Evidence of a conquering tribe in the central Tisza region
MúzeumCafé 21.
Excavations carried out at Nagykörű in Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok county produced some of the most significant finds of 2010. Under the leadership of István Fodor and archaeologist László Madaras, exceptionally rich finds came to light with the discovery of graves from the time of the Hungarian conquest. The items in the very centre of the settlement were revealed during the digging for foundations of a new nursery school. Nagykörű was the location of a very beautiful find from the conquest era, which was taken to the National Museum in 1891. Accompanying items included fine gilded belt fittings, shirt ornaments and bracelets similar to the recently uncovered items. In the immediate vicinity of the site, we know of a line of rich conquest-era finds all the way to the foot of the Matra Hills. Two of the graves are particularly rich in furniture. One contains the bones of a woman whose last journey could have been on horseback. Her caftan was found to have at least 25 gilded silver fittings. An especially interesting find was made by the foot bones. Her riding boots had had various silver fittings. These were quickly found, which made it possible to sketch and reconstruct the woman’s boots. Hence if we compare our findings with the already well-known reconstructions of attire, we’ll soon be able to properly determine 10th-century clothing in its entirety. Her horse was buried next to the feet, which was customary at the time. Its tackle had very beautiful silver decoration and we found the bit, the stirrup, the girth buckle and silver mountings on the leather.Another, man’s grave also contained a horse. The horse’s gear had 40-45 fittings. Many graves contained horses; however, we excavated several in which no horse was buried but where we found weapons or items relating to a woman of wealth.