Early Avar cemetery in Babarc : Preliminary report

Abstract

Archaeological investigations preceded the construction of a maintenance centre by the M6 motorway near Babarc (Baranya County, South-east Hungary) between August 2021 and January 2022. The works included trial excavations, followed by a full excavation of the area. The first phase was carried out by Zsolt Tóth and his team from the Janus Pannonius Museum in Pécs, while the full-scale excavations were conducted by Zsolt Gallina and Gyöngyi Gulyás from the Ásatárs Ltd. in cooperation with Réka Neményi, who participated in the project as an expert of the Museum. The quadrangular uninterrupted excavation area, of more than three hectares, in the multi-period site, comprised a total of 41 Early Avar burials (Fig. 1). The burials were scattered all over the excavation area, representing only part of a cemetery that is, currently, one of the most important sites of the period not only because of the abundance and richness of grave goods but due also to the complexity of the funerary customs observed and the fact that the graves were very little plundered.