GRAVES WITH DAGGERS AT THE EARLY BRONZE AGE BURIAL GROUND IN LUDANICE-MYTNA NOVA VES (Hroby s dykami na pohrebisku zo starsej doby bronzovej v Ludaniciach-Mytnej Novej Vsi)

Archaeological research of a burial ground at Mytna Nova Ves, the local quarter of Ludanice, in south-western Slovakia was realized within the years 1982, 1984-1989 and 2003. The excavated 600 graves have enriched remarkably the collection of finds dated to the Nitra and Unetice cultures in Slovakia mainly concerning the group of metal artefacts, in which copper or bronze daggers that are the topic of this article are dominating. On the excavated burial ground 14 daggers were found there in 13 graves. As the cultural chronology is concerned, 8 daggers belong to the Nitra culture and 6 to the Unetice culture, which were divided into three basic types (A-C) according to shapes of but and blade and their chronology (A - the oldest type, C - the youngest type). Special attention was paid to their position in graves. As the daggers occurred in male burials exclusively, age categories of the deceased men were observed. The difference in dagger positioning within the male graves of the Nitra culture and the Unetice culture was evident. Coming out from the assumption that daggers in the graves were placed in the way the deceased had wore them in life, daggers situated on a belt on the right side predominated in the Nitra culture and pointed up on the back in the Unetice culture. This different way of dagger wearing can indicate costume variances of the cultures under study and dissimilarities in infighting methods as well. Situating of graves with daggers within the burial ground area showed their noticeable concentration in its western or south-western section. More graves with daggers had free space around that make us think about possible existence of smaller mounds. Members of higher social post, hunters and fighters are presupposed to be buried in the burials with daggers.