Szentkirály - Traces of conflict on an Avar Period settlement

Test excavation was carried out on the site Szentkirály–Nagy-tanyától DNy-ra [’southwest of Nagy Farm’] preceding the construction of motorway M44 in February and March 2021, bringing to light an Avar Period settlement. The fill of Feature 17, one of the semi-sunken buildings, contained human bones.
The 4.56 × 2 m large, 0.48 m deep, rectangular building was north-east oriented; neither postholes nor a distinct, compacted floor could be observed on its bottom, indicating that it was an outbuilding rather than a house. Based on the potsherds recovered from its fill, it could be dated to the Avar Period; radiocarbon data specified that to around 660–780 AD.
The complete skeletal remains of two adult men were discovered at the northern end of the building. The bones of both were found in anatomical order but reflected a twisted body position, on top of each other, right on the floor; both men were killed, and their bodies were thrown into the building.
The first skeleton to have been excavated, of a mature (40–49 years old at death) man, was the southern one. When the metal detector picked up the clear signal of an iron object in the chest area, we expected some grave good or personal accessory; however, it turned out very quickly that it marked the tool that likely caused the death of the man. He died because an iron knife was stabbed into his body: the blade entered his chest by the left scapula, its tip piercing through one of the thoracic vertebrae. The whole (22.5 cm-long) blade passed through the body of the vertebra, and only the tang stopped before it, based on which the man was stabbed with enormous power and was practically impaled; the weapon then remained in the body. The tip of the single-edge tanged knife broke down. The place between the entry point of the knife and the pierced vertebra is where the wooden handle of the knife, riveted to the tang, stopped; the organic parts had decayed completely by now.
Besides this lesion, the man had a healed fracture of the left shinbone and fibula and another on two ribs. The lamina of the last lumbar vertebra broke off and separated from its body; this lesion might be connected with an equestrian lifestyle.
A small, only one-centimetre-long unhealed cut mark was observed on the pelvic bone of the other man (who was 20–25 years old at death). Despite its size, the related lesion could be accompanied by a significant loss of blood, even causing his death. His last lumbar vertebra was also damaged, while his ribs feature traces of healed pleurisy.
The genetic analysis of their samples revealed that they were not closely related biologically. The genome of the southern individual features an exceptionally high eastern Eurasian component, while the genetic composition of the northern man is fundamentally different, typical of Europe.
A yellow sand layer was observed above the southern skeleton, aligning to its direction; the two bodies were likely covered with it by intent.
No other feature to contain human remains was discovered during the excavation. Based on that, the two men were probably victims of a small-scale local conflict, which but must have shaken the community to the extent that they opted for quickly throwing the two corpses into a building out of use and covering them with yellow sand instead of giving them a proper burial.