Ancient cemetery in Pécs reveals its secrets
MúzeumCafé 7.
Pécs is among the few former Roman settlements in Hungary which remained important over the ages. The 30 × 100 metre excavation area is situated 30 metres from the eastern wall of the former Roman town, Sopiane, at the southern edge of the medieval town, to the northeast from the Siklós Gate. Sopiane’s late Roman cemetery is to the north, and this part of the town centre includes an early Christian cemetery, a World Heritage site since 2000. The other cemetery, now excavated, was established in an earlier abandoned part of the town, in front of the eastern Roman wall. The 194 tombs are in a thirty-metre-wide strip in a north-south direction. Although both cemeteries were used simultaneously, there is a big contrast between the two. In the last third of the 4th century most probably only Christians were buried in the northern cemetery, whereas the eastern, separate burial ground was used by non-Christians. Some 80% of the discovered graves are simple earth tombs, the rest are made of brick. The complete lack of utensils is noticeable and coins were also rarely found. Accessories most often found on women are bronze bracelets with snake head on the right arm and bone bracelets on the left. Probably the area of today’s Kossuth Square provided a resting place not only for poor provincial residents but also for foreign, barbarian inhabitants. Objects from the Hun age have not been found. Burials ceased at the end of the 4th century, most likely at the end of the Roman period at the latest.