»Symbols of power« im (spät)römischen Gräberfeld von Unterloisdorf (Bez. Oberpullendorf / A)

Abstract

The (late) Roman cemetery from Unterloisdorf was discovered in 2014 in the course of road construction. It is located at the south-eastern edge of the Oberpullendorfer basin which lies between the eastern foothills of the Central Alps and the adjoining Little Hungarian Plain. Both spatially and chronologically, the cemetery can be divided into two areas. While seven cremation burials form the nucleus of the Roman Imperial period, 22 inhumation burials date to the late Roman period. The special focus of this study lies on grave 16 in the centre of the cemetery, which according to the finds can be dated to the second half of the 4^th century. Apart from grave goods which are common for the period, the deceased was equipped with objects of a certain symbolic meaning. These are a crossbow fibula, various military belts and most notably a baldric and an iron plough share which had been laid on the chest of the deceased.