The Langobardian period cemetery of Vienna-Mariahilfer Gürtel. With a contribution to artificial cranial deformation in the western Carpathian Basin

Abstract

The early medieval »Reihengräberfeld« on the Mariahilfer Gürtel in Vienna was discovered and excavated by Matthias Much in 1897 and 1898. Recently discovered archival documents and the site-plan allow the
exact location of the cemetery and the reconstruction of some of the grave assemblages. The few remaining human remains and grave-goods are currently held in the Wien Museum and are presented here for the first time in their totality.
At the time of its discovery the artificially deformed skull of an elderly female caused particular interest. As numerous examples from the western Carpathian Basin demonstrate, the practice of artificial cranial deformation
reached its peak during the mid-5th century. The compilation of the features yielded a frequent occurrence of child-burials with cranial deformations during the first half of the 5th century, whereas their
number decreased considerably after the mid-century. In the 6th century deformed skulls were mostly discov ered in older individuals. This finding suggests that the tradition of cranial modification was abandoned
around the end of the second third or during the final third of the 5th century. Seemingly, living conditions changed after the breakdown of Attila’s empire.
Archaeologically striking is the lack of grave-goods in the cemetery on the Mariahilfer Gürtel. This is a characteristic burial ritual for the Viennese Basin, the western region of Lake Neusiedl and the eastern Tullnerfeld. Consequently, it conforms to the grave-good rituals of the Hegykő-Gruppe as defined by István Bóna. Among the few remains of the previously robbed graves double-indented, tripartite combs came to light, which point to the persistence of older burial rites. Particularly these longer held rites do not allow the archaeological finds of the Viennese Basin and its surroundings to be easily linked to the chronological systems of southern Germany and the lower Rhineland. Rather, we must assume a continuity of  settlement from the 5th to the 7th century.