Session: #

Content:

In 2016, during rescue excavations before the construction of a motorway between Debrecen and Berettyóújfalu, an extensive multiperiod site was recovered at Derecske-Nagymező-dűlő. The site included a graveyard, which we can date to the 10th century.
The Feature 643 was a grave furnished with typical finds of this period, i.e. silver alloy cast earrings with bead row pendants; gilded dress fittings; footwear fittings, square-shaped so-called „belt” fittings, a twisted wire bracelet, which was made of copper alloy, as well as shank buttons. Together with the rich metal finds, a significant amount of textile remains, mostly silk were also recovered from this 10th-century woman’s grave. Due to their good preservation and fast and professional conservation, the textile fragments could be separated from the fittings and kept intact.
Among the textile remains, there are examples of both types of weft-faced compound weaves, we could identify weft-faced compound twill (samite) fragments – which are dominant among the textile materials in the Hungarian Conquest period – and weft-faced compound tabby (taqueté) remains too. Besides these remnants, the weft-faced compound tabby silk is very rare in the 10th century in the archaeological heritage of the Carpathian Basin. The parallels of these polychrome silk taqueté finds are known from the Middle East, mainly from the Buyid period Rayy in Iran and various sites from Israel and Egypt. This type of silk was much less common in Europe than the samite. Weft-faced compound tabby silk remains absent from Western Europe treasuries or among the famous Viking finds in Northern Europe. All these facts suggest that Hungarians had access to other sources of silk in the 10th century as the Vikings or people who lived in Western Europe.
In our presentation, we would like to present and compare this unique collection of finds with other previously known finds.

EAA 2022: Abstract

Title & Content

authors