Bácsalmás „We rested down under for so long…” - A dual burial on the site

The unearthed graves of the cemetery at Bácsalmás revealed many interesting details. One of these was discovered in the southwestern part of the cemetery: a dual burial, comprising the undisturbed remains of two adult men. The extensive modern disturbance affecting most of the features reached this one, too: the ditch of a concrete pipe destroyed the northwestern part of the rectangular, brown sol stain of the grave pit. One can say without exaggerating that it was the matter of only a few metres that the best part of the burial remained untouched.
During the deepening of the quadratic soil stain of the grave pit, first the remains of two persons came to light, while further down the skeleton of a third one outlined in the northwestern corner; according to field observations, the third individual did not belong to the dual burial but it was interred into a separate grave. However, the first two graves were without question buried together, which indicates a close connection between them. An oval depression in the undisturbed southeastern part of the grave pit marked the one-time presence of a funerary bed. The individual on the right (252/I) was 18–19, the one on the left (252/2) older than fifty years at death. They were laid to rest stretched on their back and with their head tilted, facing each other. The compact position of their skeletal remains suggests that each men was wrapped in a shroud.
Both skeletons were sampled for archaeogenetical analysis to detect their assumed biological connection. However, the condition of the DNA of 252/2 was extremely poor, with a DNA content of only 0.3%, unsuitable for analysis; thus, their connection could not be determined. The results of 252/I confirmed that he was a male with a genetic composition with European markers, consisting mainly of southeast European/Anatolian and some southern components. He had average pigmentation and his eyes were certainly not blue. His paternal line (Y chromosome) belongs to the J2a1 haplogroup which also appears, but is not predominant, in the mortuary population of the Rákóczifalva cemetery near the town of Szolnok in the Trans-Tisza Region. Nowadays, this haplogroup is the most widespread in the Near East and Southern Europe.
Based on the grave finds, the two men were esteemed members of their community: both were interred in a clothing with belts decorated with metal mounts, large and small strap ends, and other fittings. The two belt sets were made using different techniques: the belt of 252/I (on the right) was adorned with cast, while that of 252/II with cast and pressblech (mould-pressed) mounts. Both men had knives, the one of 252/I was found next to the right lower arm and the other at the left lower arm of 252/II. The mirror position of the knives might reflect a conscious choice made by the mourners.