Abstract :
This article presents a burial of an Avar bowyer excavated in 2010 in Hungary (Fig. 1) and dated to the end of the 6th century or to the very beginning of the 7th century (Fig. 2-3).Its unique feature is that it consisted of a number of tools (Fig. 4) and semi-finished bow plates of horny material (Fig. 5). The man lying in the grave must have been a craftsman also making bows. He was buried according to nomadic rite, i.e. together with his horse and weapons. His tools (2 adzes, 2 hammers, a file, a saw, a splitting knife, a hand drill and a small two-pronged tool) were placed to his right calf. The semi-finished bow plates of horny material were placed in a melting pot. In connection with the interpretation of the finds from the grave, we try to reconstruct in accordance with specific archaeological finds how the dreaded weapon all over Eurasia, the composite bow of nomads, should have been made. On the other hand the tools found beside of the deceased reveal that the 40-49 year old man buried in the grave not only produced objects of bone and horn, but also dealt with metalworking.
