###

# Archaeological Traces in Transylvania of the Hungarian Conquest

The archaeological traces that have been uncovered are few but nevertheless conclusive: at the turn of the 10th century, Hungarians of all social strata began to establish settlements and cemeteries, simultaneously at diverse locations, in Transylvania.

Their earliest major settlement was at ancient Napoca, a strategic road junction. Their burial grounds can be found around the remains of the ancient walls of the town, which, by the end of the 12th century, bore the name Kolozsvár. One of them, located east of the Roman city centre, in Zápolya (later Dostoevski) Street, bears comparison with the settlers' more sizeable burial grounds (e.g., at Kenézlő), although only part of it could be excavated, for the rest had been built over or used as a gravel-pit. The twelve graves that have been discovered probably constitute a third of the original cemetery. Six of the graves held men with sabres, bows and quivers; of these, five also held a folded horsehide and harness, and {1-286.} one a harnessed and stuffed horsehide. One of the graves yielded a trepanned skull! At least four graves had been despoiled at some unknown time. The original richness of the graves can only be guessed at from the objects that the looters left behind: weapon-straps with silver decoration, silver hair-clasps, lyre-shaped belt buckles, harnesses, silver-inlaid stirrups with silver fittings, and the silver hook of a leather pouch. One grave that, holding no harness, was not plundered, yielded a sabre, an iron-hooped quiver, and arrows. The finds in women's graves included silver ornaments from the collars and wrists of their dresses, silver buttons from their fur coats, silver rings, and splendid silver earrings with 'Tokaj type' pendants in the shape of a bunch of grapes (solid and hollow-cast mixed together), and fancy buttons. The style of the Hungarians' burial was without precedent in the region, and so were the found objects: their apparel, the weapons (including sabres, iron-strapped quivers, and forked as well as pierced, whistling arrowheads), and even the pots that had held food when they were placed in the graves of women and children. These 'Saltovo type' pots, from the Don region, were new to the Carpathian Basin. There have also been more recent excavations of graves in the cemetery.

Several of the finds in the Zápolya Street graves may be classified as 'archaic', notably a heart-shaped harness ornament that has Eastern parallels and is rare in Eastern Europe, and also the belt and harness decorations. There is little likelihood that the cemetery, which was established soon after the conquest, belonged to a wealthy, 'middle class' family; in all probability, it was the burial ground of the family and military escort of a high-ranking person who had established residence within the walls. An earring with a grape-bunch pendant, found in a woman's grave at 23 Farkas (later M. Kogălniceanu) Street, points to the presence of another, contemporary cemetery near the old fort.

The graves and cemeteries of the soldiering 'middle classes' spread from the Háromszék, at Eresztevény-Zádogos-tető (grave {1-287.} with horse and stirrup) and Kézdivásárhely (a bridle, sabre, and unadorned dishes, probably once in a grave, found by the builders of the Bereck railway line) towards the country's interior. In Köpec-Kőcsukk, one grave (with horse) was discovered before World War I, and another in 1927; the latter yielded a horseshoe similar to the one found at Soltszentimre, in a grave that also held a pommel decorated with plates of carved bone. A grave at Sepsiszentgyörgy-Epres-tető held a stuffed horse hide, arrowheads, and a rare Byzantine sword fitted with a bronze cross-bar. A stirrup and a horse's skull and shinbones — signs of a typical burial with horse — have been unearthed in Új Street at Székelyderzs. No details are available concerning the 10th-century settlement and cemetery that were reportedly discovered at Réty-Telek.

As these grave finds indicate, the area later known as the Székelyföld was only sparsely occupied by Hungarian fighters, for the Pecheneg enemy was nearby. A few traces in the Székelyföld of graves that belonged to common people probably date from the same period; none are more recent than the 10th century. The organization of border guards and the settlement of the Hungarians known as Székelys occurred only in the 12th century, in response to the Cumanian-Kun threat.

The first Conquest-era cemetery to be identified in Transylvania was discovered in 1895 at the Zeyk vineyard, near Marosgombás in the Maros valley. Excavations conducted in 1911–12 revealed a single row of twelve graves that held the remains of well-to-do settlers. The men were buried at one end, along with their sabres, war axes, and quivers that held 3, 5, or 7 arrowheads. At the other end, the women's graves yielded dresses with silver-studded collars, short fur coats with silver buttons, Bulgar and Hungarian earrings, and solid bracelets. The burial of horses along with the men was obviously not a rigid custom, for it was not practised by this community. A few of the women's graves were found devastated, and there are no published details of the {1-288.} finds in graves 5–9, although it is known that they yielded a sabre, quiver, and bundled arrowheads. The fireplace of a dwelling was excavated in the same location; Hungarian, rhombus-shaped arrowheads were found on its apron, along with a horse's skull. A similar burial ground was discovered in the valley below the castle at Magyarlapád: the graves held women's remains, with jewels typical of the 'middle class'. The ornamented harness fittings (details of which are yet to be published) that were found at Borosbenedek point to the presence of a wealthier Hungarian woman's grave. A grave with horse was destroyed during the construction of a church at Gyulafehérvár in the 11th century, but there remains a leaf-shaped harness ornament that is similar to the one found in Zápolya Street. At Déva, an important road junction in the Maros valley, a row of graves belonging to an armed, middle-class family was found, and objects were salvaged from seven of the graves. The grave of the highest-ranking man yielded a double-edged Carolingian sword that had been laid along his right arm; the same, or perhaps another grave contained an iron-belted quiver as well as diamond-shaped and forked arrowheads. The men's short fur coats had decorative buttons, while their womenfolk wore earrings, smooth hair rings, and plain rings, one bearing an incised pattern. The stirrups and bridles in this group of graves are probably the symbolic equivalent of burials with horse. There are reports of other finds of '10th-century graves with horses', notably at Piski.

A peculiar case is that of the burial ground of Maroskarna-Szőlőhegy. The partially-excavated cemetery 'B' is difficult to assess, for 11 of its 15 graves were found in a despoiled state. In some respects — layout, certain finds, the presence of a large stone used as a headrest — it resembles the Zápolya Street cemetery, but no horses were found in the excavated graves. Judging from the finds — a fragment of a sabre, iron quiver-straps, arrowheads, metal buttons, beads, a pair of silver earrings with grape-bunch pendants, and, last but not least, a Saltovo-type urn — the cemetery dates from {1-289.} the same period as the one in Zápolya Street. It may be surmised that the cemetery was used by a military contingent, charged in the period of the Hungarian settlement with supervising the Bulgars in the district. Their relative affluence (which later lured grave looters) probably owed to their military functions. The simpler objects yielded by the graves of less affluent relatives (bronze bracelets, rings, earrings) bridge the gap between the soldiers' graves and the 'archaeological civilization' of unarmed commoners' cemeteries. Judging from the bridle, torque, bracelets, and potsherds that are now in a museum, the cemetery at Maroscsapó must have been of a similar type.

Beyond the Királyhágó (Kings' Pass) and Sebes-Körös valley, at Krajnikfalva, four 10th-century stirrups were unearthed. They probably came from not two, but three graves, for three stirrups were of Norman-Carolingian type, with silver inlays. These may well be the traces of mounted soldiers who had been stationed there to guard the eastern approaches of the Bihar region.

There are sound reasons for believing that Biharvár, on the fringe of the Great Plain, was the 10th-century seat of a Hungarian prince. A modest earthwork on the site, dating from the Bronze Age, had been 'rebuilt' into a mighty fortress. Internal political necessities do not suffice to explain the design of these forts, which were built on high earthworks and surrounded by beam-reinforced earthen ramparts. The fact is that until the mid-900s, the Hungarians were under constant threat of Pecheneg attack. The latter, according to Constantine Porphyrogenetos, enjoyed an 'overwhelming superiority in power and numbers'; they threatened Bulgaria and were regarded with 'terror and fear' by the 'Turkic clan'. The Byzantine Emperor was well aware that the Hungarians would not dare to 'provoke' these 'wicked fellows'. To defend the Hungarians' gyepű (domain), mighty forts were raised at Szabolcsvár, Biharvár, and Marosvár, gateways to the Great Plain on the Tisza, Körös, and Maros rivers, and at Krassóvár in the {1-290.} Lower Danube gorge. The same sense of insecurity explains the network of fortifications — of which only a few traces have been found so far — along the Eastern Carpathians.

With its perimeter forts, Biharvár spreads over four and a half hectares; the raised, central part measures 182 by 200 metres. Its earthwork ramparts are close to 10 metres wide and rise even today to a height of 9–12 metres. Although the conclusions that have been drawn from cross-section digs are somewhat confusing, it appears that Biharvár was built up in several phases, and reached its present scale in the 11th century. In the final phase of construction, a stone wall was raised on the earthworks, as was also done at Dobokavár and Tordavár. Originally, Biharvár had only one gateway, on the southwest side. The gates at the northeast and southeast corners date from 1704, when Prince Rákóczi camped his troops on the site. Stone foundations dating from the 11th and 12th centuries evoke the buildings, and possibly a church, that were erected by contemporary princes and stewards. Below these, on level 'C', lie 10th-century traces, including some recently excavated huts.

The initial 'great' period of Biharvár (civitas Byhor, 1075) dates from the first half of the 10th century. The 'garrison's' cemetery, discovered on Somlyó Hill, across from the castle, dates from the same period and is almost without parallel in the archaeology of the Conquest. It consists of a single row of eight graves, aligned side by side on a west-east axis. In each grave, there was a harnessed horse hide placed at the feet of the deceased, and, to the right of the latter, iron-bound quivers holding 2, 4, or six arrowheads and arrows; one of the graves also yielded a war axe. The soldiers' chief is identified by his sabre and silver-studded belt, and the occupant of a neighbouring grave may also have held high rank, for he wore silver-studded boots and earrings with a gold pendant. The others' garb, as indicated by coat buttons, was plainer; their belts had iron buckles, and they carried a knife and fire-starting tools in a leather pouch on their belt. The one woman in the group {1-291.} wore earrings with a beaded pendant and had been buried with a horse and a small stirrup; hers was the only grave that yielded a Saltovo-type pot for the ceremonial food. The number of arrowheads may indicate differences in rank, and the occupants of these graves were probably the commanders of larger and smaller units. Their relatives may have been buried farther along this row, or in another row of graves.

The lords of the castle are evoked by a double-edged Carolingian sword with an iron pommel (found, in 1862, in a grave that also contained a stirrup and dishes), as well as by a harness ornament bearing a rosette pattern. The lifestyle of the lower orders is represented by Slavic pots of the Szilágynagyfalu type and Hungarian, Saltovo-type pots and cauldrons. From the end of the 10th century, the people of the castle buried their dead nearby, on the site of a subsequently established brick factory; this is the largest commoners' cemetery to have been discovered east of the Tisza. The sections that have been excavated so far yielded evidence of the 'circulation of money', i.e. the placing in graves of funeral obuli; the earliest coins date from the time of Andrew I and Solomon, but most are contemporary with Ladislas I and Coloman. The coins testify that the cemetery remained in use through the reigns of Stephen II, Béla II, Géza II, and Béla III, up to the time of Andrew II; the most plausible explanation is that a church was erected on the site in the 11th century. Two finds, an intact dish and an early type of twisted torque, suggest that the origins of the 520-grave cemetery go back to the 10th century; more conclusive proof may be yielded by more extensive excavations and by a thorough assessment of the finds in the 506 graves excavated by Márton Roska. The fourteen, most recently excavated graves have been dated to around 1000.

Graves with horses have been found on the site of a Celtic cemetery at Köröstarján-Csordás Hill, not far from Biharvár; the very toponym, Tarján, evokes the name of a clan. The initial reports {1-292.} indicated that the 12 'Hungarian' graves held the remains of men, armed with sabres, and of women who wore earrings with silver, grape-bunch pendants.

There are, in the neighbourhood of Biharvár, several other cemeteries that had been used during the 10th–11th centuries by the castle's inhabitants and by common folk: at Biharszentandrás (where graves date up to the time of Ladislas I), Hegyközkovácsi (which yielded a contemporary bronze rattle), on Bálint Nagy's plot at Biharfélegyháza (twisted torques, bracelet with animal head, ring), at Biharszentjános-Klastrom Hill (obuli dating from Ladislas I, rings, beads), Hegyközszentimre (coin from Stephen I's time), Jankafalva (contemporary pots and a Majs-type, bronze pectoral cross), and, to the west, at Ártánd, where the cemetery included graves (with horses) of local notables.

An important, early Hungarian settlement was situated south of Biharvár, at (Nagy)Várad. Its old Hungarian name means 'place with a castle', but that does not prove there was a castle on the site before Ladislas I's time, since initially there would have been little need for another fortress so close to Biharvár. When, in the early 1890s, a hussar barrack was under construction on the southwestern periphery of Nagyvárad, between the Pece brook and the Arad road, numerous women's graves dating from the 10th century were uncovered; the finds in this commoners' cemetery included double silver pendants (worn as collar ornaments), seven twisted torques, numerous bracelets (smooth, apart from one with an animal head), a cast-silver earring with grape-bunch pendant, and a Hungarian, Saltovo-type pot. The cemetery had remained in use until the beginning of the 11th century (hair clasps, with S-shaped tips, of an early type, and a half-moon shaped pendant, or 'lunula'). A more recent find is the 10th century cemetery that lies east of the subsequently-built castle, at the Szalka site, on the south bank of the Sebes-Körös River. The seven graves in the excavated section yielded a ring decorated with a carved bird figure, bronze earrings with grape-bunch pendants, and plain hair clasps.

{1-293.} Around 1091–93, an earthwork fortification — some 600 metres in circumference, and with a diameter of 150 metres — was constructed on a rise in the flood plain separating the Sebes-Körös and the Pece, between two 10th–11th century villages. Its purpose was to protect a nearby monastery that had been founded by Ladislas I. At the same time, Biharvár, which had been heavily damaged by the Cumanians in 1091, began to lose its importance. Soon thereafter, the parish's Holy Spirit church was erected on a site west of the castle ('Varadynum de Byhor', 1093); the location of its cemetery is indicated by the 12th century coins found in Nagyvásártér (Great Market Square). The transfer of the episcopal seat and the bishops' wealth and connections are all reflected in significant archaeological finds: the fragment of a procession cross or rood from the end of the 11th century, the earliest bronze-casting of this type from the Árpádian era; another fragment, from a 11th–12th century procession cross, crafted in Lorraine, and originally decorated with mountain crystals; and a 12th century altar cross from Limoges.

In the vicinity of Nagyvárad, commoners' graveyards have been uncovered at Peceszentmárton (metal button, bead) and at Mezőtelegd, where a cross was found, similar to the one at Jankafalva; in fact, such crosses have been found — in verified circumstances — in children's graves, dating from the 10th–11th century, located all over the country (e.g. at Majs). The twisted torque and other jewellery found at Nagyszalonta also date from this period.

Many 10th–11th century cemeteries, some only indicated by a jewel or two, have been discovered in the Érmellék and the Szilágy regions: Mezőfény (30 graves, yielding wire bracelets, both plain and with animal head decoration, hair clasps, both plain and ribbed, with S-shaped tips, twisted and flat rings); Iriny (rhombus-shaped arrowhead); Értarcsa (a variant of the earring with grape-bunch pendant); Kismajtény (12 graves); Szalacs-Várbót Hill (where {1-294.} Márton Roska excavated a commoners' cemetery, dating from the 10th–12 centuries); Gálospetri-Malomdomb (4 graves); Nagykároly-Bobáldi Hill (10th–11th century graves dug into a Bronze Age settlement-mound, and also a churchyard cemetery); Érdengeleg; Érsemjén; Érmihályfalva (plain torques); Érkörtvélyes (plain torques, half-moon pendant); Mezőterem; Szilágypér; Szilágysomlyó (graves yielding a bronze bell and rings; and Zilah-Vártelek (31 graves, yielding hair clasps with S-shaped tips, iron knives). At Szalacs-Vida Hill, twelve graves were found dug on a west-east axis into a Bronze Age settlement-mound. One of them held a pair of 'Köttlach type', enamelled braid pendants, indicative of a Slovenian or Bavarian[?] woman, along with plain hair clasps and a ring); another woman's braids were held a row of clasps with S-shaped tips, while the skull of a man who had worn simple hair rings was trepanned. Pots were found in graves at Székelyhíd and, south of the Fekete-Körös, at Kalácsa. The above grave finds are essentially similar to those, dating from the same period, in the neighbouring counties of Szabolcs, Szatmár, and Bihar.

A grave at Gálospetri is particularly noteworthy: it held a Saltovo-type pot, coat buttons, and filigreed, cast-bronze disks used as braid ornaments, all objects that denote the 10th-century burial of a wealthier Hungarian woman. One disk, bearing a horse figure entwined with tendrils — a helpful spirit — is of a type found in other Hungarian cemeteries, notably at Mándok and Sarkad; another disk bears a rare example of the Hungarians' palmette-patterned tree of life. Three other graves at Gálospetri held only a few hair rings; although one or more of them may have been plundered, they nevertheless testify to the social stratification that marks the Hungarian settlers' cemeteries.

The rich cemeteries found in the vicinity of Gyula may indicate that this was one of the early residences of the ruling gyulas. The three graves with horses at Muszka-Szőlődomb each yielded harnesses, one of which included an exceptionally fine stirrup and {1-295.} bridle, both with silver inlays (cf. Kolozsvár, Zápolya Street); jewels, mainly bracelets with animal heads decoration, were found in the graves of the family's women. The district's most important cemetery lies southeast of Gyula, at Sikló. Two of the twelve graves had a rolled-up horsehide placed on top of the corpse, and seven others contained harnesses; thus nine of the deceased (including several women) had been buried with a symbolic horse rite. The community's leader had been interred with his sabre, and the other armed men with a quiver holding 6–8 arrows. The gilded silver, rosette-patterned harness found in grave no. 1 indicates that these notables came from the higher reaches of the 'middle class'. What is more, the rich silver ornaments of the women's dress, silver cloak buttons, and, particularly, the silver coins sewn on their clothes suggest that the remains are those of a prominent family whose members participated in the far-flung campaigns. The significance of the cemetery cannot be adequately measured, for three of the richest graves, including the one holding a sabre, had been despoiled back in the early Christian period, and another six or seven graves were subsequently destroyed.

A solidus (pierced, and thus once sewn on clothing) that dates from the time of the Byzantine emperor and founder of the Macedonian dynasty, Basil I (867–886), was found in a remote corner of the Fekete-Körös valley, at Felsőpojény. The similar coins found at Orsova and elsewhere suggest that it came from a rich burial in the period of Hungarian settlement.

Also worthy of attention is the cemetery that had been implanted on a Bronze Age settlement-mound at Gyulavarsánd-Laposhalom. It can be classed among the major cemeteries of commoners, along with those at Magyarhomorog, Békés-Povád, Tarhos-Városerdő, and Pécska-Nagysánc; all of the latter were also the sites of prehistoric settlements, and the last two have Bronze Age settlement-mounds. Such cemeteries came into use in the 10th century, and initially held free armed men (graves containing {1-296.} rolled-up horsehides, stirrups, bridles, bows, quivers and arrows) and their families (women's graves holding objects looted in the West in the first half of the 10th century, including gilt silver disks, silver costume ornaments, bracelets with animal heads, and coat buttons). The cemeteries remained in continuous use, by pagan and semi-Christianized Hungarians, from the time of Stephen I and Andrew I to that of Ladislas I.

The most important 10th-century settlement in the Maros region, between Transylvania and the Great Plain, was undoubtedly the one at 'Marosvár' (Civitas/Urbs Morisena, Moroswar). In the year 1000, this was the 'princely seat' of Ajtony, who rebelled against the central authority. An early Hungarian cemetery once stood at Sajtény, not far from Marosvár on the heights north of the Maros River. One grave, belonging to a man, still held the fittings of an ornamental belt that was similar, but simpler than the one found at Tarcal, along with a flat bracelet and a strap-ring. Two other graves had been totally plundered, while a third yielded only a Saltovo-type mug. The rest of the graves had been destroyed between 1925 and 1945.

In the Maros-Aranka region, cemeteries and graves that date from the period of the Hungarian settlement have been found at numerous locations. Arad-Csálya: at least three men's graves with horsehide and harness, a sabre with gilded pommel and silver-inlaid cross-bar, a double-edged sword, a ring studded with gems, and flat bracelets. Németszentpéter: a rich grave containing a harness with rosette-decoration, stirrup, bridle, short fur jacket with buttons, and, from a wealthy woman's grave, a pair of oriental earrings with beaded pendants. Németszentpéter-Roman earthworks: 10th–11th century graves, discovered in 1860. Fönlak: a grave with horse and stirrup, women's graves with jewels. Nagyteremia-Szőlőhegy: buttons and chain from short fur jacket, rectangular fittings from a wealthy woman's garment, pots. Nagyősz-Téglagyár: 10th–11th century graves containing hair clasps with S-shaped tips, {1-297.} rings, and (reportedly) from despoiled graves, rings, a spearhead, and a sword. Nagyősz-Kishalom: rich, 10th-century woman's grave containing a superb silver-gilt belt, a large, palmette-patterned strap tip, and a lyre-shaped buckle. A unique relic of this period is the pair of stirrups, with thin gold inlays, that was found in a grave (partly plundered?) with horse in Posta Street, Perjámos. Ópálos: a wealthy woman's grave, holding an earring with grape-bunch pendants, torques, bracelets. Kovászi/Kovaszinc: women's plaited bracelets, wire ring, and ribbed, strap ring. Graves belonging to the military classes were found at Nagykomlós-Posztszállás (graves with horses, holding horse bones, bridle, arrowheads, gold hair clasp), and at nearby Német-Komlós (grave with horse, with cast belt studding, strap tip, as well as rosette- and leaf-shaped fittings). The double-edged sword, with pommel, found south of the Maros at Keglevicháza, near Marosvár (Csanád), probably came from a grave. A similar 10th-century, Western sword was found in Zsombolya.

In the area encompassed by these rich graves, between the Maros and the Aranka, on the marshy plain of Nagyszentmiklós-Bukova, there are prehistoric and Roman settlement-mounds and burial mounds; almost without exception, they hold graves of armed and equestrian Hungarians. In the scholarly syntheses that draw on the original reports, these finds are generally — and erroneously — referred to as 'tumuli'. The tumulus-kurgan type of burial was characteristic of the Pechenegs, but it was not practised by the Hungarian settlers that they had persecuted. This explains why the 'tumuli' of Bukovapuszta came to be attributed to the Pechenegs, who were once held by scholars to be the allies, and later, the enemies of the Hungarians (the 'Pechenegs' of Ajtony, 'Glad', and so on). What is more, certain types of grave-finds at Bukova, such as a pair of filigreed, braid-clasp discs — a typical hair-ornament of Hungarian female settlers — came to be regarded as 'ethnic identifiers' of the Pechenegs, simply because they were {1-298.} linked to the tumulus 'rite'. Thus by tracing the incidence of disks similar to those found at Bukova, some scholars imagined that the cemeteries of Hungarian settlers in the eastern part of the Great Plain were actually traces of a 'Pecheneg frontier zone' facing the Hungarians.

In fact, these places represented not ritualistic 'mound graves', but a burial custom practised throughout the flood-prone Great Plain by Hungarian settlers in the 10th–11th century. In order to preserve the graves from periodic flooding, they buried their dead in prehistoric settlement-mounds (e.g. the previously noted cemeteries of Gyulavarsánd, Szalacs, Nagykároly, Nádudvar, and Hencida, as well as the finds, noted below, at Perjámos-Sánchalom and Hodony) or, more rarely, and particularly in the case of richer graves, in prehistoric kurgans (e.g. Zemplén). Some of the Bukovapuszta 'mounds' were low settlement-mounds dating from the Neolithic Körös culture. Into these — generally away from the centre, and above the actual settlement stratum — the Hungarians dug shallow, 40–100 cm. deep graves. Similarly, in the kurgans, the Hungarian graves were superimposed (to a depth of 40–80 cm.) over the earlier graves; wherever deeper excavations were conducted, traces of the original burial were found at the lower level of the kurgan.

Mound III at Bukovapuszta contained two graves with harnessed horsehide and iron-banded quivers holding 4 and 7 arrowheads. A similar grave was found in Mound II, along with the woman's grave that yielded the splendid, rosette-patterned harness and the pair of braid rings. Mound V had three graves, with harnessed horsehide but without weapons; one of them, found partially plundered, also contained the male occupant's metal-buttoned jacket and metal-studded belt. In 'settlement-mound' IV, at least two of the 18 graves included harnessed horsehides, and two others held harnesses, quivers, and arrowheads; most of the others, holding men as well as women, were of a simpler style. The man's {1-299.} grave in Mound I yielded a more ornate attire as well as a quiver with five arrowheads. Similarly, at Vizesd, the graves of two Hungarian settlers had been dug into a Sarmatian burial mound; the man's grave also held horse bones, while that of the women yielded torques and bracelets. The fine silver belt ornament and ribbed ring found in the Sánchalom at Perjámos also indicate an elaborate burial.

According to an incomplete report, the burial objects found in the early 1900s at (Magyar-)Pécska-Nagysánc include a set of double-pendant collar ornaments, coat buttons, a lyre-shaped bronze buckle, an earring with grape-bunch pendant, twisted torques, plain and twisted bracelets, various rings, and glass as well as Cyprea beads; no details were published concerning a grave, with horse, that held stirrups as well as diamond and fork shaped arrowheads. As for the 140 graves, dating from the 10th–12th centuries, that were excavated at Nagysánc in the 1960s, the reports only indicate that they yielded wire earrings, hair clasps with S-shaped tips, rings, beads, and coins from the Árpádian era. A little to the west, at Nagylak, a hair clasp with S-shaped tip was found, and a 10th–11th century twisted silver ring was unearthed farther east, on a site in present-day Arad. No details are available concerning the contents of the 10th–11th century graves uncovered east of Arad at Aradkövi (on the north bank of the Maros) and Szépfalu (on the south bank).

The Árpádian Aradvár (Urodvár, castrum Orod) is, in fact, one and the same as the long-known Földvár (Die Schanzen), located near Öthalom/Glogovác. The trapezoid earthwork rises gradually above the marshy ground to a height varying between 100 and 160 metres; its earthen ramparts are considerably eroded. Judging from the many earthenware cauldrons found on the site, the fort remained in use from the end of the 10th to the 13th century; most of the finds date from the 11th–12th centuries. At Aradvár, as in Abaújvár, Dobokavár, and Ó-Kolozsvár, a cemetery had been sited {1-300.} within the walls, probably next to the fort's church. The obulus coins found on the site date from the time of Peter, Andrew I, and Béla I all way to the 12th century, and they help to date the hair rings, twisted silver ring, and finds of jewellery. The cemetery of St. Márton's Church, some 500 metres from Ó-Aradvár, is dated by coins from the time of Stephen III (1162–1172).

The gorge where the Maros exits from the mountains into the Great Plain was defended by an earthwork that had been raised, in the 11th–12th century, on the north side, above a brook that bears the Slavic name Kalodva/Kladova. The graves that were excavated near the earthwork held hair rings, plain as well as with thick, S-shaped tips, and dating from the time of Coloman and Stephen II (1116–1131) to that of Ladislas IV. These objects probably came from a churchyard cemetery, and the earthwork itself probably dates back no farther than end of the 11th century.

In the Temes region, the site where now stands the city of Temesvár probably served as a major centre of settlement for Hungarians as early as the 10th century. East of the present city, the burial ground of a large family was discovered in the Csóka Forest, near the onetime village of Csókafalu; it closely resembles the Somlyóhegy cemetery. Half of the graves held men's remains, along with iron-banded quivers holding 5–7 arrowheads, jacket buttons, and, in some cases, harnesses, stirrups, and bridles. Their wives and children were buried with 10th-century jewels (bracelets, some featuring animal heads, and torques). Another Hungarian cemetery was found implanted in a Neolithic settlement-mound at Hodony, northwest of Temesvár; it consists (so far) of eleven graves, in two parallel rows, belonging to a family clan of modest means. The funerary obuli, coins marked STEPHANUS REX, indicate that the cemetery dates from around 1000, and so do the other grave goods: a pair of stirrups and bridles (the symbolic version of a horse burial), metal buttons, and plain hair rings. There are other finds in Temesvár's neighbourhood that reinforce the conclusion {1-301.} this was a centre of Hungarian settlement. To the north, at Hidasliget, a commoners' cemetery holds some 25–30 graves, which yielded hair rings and a coin from the time of Andrew I. To the west, at Szakálház, graves yielded a bridle and two different stirrups. To the south, in Temesliget, the graves in a 10th–11th century cemetery contained torques, coat buttons, hair rings, a ring, and a coin from the time of Andrew I. To the east, at Temesremete, intact 10th-century pots marked the site of an early Hungarian settlement.

In Temesvár itself, the evidence of early Hungarian settlement — apart from the bronze coin from the time of Constantine Porphyrogenetos VII (912–959) — comes from some 11th-century grave objects (a hair ring, found in 1898 on the bank of the Béga, and coins dating from Andrew I's time) and some items unearthed in the inner city in 1910–13: a 10th-century earring, an early Árpádian bronze cross, a bronze ring decorated with a 12th–13th century double cross, and a copper coin from the time of Béla III.

Farther south in the Temes region, an outstanding find of early grave objects was made in 1882 at Detta-Újtemető (1882): a man's silver belt studs and fur-jacket buttons; a bronze coin, found in the mouth of a corpse, dating from the time of Leo VI (the Wise; 886–912); the rich jewels of a woman wearing Slavic-Hungarian attire, including a two-piece pendant from a deep-cut collar, a cast-bronze pendant earring, a braid pendant with inlaid enamel, a small disk fibula with colourful enamel inlays, and a similar but larger one that is a masterpiece of south German or Rhenish craftsmanship and must have come from the Carolingians' or Otto's empire; and the hair ring and finger ring of a more simply dressed woman. The same site yielded a splendid 10th–11th century gold ring with a gem in a wire setting. There is less information about a number of other finds, either because no reports were published, or because they were lost, or, finally, because their size and location do not allow for conclusive assessment. This is the case with the sites at {1-302.} Germán (Ermény)-Roman earthworks (eleven graves, yielding twisted torques, bracelets, and plain hair rings), Csákova (rhombus-shaped arrowheads, wire bracelets, and ring), Vrány, Illyéd (earring with beaded pendant, bracelet), and Mehádia (ten simple graves containing dishes, knives, grave no. 7 being dated by an Stephen I coin found in the deceased's mouth); and also with the commoners' cemetery at Ómoldova (twisted torques, bronze bracelets, bracelets made of glass and probably of Danubian-Bulgar origin, a 10th-century lead cross, rings, arrowheads, and coins up to the time of Ladislas I). At the very least, all these finds indicate that the settlements and distinctive culture of 10th–11th century Hungarians reached all the way to the Lower Danube.

At Orsova, the region's southern gateway, several important finds testify that in the 10th century, the Hungarians' borderlands lay on the Lower Danube: a fine, 10th-century Hungarian grave contained 28 silver costume ornaments, jacket buttons, earrings, and 14 pierced, Italian coins that were once sewn garments; and, on another site, three exquisitely-worked silver belt ornaments and a buckle, which were dated by a Carolingian coin from Milan — a denarius from the time of Louis III. A double-edged sword that was found in the Danube is also of Western origin. The Hungarian occupation of the Orsova gateway is dated by a number of coins: a solidus from the time of Leo VI, another solidus of Romanos Lakapenos I, minted between 921 and 931, and a gold coin issued jointly by Nicephorus Phocas II and Basil II in 963. The Hungarians brought back many Byzantine coins from their military campaigns. Two remarkable bronze coins, pierced for use as costume ornaments, have been found at Lovrin, in the northern part of the Temes region; they dated back to the time of Romanos I and Constantine Porphyrogenetos VII. Another solidus, found at Kisgáj, in the southern part of the district, is from the era of Constantine VII, Romanos II (959–963), and Nicephorus Phocas II (963–969).

{1-303.} The implantation of early Árpádian culture in the Lower Danube region is indicated by coins, found in Orsova, probably on the site of a onetime church graveyard, that date from the time of Coloman and Béla II. Objects used by commoners in the 11th–12th centuries — silver earrings, hair rings with S-shaped tips, rattles, buttons, and bracelets have been unearthed in the 42 graves of cemetery no. 4 at Felsőlupkó (Gornya), as well as in the graves of Alsópozsgás.

A commoners' cemetery, excavated in a gravel pit at Zimándújfalu-Földvári-puszta, northeast of Arad, provides evidence that even in the Maros region, people were not dramatically disturbed by their leaders' internecine struggles for power. Judging from the finds, the cemetery was opened in the 10th century (pendants, costume decorations, metal buttons, torques, bracelets with animal heads, plain hair rings, cross and half-moon shaped pendants worn on a necklace) and remained in constant use until the age of Ladislas I.