“The Lengyel, Polgir and related cultures in the MiddleLate Neolithic in Central Europe LATE NEOLITHIC BURIAL RITES AT-THE SITE OF POLGAR-CSOSZHALOM-DULO ‘ALAND ANDERS, EMESE GyoNcvvER NAGY ABSTRACT: This study san nays of bari recovered atthe st of Polgr-Carhlan dl berwen 195 204 from the vewpcnt of mortar practices, grave goods ad th reconatuction af ai, ineypoesing theres of psa stropology’ Two problems ae dncesedin gretr detail One thse isthe ove abd Unde rpreseatton of extain ae rou a ts poe ates. The other the pss ears expression ef ‘word view sed on try oppoion i arial begs i th strict ebony between tees ‘Sherved i theburil of women and men Introduction A total of 123 graves were excavated atthe ste of Poir-Csdszhalom-5 during a field campaign be- tween 1995 and 2004, covering a surface of 35,000 m (Racaky eal. 1997, 39-40; Raczky etal. 2002; 840, Racoky-Anders 2006, 2532), Only 102 of thse wil be discussed inthis study, since we needed larly une strbed, compete brialfor he purposes of analysing every aspect ofthe ritual. During the cous 0 analy- fis we uilised ageing and sexing data determined bythe physical anthropologist Zuzsanna Zofimann— whose kind contribution is acknowledge bere | Mortuary practices “The majority of graves were dug in relation to houses, usually along the estrn-south-castem side ofthe bwulding ie. in rotor neste enrance. These were either singular graves oe frmed smaller groups Fg. 1) [Nota houses had burials sscited wit hem and negligible number of deceased were bused on the side of elay exraction pits. Skeletons of tmall chien wee fd i two pst hols, They may’ be regucded as evidence of constuction scrifice. Ar this pint, however, no rlationships could be established between the ‘individuals buried in the poximity of houses; uch groups may be formed by men and women of varius ages ‘nd wealth and incl elon a8 well The plane ofthe grave i wak of rounded oblong shape with straight walls and Nat bottom it measured 80-100 Gm by 170-220 mon the surfice ms, Traces of wooden tuctur rein could be observe into“ “The Lengye, hand ted cures ‘ass (Features no. $36 and 1057), This was shown bya 5-7 em wide soil discoloration along the walls inie- ative of decaying wood. "Te characte orientation of graves is NortheastSouth west sypial ofthe 3.9% ofthe burials. Only ‘few deviations from his dteton may be observed, “Te deceased were interred ina more-less contrite postion. The uper trunk sus Tad on the bck, nly te legs are contracted. Women were positioned on the let side oftheir bodies, while the opposite 99s trefor men who ly on ther ight side. With the exception ofa few cases, the gender ofthe deceased hy pothesised on te basis of positon and rave goods were confined by sexing, sed on physical ntiopo- logical methods. TL Peces of attire and grave goods “The objects found in thet burials may be subdivided ito two main groupe, Some served a pieces ofa tire others were place inthe barns as grave goods. All personal belongings that once adone clothing or the body tse are considered pieesof air, Grave goods include objects that were placed in the grave pit as ‘ar ofthe ritual. They may have inluded the personal belongings ofthe deceased, his or her working oo, aswell offerings of food and beverages that accompanied the cul. Among the graves under discussion here, in general, pieces of aire and jewellery (necklaces, beaded belts) tad tebe more common inthe burials of ‘women. On the ther hand, oo (epacally poled stone implemects) oer tobe more chaste ofthe burials of men, 1. Generally occurring artefacts ‘Smaller stone chips, as well as chipped sone tools maybe found inthe burials of both geades and in all ‘ages. They have no special location within the grave, Lamps of ochre, accompanied by smaller objects ~ such 1s beads made from Spondylu shel or red eet canines, bon or stone tols— were found inthe raves of nine ‘women and me. I sem that these objects and possibly the perishable (leather pouches that contained them ‘ad clealy defined place within the grave pit they were laced near the upper part of the unk, either of the Jef he ight side of he deceased ‘Nesklacss made from strung Sponhlur beads or red der canines may be found in the burl of both ges- ers, although they sm tobe mare common in the graves of women, Perhaps they were not worn commoals, ‘nce mos of them came light fm the schest graves. The way these beads were worn sal characterise. ‘The beauty of ed deer canine pendants was emphasised by the way they were strung Sometimes they were strung among # mixtre of beds. Copies of od dcr canines were caved ints the shape of ay and weights. ‘When strung in tight dovetail pater, they resulted in an exremely dense look. Dishes were rarely entered part ofthe rave fue. They were found only in five graves, thee otal umber was 6, No regular pars may be See in the way they were pce inthe rave They must have ei ther contained beverages of Some sort of pore, since no animal bones indicative of meat offering were found in them, ‘Smal bone tls, such a amoothers occured ony in few graves. However, they were ound inthe buri- ale ofboth men and women, 2, Artefiets found only in female burials Marble, aa raw material, was found exclusively inthe graves of women. Single or double belt chains, strung fom lage marble or les frequently fom Spon) beads are also characters of ferales andi piece of tie rypical of Marrur women (Fig. 2:2,4), This artefacts often found without any aditonal piece of jewellary or other form of grave goods. Smaler marble beads were aso strung as pr ofthe heads and eckace, Inthe case of bet chains made footer raw materials no special age aroup stands out ‘total of3 bone rings were found in the graves. Al f them are artefacts associated with extemal ch women nthe Adu -Manors age groups