The Avar burial ground in Leobersdorf
Historical sites
Description
Thanks to a rich array of grave goods, a small Avar cemetery reveals a great deal about the everyday life of the early medieval equestrian people.
The Avars were horse-riding nomads from the steppes who took over the settlement areas of the East Germanic Lombards – the Carpathian Basin and its extension, the Vienna Basin – from 568 AD onwards. Officially, the river Enns was the western border of their sphere of influence. The Avar Khaganate (a political territory equivalent to an empire) collapsed in the early ninth century in the wake of Charlemagne’s systematic campaigns.
The Leobersdorf burial ground
Holding the remains of 171 individuals, Leobersdorf is one of the smaller Avar burial sites to have been archaeologically excavated. It probably belonged to just a small settlement. Apart from scattered individual graves from early times, the graves were roughly arranged in rows, as was customary. The women were on average 160 cm tall, the men 170 cm. The skeletons showed signs of various diseases, from osteoarthritis to metabolic disorders. There was no evidence of any injuries caused by fighting.
A rich array of grave goods
As in other Avar burial grounds, the dead in Leobersdorf were buried with various artefacts, such as dress accessories, weapons, tools and other everyday objects. The food buried alongside the dead differed depending on the burial site, however; in Leobersdorf, it was mainly parts of cattle that were placed in the graves. Many graves provided evidence of wooden fixtures, but it is difficult to describe them in greater detail due to the preservation conditions. At best, iron coffin clamps have survived. With some of the dead, the position of their bodies indicates that they were tightly tied up or wrapped (perhaps in a cloth) when they were placed in the graves.
Analysis of the Leobersdorf burial ground has improved our understanding of the fashion trends and thus the chronology of the Avars, making an important contribution to further Avar research.
Tip: LEUM – Light Museum & More in Leobersdorf provides information about the Avars in Leobersdorf.
