Kecskemét Traces of violence on the Avar settlement

The skeletal remains of about a dozen individuals were discovered in the features of the settlement complex unearthed at Kecskemét; however, anthropological evaluation could only identify the traces of physical violence on one of them, found in a beehive-shaped storage pit in the settlement part next to the Western Ditch. The pit was already halfway filled when the body was thrown into it; the middle-aged woman lay on her back with her hands and legs flexed. Several cutmarks caused by a thin blade could be observed on her bones; her lower leg was cut twice, her hand once, while her head suffered at least four cuts inflicted upon her with great force. Every blow hitting the head was lethal, which is corroborated by the lack of marks indicating the healing of the bones. Based on the lesions, she was fleeing when the ligaments in her legs were cut through; she fell and tried to protect herself with her hand from the next blow – unsuccessfully. The following, lethal blows hit her head, and her body was thrown into a pit. This Avar Period crime could be reconstructed, but the perpetrator's identity will always remain a mystery.