A Bioarchaeological Study of the Individuals from the Városfalva Burial Mound in Transylvania, Romania (15th-19th Century)

Author

• Vanessa C. Reeves, University of South Florida

Graduation Year

2025

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree

Ph.D.

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

Degree Granting Department

Anthropology

Major Professor

Jonathan D. Bethard, Ph.D., D-ABFA

Committee Member

Eric Bartelink, Ph.D., D-ABFA

Committee Member

Dale Chaput, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Elizabeth Miller, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Zsolt Nyárádi, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Diane Wallman, Ph.D.

Keywords

Bioarchaeology, Isotopes, Osteology, Proteomics, Szeklers, Transylvania

Abstract

This study explores the lives and deaths of the Szekler people recovered from a burial mound in the Transylvanian village of Városfalva. The Transylvanian plateau is located in present day Romania, and is protected on the east and the south by the Carpathian Mountains. The Szekler people arrived in this area around 1000 CE, and were a nomadic group originating in the Asian Steppes region who later intermarried with various migratory groups as they moved across the Eurasian plains. The Szeklers eventually banded together with the proto-Hungarian Magyar peoples and settled in the Carpathian Basin, the easternmost frontier of the Hungarian Empire at the time. They were awarded autonomy and special privileges in exchange for their military protection of King Saint Stephen I’s eastern border of the Hungarian Empire. Following Sheridan’s framework for bioarchaeological research, this dissertation focuses on gathering information on the demography, diet, and death of the individuals who were buried in the Városfalva burial mound. In this study, osteological, stable isotope, proteomic, and archaeological variables are used to address three research goals: to ascertain the demography of the individuals buried in the Városfalva burial mound, to explore the dietary profile of the individuals buried in the Városfalva burial mound, and to investigate whether predictable burial practices exist in the Városfalva burial mound. A contextual discussion of the results is presented from a bioarchaeological framework.

Scholar Commons Citation

Reeves, Vanessa C., "A Bioarchaeological Study of the Individuals from the Városfalva Burial Mound in Transylvania, Romania (15th-19th Century)" (2025). USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations.
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/etd/11398