Orizontul scitic pe cuprinsul județului Hunedoara [The Scythian Horizon in Hunedoara County] (original) (raw)

2020, Sargetia S.N., XI, XLVII

The finds regarding the end of the Early Iron Age are not numerous on the territory of Hunedoara County. Their majority fits in the distribution area of the funerary contexts specific to the Ciumbrud cultural group from the intra-Carpathian space, dated in the 7th-5th centuries BC. The current paper represents an overview of the archaeological features and artefacts known in the literature, attempting to draw an updated perspective on the late Hallstatt vestiges from the aforementioned zone. Habitat features are virtually undisclosed, yet a large settlement was excavated in 2011 at Șoimuș – Lângă Sat. Very few ritual contexts were discovered so far, namely the feature 1060 at Turdaș – Luncă, maybe connected to previous ritual practices, and the complex structure at Bacea – Sărături. With the exception of the urn cremation from Bacea, the rest of the funerary contexts are attributed to the Scythians/the Ciumbrud cultural group. Both inhumation and cremation Ha D graves were discovered in Hunedoara County, just like in the rest of Transylvania. In this respect, it is worth mentioning the biritual burial from Șoimuș/Bălata, where a male warrior was inhumated alongside the burnt remains of a five-year-old child. The adult’s inventory comprised a curved knife and a hammer-axe, the latter being a key weapon in the Scythian panoply. Similar items were also found in the vicinity, just across the Mureș River, at Almașul Sec – Valea Ursului and Deva. One such object could have completed the funerary inventory of the inhumation grave at Viile Carolina, together with nine bronze arrow heads (one of them displays iron oxide marks on its surface), a miniature ceramic vessel and a decorated ceramic disk (probably the lid of a censer). Two bronze arrow heads were found at Hunedoara – Grădina Castelului and another one at Vețel – Luncă/În Vie, adding up to the Ha D weapon repertoire in Hunedoara County. It should be noted that some iron (?) arrow heads are recorded amongst the grave goods found at Hărău. Women of different ages were buried at Hărău, Orăștie – Dealul Pemilor X8 and Simeria – Biscaria, the funerary inventories consisting mainly in different kinds of adornments (bronze, iron, glass, amber, ceramic, or kaolin items). Only one skull was identified as supposably belonging to grave M2 from Simeria. Anthropological analysis revealed that the deceased was a female teenager suffering from anaemia, while the investigations performed so far on the radiocarbon sample taken from the skull indicate that probably the Simeria necropolis is dated towards the end of the 7th century BC. Last but not least, an important stray find is the boat brooch (Kahnfibel) discovered at the beginning of the 20th century at Deva – Dealul Cetății. It is worth stressing out at this point the presence in the funerary inventories of symbolic objects and substances related to apotropaic functions or to the contemplation of the inevitable passage of time, such as the bronze armour scale and the realgar lump from Simeria, as well as the spindle-whorl from Orăștie and the miniature clay vessel discovered at Deva. The archaeological landscape of the region has undoubtedly changed once the eastern nomads have arrived. That cultural ‘shock’ prepared the local communities for the impact with the western La Tène civilisation. The ways in which these phenomena shaped or favoured the modelling of new identities remain one of the future’s most challenging subjects regarding southwestern Transylvania.