САБЯ „УНГАРСКИ ТИП“ ОТ РЕГИОНА НА ШУМЕН
„HUNGARIAN TYPE“ SABER FROM THE SHUMEN REGION

Summary/Abstract: The collection of early medieval weapons in the Regional Museum in Shumen is one of the rich museum collections in the country. Among them, the number of sabers, as many aseight specimens, is the most impressive. Most of these rare representatives of the weapon rycame as a ransom to the Medieval Fund of the museum in the first decade of the century,when there was a good practice to buy archaeological materials found in different regions of the country. Along with the ransoms, quite a few donations also came in, which contributed during these ten years to filling the museum funds with rare and interesting objects from a scientific, as well as Thracian, exhibition point of view. Therefore, to this day, some of the best quality and attractive materials that entered the museum fund are behind the showcases and successfully complement the collections of materials that have been obtained as a result of archaeological research over the years. In this line of thought, we should also mention the current monument – a saber, which has remained unpublished until now, perhaps because of its broken integrity, which, as will become clear below in the text, in no way diminishes its scientific value.The saber was donated to the Medieval Department of the museum in 2004 and is listed in the department‘s inventory book under No. 23721a (Fig. 1a-b). Its description can be presented as follows: the saber has a slightly curved blade (wedge), single-edged at the upper end, broken at the lower end. The handle is slightly curved inward, with two holes for attaching fittings (the hinges), the upper one of which is broken off (Fig. 1c). The guard is straight, short, trapezoidal in shape (Fig.1d). The dimensions of the saber are: total length –67 cm; blade length (wedge) – 57.5 cm, width – 2.7 cm, thickness at the base – 0.5 cm; length of the handle – 9 cm, width – 17 cm.The characteristics of the saber determine it to the „Hungarian saber“ type, well known in our country from the nearly dozen or more specimens found on our lands. Similar to the presented saber is known from the area of Yarebitsa, Dulovsko. A few more specimens originate from the early medieval settlement located on the late antique fortress near Debrene, Dobrichko, from the fortress near Popina, Silistrensko, and five such have an unknown location in Northeastern Bulgaria. One of the last well-preserved specimens comes from the western part of the Outer City of Pliska. The Pliska saber kit also includes a straps preader consisting of an iron ring and three plates hinged to it with rivets, as well as a plate with a rivet and a ring for attaching the cane to the strap.This type of saber belongs to the end of the 9th and the first half of the 10th century and is attested by the numerous examples from Hungary, southern Russia and Ukraine.Some researchers define the type in X–XIth century. It is the discovery of several dozen such sabers in individual graves and necropolises, associated with the movement of Hungarians from the steppes of Russia to Western Europe, that determines the name of the type. The presented new saber „Hungarian type“ should be attributed to the 10th century, analogously to similar sabers found on Bulgarian lands.

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