Most graves were oriented NW–SE; the ones with different orientations often intersect them, which indicates a relatively long use period. Shallow depressions were dug into the short ends of the bottom of many of the rectangular grave pits, and four had postholes in the corners; besides, the iron clasps of the one-time coffin were found in one. The deceased were laid to rest stretched on their back, save for the woman in Grave 48 who lay on her stomach.
It is difficult to estimate how rich the related community was because some graves had already been plundered in the Avar Period. The looters usually dug their shafts in the area of the head and neck. The gender of the deceased was determined based mainly on the finds in their graves, as the anthropological analysis of the skeletal remains is still in progress. According to that, seventeen burials were of women and six of men, while the small bones discovered in four graves belonged to children. The gender of the individuals from highly disturbed and unfurnished graves could not be determined this way.
Women’s and girls’ typical accessories included hoop earrings with a bead pendant, bronze rings with glass inlays, and necklaces strung with diverse beads. Many had their personal utensils (pottery spindle whorls and bone needle cases) buried with them. Men's garments included belts with pressblech and cast metal fittings, with the most important tool, an iron knife, usually hanging from it.