Studien zu den späthallstattzeitlichen Wagengräbern des Karpatenbeckens
Emilian Teleaga
On the basis of archive material the waggon graves from Gyöngyös, Miskolc-Diósgyőr, Szentes-Vekerzug 13, and Atenica 1 and 2 are described, their wheels reconstructed, and their grave goods classified. The cemetery at Szentes-Vekerzug produced a tripartite chronology of the Carpathian Basin from Ha D1 to Early Latène [= Vekerzug Culture, Alföld Group]. Early poor graves were followed by increasing numbers of wheel-thrown pottery, rich woman, horse, and weapon graves [phase 2], and new burial customs [phase 3]. What is characteristic is the isolated inhumation of horses whose snaffle bits changed from a straight [600-525 B.C.] to a slightly bent [525-450] and a strongly bent shape [450-400]. Snaffle bits and waggons date all graves to 525-450 B.C., except for Atenica 2 which is earlier. Apart from the Greek-style two-wheeled waggon Atenica 1, all vehicles were four-wheeled and made in a plain Central European tradition. Grave goods included sets of hearth equipment and of vessels of an Adriatic type. A shamanic deposit from Gyöngyös illustrates connections with the spiritual world of the Scythians. Female weapon graves were perhaps connected with northern Pontic Amazon graves.
