The End of Typochronology? Dating Grave 113 with the Partial Horse Burial from Vălcani-Vamă

Gáll, Erwin and Kopecny, Zsuzsanna and Gindele, Róbert and Popa, Ștefan (2026) The End of Typochronology? Dating Grave 113 with the Partial Horse Burial from Vălcani-Vamă. In: Across frontiers and changing worlds : Archaeological perspectives on late antiquity and the early middle ages. Editura Mega, Cluj-Napoca, pp. 441-464. ISBN 9786303721439 (In Press)

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Abstract

The largest 10th–11th century funerary site in Banat, located in Vălcani‑Vamă (with 196 graves uncovered), comprises graves with W–E orientation, but in some cases, E–W orientations were also registered. The deceased were found in a variety of positions, primarily with regard to their arms. Some parts of the animals, probably sheep bones, were placed in the graves as the result of food preparation. The material culture and ritual practices are both very heterogeneous. Some aspects of the material culture have connections with the material culture of the Late Avar Age, such as the needle case. Burials with parts of the horses (skull and the four tibiae) were documented in ten cases, in four cases only the horse trappings were deposited in the graves (stirrups, bits, harness buckles). Grave 113 was radiocarbon‐dated to obtain a more precise dating. Thus, the sample from the human skeleton conventionally indicates 1060±18. Calibration using the Oxcal 4.4 Interface program indicated a 95.4% probability that the death occurred between 992 and 1027 and a 68.3% probability that it occurred between 995 and 1022. The calibration suggests a high‑probability date at the last decade of the 10th century and the first quarter of the 11th century. Based on the results of the 14C samples’ taken from the 30–40-year-old individual, as well as the typochronological analysis of the finds, grave no. 113 was most likely dug in the first quarter of the 11th century, around the years 995–1022. This also means that, based on the available scientific researches, the life course of the adult person begun around the years 960–990. In conclusion, his life might have ended between approximately 992 and 1027. These data also demonstrate the persistence of the horse burial ritual in the first decades of the 11th century at the Vălcani burial site. Vălcani‑Vamă grave 113, along with sites with similar characteristics, such as Békés‑Povádzug, Csanytelek‑Dilitor, Sarkadkeresztúr‑Csapháti legelő, and perhaps Dabas‑Paphegy, ÓpusztaszerKiszner tanya, Tiszabercel‑Újsor, demonstrate that this “prestige phenomenon” was still relevant in the 11th century, particularly in peripheral (geographical and social meaning) communities that had not yet been deeply affected by Christianity. At the same time, through the 14C analysis, we were able to prove that those types of objects that were suitable for identification in the burial sites of the first two thirds of the 10th century were still in use towards the end of the 10th century and the beginning of the 11th century (simple lock rings, bow, arrowheads, quiver, pear‑shaped stirrup). Thus, the 14C result also led to the title of our study “The End of Typochronology?”

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