Jeremy Mikecz THE PLACE THAT LIES BETWEEN: SLAVONIA IN THE 10TH AND 11TH CENTURIES MA Thesis in Medieval Studies Central European University Budapest May 2009 CEU eTD Collection THE PLACE THAT LIES BETWEEN: SLAVONIA IN THE 10TH AND 11TH CENTURIES by Jeremy Mikecz (USA) Thesis submitted to the Department of Medieval Studies, Central European University, Budapest, in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the Masters of Arts degree in Medieval Studies Accepted in conformance with the standards of CEU. __________________________________ Chair, Examination Committee __________________________________ Thesis Supervisor __________________________________ CEU eTD Collection Thesis Supervisor __________________________________ Examiner THE PLACE THAT LIES BETWEEN: SLAVONIA IN THE 10TH AND 11TH CENTURIES by Jeremy Mikecz (USA) Thesis submitted to the Department of Medieval Studies, Central European University, Budapest, in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the Masters of Arts degree in Medieval Studies Accepted in conformance with the standards of CEU. __________________________________ External Examiner CEU eTD Collection Budapest May 2009 ABSTRACT Medieval Slavonia was a place between – a place between cultures and kingdoms. In the tenth and eleventh century it existed at the intersection of a variety of cultural, political, social, economic, and religious influences – making it a fascinating subject for a study of frontiers and borderlands. Unfortunately few written sources from this period survive, and those that do are often vague or ambiguous. It is the archaeological record, therefore, that provides the best hope for answering the many questions left unanswered by the historical record. The remains of burials – bones and grave goods – are by far the most well- documented archaeological evidence available for medieval Slavonia. Thus, it is the goal of this study to analyze the spatial distribution patterns of grave goods with the intention of identifying patterns of exchange and interaction. These patterns should, in turn, reveal the nature of Slavonia‟s relationship with its neighbors during the tenth and eleventh centuries. Jeremy Mikecz May 25, 2009 Keywords: slavonia southern pannonia medieval spatial distribution patterns cemeteries grave goods burials bijelo bjelo belo bialo brdo bjelobrdo bjelobrdske köttlach northern croatia hungary slovenia bosnia serbiadrava sava danube rivers archaeology archeology material culture artifact jewelry CEU eTD Collection I, the undersigned, Jeremy Mikecz, candidate for the MA degree in Medieval Studies declare herewith that the present thesis is exclusively my own work, based on my own research and only such external information as properly credited in notes and bibliography. I declare that no unidentified and illegitimate use was made of the work of others, and no part of the thesis infringes on any person‟s or institution‟s copyright. I also declare that no part of the thesis has been submitted in this form to any other institution of higher education for an academic degree. Budapest, 25 May 2009 ______________________________________ Signature CEU eTD Collection TABLE OF CONTENTS I. “The Fog of the Unknown”: The Problem Posed by Medieval Slavonia ............................. 1 The Setting: The Land of the Two Rivers .......................................................................... 2 Placing Names or Naming Places: Slavonia, Sclavonia, Sklavinia, or Pannonia? ............... 3 Entering “the Fog of the Unknown”: Historical Sources .................................................... 8 Escaping the Fog and Emerging on the Battlefield: Archaeological Sources ...................... 9 II. Lifting the Fog: In Search of Medieval Slavonia in the Archaeological Record ............... 12 Observations ................................................................................................................... 12 Questions ........................................................................................................................ 13 Data ................................................................................................................................ 14 Methodology ................................................................................................................... 17 III. Skeletons, Jewelry, and Coins: Reconstructing the Living by Analyzing the Dead ......... 19 Material Culture Groups of Tenth and Eleventh Century Southern Pannonia ................... 24 Cemeteries ...................................................................................................................... 31 Grave Goods ................................................................................................................... 32 Coins ............................................................................................................................... 46 Coins & Chronology ....................................................................................................... 50 Patterns, Analysis, and Interpretations ............................................................................. 54 IV. Cities of the Dead: The Cemeteries of Southern Pannonia Compared ............................ 56 Vukovar – Lijeva bara ..................................................................................................... 59 Majs – Udvari rétek ......................................................................................................... 61 Halimba – Cseres ............................................................................................................ 65 Gomjenica – Baltine bare ................................................................................................ 66 Ptuj – Grad ...................................................................................................................... 70 Cemeteries of Western Slavonia ...................................................................................... 74 Conclusions ..................................................................................................................... 76 CEU eTD Collection V. The Forgotten Living: Seeking Traces of Daily Life ....................................................... 80 Forts of the Tenth and Eleventh Centuries ....................................................................... 82 Pottery............................................................................................................................. 87 Other Artifacts ................................................................................................................ 89 Conclusions ..................................................................................................................... 90 VI. Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 93 Appendices ....................................................................................................................... 107 Appendix A: The Sites .................................................................................................. 108 Appendix B: Typology of Artifacts ............................................................................... 128 Appendix C: Artifacts – Locations and Sources ............................................................. 131 Appendix D: Artifact Comparison Tables ...................................................................... 132 Appendix E: Chronology of Bijelo Brdo Sites in Northern Croatia ................................ 133 Bibliography…………………………………………………………………………….…..134 CEU eTD Collection 7 LIST OF MAPS AND TABLES Figure 1.1: Pannonia / Slavonia in AD 1050. ......................................................................... 1 Figure 1.2. Map of east-central Europe .................................................................................. 3 Figure 1.3. Map of the Southern Carpathian Basin (southern Pannonia) showing the regions of Slavonia, Syrmia, and Međurječja ..................................................................................... 7 Figure 2.1. Map of the southern part of the Carpathian Basin and the sites examined in this study ................................................................................................................................... 14 Figure 3.1. Some examples of characteristic jewelry forms of the Bijelo Brdo Culture. ...... 25 Figure 3.2. Map of Bijelo Brdo Cemeteries in southern Pannonia. ...................................... 26 Figure 3.3. Map overlay showing location of Bijelo Brdo sites ........................................... 28 Figure 3.4. Ninth through twelfth century cemeteries in southern Pannonia. ....................... 31 Figure 3.5. Tenth- and eleventh-century cemeteries in Southern Pannonia .......................... 31 Figure 3.6. S-shaped circlets from the Vukovar-Lijeva bara cemetery ................................ 33 Figure 3.7. Distribution of S-shaped earrings . .................................................................... 34 Figure 3.8. Jochen Giesler‟s spatial distribution map of grape-like (raceme) earrings in the Carpathian Basin. ................................................................................................................ 35 Figure 3.9. The spatial distribution of finely-granulated cast Volin-type earrings and rustic Volin type earrings. ............................................................................................................