Unpublished 10th and 11th Century Grave Finds from South and West Slovakia

The study presents archaeological sources from 16 sites from the territory of West and south Slovakia. Most of them are hitherto unpublished, sporadic and often fragmentarily researched grave complexes, which date roughly to the 10th century and up to the beginning of the 12th century. Some of the finds come from 10th century old Hungarian equestrian graves (Cabaj-Capor - position 1, Komarno, Kosice, Lukacovce and Sered). However, most of the finds belong to graves of gregarious people (Cabaj- Capor - position 2, Dolna Streda, Hostovce, Lucnica nad Zitavou - part Martinova, Ockov, Skacany, Sladkovicovo - part Mala Maca, Velke Kosihy, Velke Lovce, Zlatna na Ostrove and Zitavce). Based on the historic names of the villages Velke Kosihy and Zitavce, the population buried in the graves belonged to the old Hungarian tribe Keszi or Gyarmat. Due to objective and subjective reasons, many artefacts as well as grave and cemetery ground plans have not been included in the publications presenting the results of excavations carried out on these sites. We have now in many cases completed the existing source fund with new partial knowledge of the published cemeteries. Special attention should be given to two equestrian graves from cemetery Sered I, which were not included in the publication presenting all 10th century grave finds. We also provide the most comprehensive description and drawing documentation of a sabre and a silver metal tip of a scabbard, which were found near Kosice. Unfortunately, we have not yet managed to localize a large part of Old Hungarian finds from the equestrian graves deposited in Podunajske museum in Komarno. In some of the graves of gregarious people we have detected and consequently identified the exact position of the site (Hostova, Velke Kosihy, Velke Lovce, Zlatna na Ostrove and Zitavce).