The Avars of Soltvadkert enclosed in the sand

Following careful organization, we resumed fieldwork at our previously investigated site in September 2025 in order to further explore the history of the local Avar community. During the several-week excavation, fourteen additional burials were uncovered, thereby augmenting and refining the information obtained during the earlier phase of research.

The conditions of the fieldwork were themselves exceptional. Owing to extreme drought associated with climate change, the sandy substrate had desiccated and compacted to a depth of nearly two metres, rendering it almost unworkable using conventional excavation techniques. Excavation became feasible only through the adoption of an unconventional approach: with the assistance of a hectolitre-capacity water tank provided by the municipality, the grave fills were incrementally moistened. Following the initial application of water, progress was limited to 5–10 cm; nevertheless, this proved sufficient to facilitate deeper percolation. Subsequent controlled and continuous watering allowed the grave pits to be dampened stratigraphically, layer by layer, ultimately enabling the systematic excavation of burials at depths ranging on average between 60 and 140 cm.

The excavation at Vadkert thus yielded not only new Avar-period burials and their associated archaeological contexts, but also highlights the extent to which shifting environmental conditions are fundamentally transforming both the methodological frameworks and the practical parameters of archaeological research.

Among the female burials, one of the most remarkable finds was a glass-inlaid disc brooch worn on the chest. Its rarity and fine craftsmanship offer valuable insight into the material culture, status display, and social representation of higher-ranking women within the community.

The most exceptional feature of the cemetery was an anomalous double burial: the skeletal remains of a woman and a man were found superimposed within a formally constructed grave pit, deposited in a prone position, with their arms drawn behind their backs and their legs intertwined. This funerary configuration diverges sharply from the normative mortuary practices of the period and may indicate extraordinary circumstances that transgressed established community norms, internal conflict, or potentially ritualized behavior. Although its precise interpretation requires further contextual and comparative analysis, the burial provides a striking illustration of the social heterogeneity and structural complexity of Avar-period society.