FORME SPECIALE DE INHUMARE ÎN TRANSILVANIA
SPECIAL INHUMATION RITUALS IN TRANSYLVANIA IN THE IX-XI-TH CENTURIES

Summary/Abstract: During the 9th – 11th centuries in Transylvania two burial rites were practiced, each one of them being characterized by a diversity of burial rituals. Taking into consideration the funeral rite, the funerary discoveries dating from the 11th century are of two types: cremation and inhumation. Starting with the 10th century, the cremation burial disappears as a funeral practice and the inhumation is generalized and becomes the only funerary rite practiced. The aim of our approach is not to analyze the inhumation discoveries from Transylvania as a whole, we wish to point out only those which differ from one another, not through the funeral rite, but through the burial ritual practiced. The funerary discoveries were a result of the excavations carried out into the following archaeological sites: Alba Iulia “Staţia de Salvare”, Alba Iulia “Izvorul Impăratului”, Sălacea „Dealul Vida” and Badon “Doaşte”. 1.Alba Iulia “ Staţia de Salvare “ (Alba County). In Phase I of the early medieval cemetery from Alba Iulia, along with the graves in which the dead were deposited lying down, in this cemetery some graves in which the dead were deposited in a crouched position (pl. II/1- 2) on their side were also discovered. 2. Alba Iulia “Izvorul Impăratului” (Alba County). In this inhumation cemetery dated into the first half of the 10th century three inhumation graves have been studied, buried in a crouched position: M. 67, M. 69 and M. 124. 3. Sălacea “Dealul Vida” (Bihor County). In this site, during 1964-1969 (pl. III / 1), an early medieval inhumation cemetery of 17 graves was excavated. The dead from the grave no. 11 was deposited in a crouched position on the left side (pl. III / 2). The grave was oriented to west-east and there was no inventory. 4. Badon “Doaşte” (Sălaj County). The archaeological excavations were carried out by Al. V. Matei during 1987-1989 and the research results are still unpublished. A multiple grave has been discovered here. The grave had the skeletons of seven individuals (pl. IV/1-2), two adults, one teenager, three children, and a newborn (Dr. Al. V. Matei, the author of the research). The skeletons do not show signs of disturbance (disruption). The dead have been deposited at the same time in the grave but somehow overlapping each other. Archaeological findings presented above show that the funerary practices of the early medieval period still have many aspects that have not been sufficiently studied or were not considered at all. Those who have studied the early medieval cemeteries in Transylvania focused primarily on the “classical” inhumation graves, that raise fewer problems of interpretation and did not focused on the odd funeral cases, difficult to explain. The fact is that in the 9th – 11th centuries, in Transylvania, burying the dead was not just in the classical position (lying down) but occurred in a crouched position too. The collective burial (massengräber) was also practiced together with the single or double g

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