Original scientific paper
The ‘westernisation’ of the Transylvanian Basin: Migration and/or acculturation?: Wearing hairpins in the 12th century Transylvanian Basin
Zsolt Nyárádi
orcid.org/0000-0003-2531-3540
; Haáz Rezső Museum, Odorheiu Secuiesc, Székelyudvarhely, Romania
Erwin Gáll
; Institute of Archaeology Vasile Pârvan, Romanian Academy, Bucharest, Romania
Abstract
In our research, we tried to reconstruct the hairdress of this period based on the archaeological artefacts that were found in the Arpadian age churchyards in the Transylvanian Basin. These hairpins, which were in use throughout the 5–9th centuries in Western Europe in the Anglo-Saxon speech-area, were part of a hairdress fashion trend that, later in the 12th century, spread throughout all of Christian Europe. Taking in account the Transylvanian artefacts and their context, we can notice that copper alloy hairpins with a gilded globular head often appear with S-ending lock rings. Their appearance is in strong relation with the Christian mentality and the western fashions of this period, which are obviously connected with the ‘westernisation’ of the Hungarian state institutions. Going into a thorough and in-depth analysis of the archaeological artefacts yields a number of questions, some of which we have found the answers to only after other conducting (especially anthropological) research work. We can announce with certainty that artefacts of this type are not the heritage of any group of foreign people. The expanding of this study and the excavation of the earliest cemeteries should complete our knowledge on this topic in the future. In the 12thcentury, the archaeological signs of ‘westernisation’ appear in all segments of life in the Transylvanian Basin. This can only mean one thing: besides the migrations mentioned by the written sources, the eastern half of the Hungarian Kingdom was integrated into western culture.
Keywords
Kingdom of Hungary; Transylvanian Basin; 11–13th centuries; ‘westernisation’; hairpins; anthropomorphic grave
Hrčak ID:
151724
URI
Publication date:
26.1.2016.
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