The Skeleton of the Avarian Warrior and his Horse

Avarian warrior with his captive

  This story is quite interesting, not just because of the founding, but because of the circumstances. A nameless call arrived to the police station of Zalaapáti, that the heavy rain washed out a human skull. In this case the police is involved too, because the owner of the head can be a victim of a murderer. In that case, if it happened not hundred years ago, the police have to manage it. This case the archaeologists found an Avarian grave, so authorities have no more to do, but our journey just begins!

Equestrian funeral was frequent in the 7th-8th century AC among the Avarian tribes. Avarian were an alliance of several groups of Eurasian nomads of unknown origins. That is not too much, see the map for more information!

here is the source

   Let’s see what treasures were hiding in the grave: a dagger, silver plated bronze belts, fire tools and between the legs a ceramic pot, probably sacrifical food for the after life. The whole equipment of the horse was found: saddle, snaffle and stirrup. As you can see, the femur of the warrior was broken, and it didn't heal perfectly, so he limped. He must have had a terrible accident, and because of the healed femur, he survived the accident and continued his life – the accident wasn't deadly.

   There was another skeleton in the grave. Not so ornamented, maybe a servant to take care of him in the eternal afterlife.

  István Eke found that the warrior died at the age of 50-65. He could be a tall man, skinny but very strong. His gait made him characterictic. His broken leg may have shortened. The anthropologist wanted to made an X-rax of the skeleton, but the bueraucracy knows no mercy: first they wanted to see the documents of the person! No place to cheat: even a mummy needed a passport to travel to France for an X-ray…

   The horse was fully examined too. He must have been seven years old. And he was a stallion, a brave and strong miracle of the animals. His head was washed of the grave, too as the head of the warrior. 

the photos of the warrior and the skull was made by Hajnalka Magyar

This article was written after the research of István Eke, Bálint Havasi and Robert Müller, an interwiew on the Zala Megyei Hírportál.