Pages: 77-101 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.55086/sp26577101

This article provides the first publication and analysis of medieval Hungarian burials dating from the second half of the ninth to the tenth century, excavated on the left bank of the Lower Dniester between 2023 and 2025. Burial 3/3 at Kremennaya Balka yielded an iron arrowhead, a utility knife, an awl, a combat knife, and bone bow fittings. Grave 1/21 at Tokmazeya contained iron arrowheads, bone bow fittings, a fire steel, and a flint. Burial 6/1 at Slobodzeya yielded an iron arrowhead, a combat knife, and bone bow plates. Each assemblage also contained a model battle axe. These objects may be interpreted as attributes of elite warriors. Given the absence of comparable objects—and of battle axes themselves—from other medieval burials in the region, the model axes may be regarded as a distinctive feature of Hungarian material culture during the period of the “Hungarian Conquest.”

Keywords: left bank of the Lower Dniester, the Hungarians, the 9th–10th centuries, graves, axe models, weapons

Information about authors:

Tatiana Ursu (Tiraspol, Moldova). Pridnestrovian State University named after T. G. Shevchenko. Pokrovskaia St., 128, Tiraspol, 3300, Moldova
E-mail: [email protected]
ORCID: 0009-0008-6835-7942
Nikolaj Telnov (Kishinev, Moldova). Candidate of Historical Sciences. Pridnestrovian State University named after T. G. Shevchenko. Pokrovskaia St., 128, Tiraspol, 3300, Moldova
E-mail: [email protected]
ORCID: 0000-0001-6878-0216
Attila Türk (Budapest, Hungary). PhD. Pázmány Péter Catholic University, Institute of Archaeology. 1088 Budapest, Mikszáth Kálmán tér 1
E-mail: [email protected]
ORCID: 0000-0001-9199-
Vitalij Sinika (Tiraspol, Moldova). Doctor of Historical Sciences. Pridnestrovian State University named after T. G. Shevchenko. Pokrovskaia St., 128, Tiraspol, 3300, Moldova
E-mail: [email protected]
ORCID: 0000-0002-1621-9205