Side notes to an exhibition : Some remarks on early medieval lamellar armours

Abstract

The team at the LVR-Landesmuseum in Bonn took on a major task in 2021 when they began planning the exhibition entitled Das Leben des BODI: Eine Forschungsreise ins frühe Mittelalter (The Life of BODI: A Research Journey into the Early Middle Ages), based around a burial site with outstanding artefacts. The central theme of the exhibition, which opened in March 2023, is the ways of social representation of the elite in the Early Middle Ages and the burials and grave finds associated with them (Fig. 1), including the lamellar armour finds from many burials of the period in different parts of Europe. Similar armours can also be found in the Avar archaeological record, the most significant specimen found in a grave at Derecske-Bikás-dűlő in 2019. The exhibition included armour fragments from the sites Kölked-Feketekapu B and Kiskőrös-Vágóhíd, lent from the collection of the Hungarian National Museum. This study summarises the brief history of research into the role of lamellar armour in the Avar funerary practice and the possibilities of its interpretation.