‘I saw the infinite number of Cumans and Tartars…’ – Relics of the Mongol invasion from Csanádpalota

Gallina Zsolt – Gulyás Gyöngyi

Hadak útján. A népvándorláskor fiatal kutatóinak XXIV. konferenciája. Esztergom, 2014. november 4–6. Conference of young scholars on the Migration Period. November 4–6, 2014, Esztergom

MŐT Kiadványok 3.2 (2017) 755–776

DOI 10.55722/Arpad.Kiad.2017.3.2_32

A tanulmány a Csanádpalota határában 2013-ban feltárt Árpád-kori településrészlet, illetve annak tatárjárás kori eseményei bemutatásával foglalkozik. A több mint 47 000 m²-re kiterjedő ásatás során a kelta kortól a tatárjárás koráig öt régészeti korszakba tartozó jelenségek kerültek felszínre. A lelőhely gerincét egy Árpád-kori falu településobjektumai adták, melyek közül a legmeghatározóbb jelenségek a szögletes alaprajzú területeket határoló, illetve a több száz méter hosszan követhető, települést kerítő árkok voltak. A településobjektumok között feltárt két temetkezés, továbbá egy meneteles lejáratú gödörbe rejtett vaseszközlelet alapján bizonyos, hogy az Árpád-kori falu a tatárjáráskor pusztult el. A lelőhely legérdekesebb lelete a települést kerítő árokra ásott gödörbe temetett, felszerszámozott keleti nomád lósír volt.

Kulcsszavak: Árpád-kori település, településszerkezet, tatárjáráskori lelet, vaseszközlelet, keleti nomád lósír

This paper presents an Árpád-age settlement section excavated in the boundaries of Csanádpalota and the Mongol invasion events related to it. During the excavation of more than 47.000 square meters, features associated with five archaeological eras from Celtic times to the age of the Mongol invasion were unearthed.

Remains belonging to the Árpád-age settlement made up the backbone of the site. The characteristic feature of the settlement is an encircling and protecting double ditch system and the connecting network of narrow channels with space delimiting role. The scattered buildings and other features (pits, outdoor furnaces) refer to the life of a rural settlement. Based on the animal bones unearthed, the inhabitants were mainly engaged in raising livestock; they probably kept their animals within the rectangular areas demarcated by ditches. The variable orientation of the excavated buildings and the external furnaces, the repeatedly renewed cooking surfaces, in addition to the extensive systems of ditches dug at different times as suggested by superpositions, lead to the conclusion that the settlement was inhabited for a long time. Based on the coins found next to one of the skeletons, we put the time of its destruction to the age of the Mongol invasion. This conclusion is confirmed by a second unburied skeleton and iron tool finds hidden in a stepped pit. The majority of villagers, as revealed by the section of the settlement explored, left their houses in peaceful conditions or fleeing, and never returned here. We observed few burn marks in the settlement features and buildings, and we found hardly any iron tools in the other features. After the Mongol invasion we cannot reckon with another settlement.

The most interesting find on the site was an eastern nomadic horse burial. The elderly stallion was buried with trappings in a separately dug pit. The gilt silver mountings that might have decorated a woman’s headwear found next to the horse skeleton suggest that the owner of the horse might have been a distinguished woman who had her favourite horse buried with great attention. This horse burial can be interpreted as a unique find of the research addressing the archaeolog-ical remains of late eastern nomads (Cumans). No such lonely (riderless) horse burial had been discovered before on the territory of our country. The horse burial may have taken place during the Mongol campaign. His owner belonged to the attacking army and could be Mongolian or Cumanian-Kipchak as well.