Sacrifice, warfare, or burial? Middle Bronze Age "mass graves" from Érd and Makó, Hungary

Szeverényi, Vajk and Hajdu, Tamás and Marcsik, Antónia and Kiss, Viktória (2020) Sacrifice, warfare, or burial? Middle Bronze Age "mass graves" from Érd and Makó, Hungary. In: 12. Mitteldeutscher Archäologentag "Rituelle Gewalt – Rituale der Gewalt", 2019.10.10-12., Halle, Németország. (In Press)

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Abstract

During the past two decades, the study of human remains from prehistoric settlements has gained new momentum in Hungary. The phenomenon of burials within settlements can be observed in many phases but was perhaps most prominent during the Copper and Bronze Ages. Thanks to the large-scale rescue excavations of the last few decades, our database of relevant material has increased considerably, shedding new light on previously excavated assemblages as well. In our paper, we present burials from two Middle Bronze Age settlements in Hungary that yielded a series of skeletons and human remains, some of which showed traces of violence and perimortem trauma. We establish that at both sites the human depositions showed significant variability, indicating diverse cultural practices. A number of characteristics of these »mass graves« support the hypothesis that they may have been associated with some form of sacrifice and ritual violence, rather than warfare or other causes of death. Chronological data indicate a prolonged tradition of series of ritual acts, sacrifices, and possibly the secondary manipulation of human bodies.

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