Régészeti eredmények a magyar őstörténet kutatásában, lehetséges nyelvészeti vonatkozásokkal = Latest Results of Archaeology and the Early History of Hungarians, with Possible Linguistic Corollaries

• Published in: Magyar Nyelv
• Main Author: Türk, Attila
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: Hungarian
• Published: 2023
• Subjects: CC Archaeology / régészet; D1 Prehistory / őstörténet; P0 Philology. Linguistics / filológia; nyelvészet; ural mountains
• Online Access: https://real.mtak.hu/190725/; https://real.mtak.hu/190725/1/3659.pdf; https://doi.org/10.18349/MagyarNyelv.2023.4.385

Studies on the early history of the Hungarians are bedevilled by the lack of reliable written sources and therefore archaeology plays a crucial role as a discipline with a rapidly growing source material. It must also be emphasised that archaeology is undergoing a significant broadening of research methods, principally owing to advances in bioarchaeological research. One of the most significant archaeological results in recent years has been a dynamic increase in the number of Subbotsi-type sites identified in the Dniester region, generally equated with the Etelköz settlement territory of the written sources. 10–12 Subbotsi sites are currently known along the middle reaches of the Dnieper, a region where the connections between the ancient Hungarians and their neighbours, mainly the northern, Slavic territories as well as the Byzantine cultural province in the Crimea, are well documented. In addition to their chronological position, the Subbotsi finds also correlate well with the image of the ancient Hungarians in the Muslim written sources of the 9th century. Farther to the east, the broader area of the Samara Bend of the Volga and of the southern Urals are the most important regions in terms of Hungarian ethnogenesis. As a working hypothesis, we may contend that the earliest archaeological traces of the ancient Hungarians can be assumed east of the Ural Mountains, in the Trans-Ural region. The ancient Hungarians most likely began their westward migration at the beginning of the 9th century: they soon crossed to the left bank of the Volga and their territory extended to the border of Volga Bulgaria. Some groups remained in the Lower Kama region, while other groups migrated westward before the 830s and then settled in the northern foreland of the Black Sea. Between the 890s and the beginning of the 10th century, Subbotsi-type artefacts disappear from this region and make their appearance in the Carpathian Basin, where their further development can be observed.