Armor finds from the 6th–7th-century cemetery of Szegvár-Oromdűlő

Major Péter

A szegvár-oromdűlői temető és a Tiszántúl kora avar időszaka. The Szegvár-Oromdűlő Cemetery and the Avar Period in the Trans-Tisza Region.

MŐK Kiadványok 5 (2020) 661–667

DOI 10.55722/Arpad.Kiad.2022.5_09

A temető nyolc temetkezéséből kerültek elő védőfegyverek: három sírból (33., 333., 930.) szerkezetileg összefüggő, részleges lamellasort, ötből (335., 540., 627., 706., 741.) pedig különálló lamellák. A 33. sírba részleges lamellasort, valamint láncpáncél-részletet is helyeztek. Teljes páncél, illetve páncélelem nem került elő.

The majority of the artefacts identified as protective weapons in the Szegvár-Oromdűlő cemetery represent an armor type composed of metal plates (lamellae) of different shapes. Their condition and number greatly varies by graves, therefore they provide few information regarding general questions of reconstruction. Their classification revealed both rare and frequent armor types of the Carpathian Basin. The one and only chain mail fragment not only increases the small number of finds from the Trans-Tisza region. Its size above average, its well-preserved nature, as well as its finding conditions also deserve attention: unusually for this period, it was not placed beside a deceased person, but the remains of a horse. Opinions are divided about its exact function. A possibility occurred that it had been the fragment of a horse armor, and according to another opinion it had rather played a representative role.