POHREBISKO NITRIANSKEJ KULTÚRY V ZOHORE

• Authors: Klaudia Daňová , Kristián Elschek

Title variants

EN

Nitra culture cemetery in Zohor

• Languages of publication: SK

Abstracts

EN

In 2009 on the position Piesky in Zohor, dist. Malacky, the cemetery of the Nitra culture was unearthed. It is situated on the sand dune that has been permanently inhabited since the Neolithic. A total of 22 skeletal graves were excavated. Graves in the central part of the cemetery were arranged in a line, in the direction of NE-SW. North and south parts consisted of only few graves. Burial pits had a more or less regular rectangular ground plan with rounded corners, but also oval and elongated shape and trapezoidal ground plan. The largest graves belonged to adults. In two female graves traces of coffins were detected. Graves of boys were oriented in the direction of W-E, one of them in the direction of NE-SW. Women and girls were buried in a crouched position on the left side, while men and boys on the right side. Within the burial rite several particularities have occurred. It is primarily the absence of parts of bodies or whole ske­leton. In one grave lacking a skeleton, beads were found on the bottom of the burial pit. It is remarkable that the absence of parts of bodies or grave disruption is observed only in children´s graves. From the nine identified children´s graves in Zohor, in eight of them skeletons were evidently disrupted, eventually some bones absented. Only in one grave the disrupted body belonged to an adult woman. In connection with disruptions of children´s graves ritual reasons are considered primarily, although it is not excluded that some displacements in a burial pit could have occurred due to activities of animals. Grave inventory represented bone and antler beads, which were placed only in graves of women and girls. Round head ornaments in the shape of a willow leaf were also found only in female graves. At the cemetery a bone awl, chipped stone industry, a semi-finished artefact probably of stone crusher and few pottery shards were also included. To determinate the chronological position of the graves particularly head ornaments in the shape of a willow leaf with a slight central rib contributed. These appear in the burial grounds of the Nitra culture in the earlier stage.

Keywords

EN

EARLY BRONZE AGE; NITRA CULTURE; INHUMATION CEMETERY; GRAVES; ZOHOR

• Publisher: Slovak Academy of Sciences, Archaeological Institute
• Journal: Slovenská archeológia (Slovak Archaeology)
• Year: 2014
• Volume: 62
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 267 – 291

Contributors

author

Klaudia Daňová

• Archeologický ústav SAV, Akademická 2, 949 21 Nitra, Slovak Republic

author

Kristián Elschek