(2020) Popescu et alii, The deposition of bronze artefacts from Preajba Mare (Gorj County, Romania) (original) (raw)
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The authors' intention is to bring to the notice of specialists a decorated disc-butted axe recently discovered east of the Carpathians, in the Moldavian Plateau. This type of axe (A1, according to the established typologies), with few known items, is a typical discovery (mainly as a component of hoards or as an individual find) for the Middle Bronze Age from the area west of the Carpathians-the Wietenberg, Suciu de Sus and Otomani-Füzesabony cultures. The microscopic investigations on the decoration techniques prove the ability of the metallurgical craftsmen to handle complex alloys, as well as a refined artistic sense, qualities used to achieve a certain impressive appearance. The corroboration of all available data on this artefact offers new possibilities for revealing the social and symbolic function of the disc-butted axes of the Bronze Age. Rezumat. Intenția autorilor este de a aduce la cunoștința specialiștilor un topor cu disc decorat, descoperit recent la est de munții...
This paper discusses the practice of stuffing the sockets of metalwork implements prior to deposition with other objects, mostly fragments of other metal items but on occasion also non-metallic objects. In the Carpathian Basin it is found during the earlier part of the Late Bronze Age and in Britain and Ireland towards the end of this period. Seen against the backdrop of wider, pan-European depositional practices, this peculiar custom in most cases can be interpreted as an attempt at preserving the integrity of individual sets of items within larger communal offerings.
K. Leshtakov, M. Andonova (eds.), Galabovo in Southeast Europe and Beyond. Cultural Interactions during the 3rd-2nd Millennium BC, Sofia., 2021
The present paper discusses 19 artefacts from Romania and Bulgaria with at least 1% tin in their composition. These artefacts were dated mainly to the first three quarters of the 3rd millennium BC. Fourteen of them cluster in a distinct compact group, well anchored in time (ca. 2700-2400 BC). The most numerous are shaft-hole axes (12 artefacts) and half of them contain tin between 4% and 15%. To the same period were attributed a flanged axe and a massive dagger with a wide midrib, containing 5% and 6.3% Sn, respectively. The use of bronze for the manufacture of these items is in complete accord with the situation in the Near East and the Aegean area where various types of bronze items existed from the beginning of the 3rd millennium BC, with an increase in their number starting with 2700 BC. Most likely, the copper-tin alloy was initially employed for objects with a high social value which differentiated by their yellowish, gold-like colour from similar artefacts manufactured from copper and arsenical copper.
2024
Polished stone axes were used in the Bronze Age Carpathian Basin, but their number decreased, specifically in burials, compared to the Neolithic and Copper Age. This is particularly appropriate after 1500 BCE when stone was hindered by increasing metalworking, and several types of bronze axes became widespread. In this context its highly important that two stone axes were found, in Maklár-Koszpérium and Maklár-Nagyrét II, on the northern fringes of the Great Hungarian Plain. Both are Tumulus culture Bronze Age cremation cemeteries, dated by relative chronology to 1500–1300 BCE. This article focuses on the axes, including mineralogical and chemical composition, provenance of the raw materials, and their use-wear development and surface alteration marks. Non-destructive methods were applied, owing to the rarity and special character of the finds, such as X-ray diffraction (XRD) and prompt-gamma activation analysis (PGAA) to mineralogical and chemical composition investigation, respectively. Our results suggest both non-local and local raw material consumption since the alkaline basalt or basanite stone axe from Maklár-Koszpérium might originate from Burgenland, Austria from cca. 300 km distance, while the raw material of the Maklár-Nagyrét II. axe is a hydrothermally altered andesite, originating most probably from the volcanic areas of the Mátra Mountains, cca. 40 km away. This article reveals complex networks between Tumulus culture communities of Central Europe, including Moravia, Burgenland and the Northern Great Hungarian Plain, regarding the circulation of ideas, raw materials and artefacts. The raw material and the use-wear development of the Maklár-Koszpérium axe suggesting this artefact was probably used. Although the structural properties of the Maklár-Nagyrét II. axe’s andesite raw material was not proper for daily use, and use-wear and production traces were not observed owing probably to the porous raw material. However, surface alterations and fracture lines suggest this axe was probably placed on the pyre with the deceased.
Socketed axes are one of the most characteristic groups of artefacts of the Late Bronze Age of southeastern Europe. They seem to appear all of a sudden in a horizon of hoards conventionally parallelised with phase D of the chronological scheme of Paul Reinecke. Some researchers try to explain this brusque appearance as the result of a local development starting from Early Bronze Age socketed chisels. Others tend to seek the origin of the innovation in the east. The earliest socketed axes in Eurasia can be roughly dated to 2000calBC, belonging to the so-called Seima-Turbino horizon of metalwork reaching from the Altai to Finland. Starting from there a complex pattern of migration of this innovation through different cultural milieus is suggested, until its arrival in the Carpathian Basin in connection with the westward migration of the Noua Culture around 1400calBC. The large quantity, high variety and regionality of styles of Bronze D socketed axes hint at a prolonged local development. As evidence for earlier socketed axes, e.g. casting moulds, can be found in settlements, the rules of hoarding seem to obscure the archaeological visibility of this innovation in the Middle or even Early Bronze Age of southeastern Europe. The archaeological record has to be reappraised critically to clarify, whether the appearance of socketed axes is connected to one center from where itinerary patterns of the innovation can be traced, or whether the ‚idea of socketed celts‘ (Childe) arose at several centers simultaneously.
In the Pălatca Commune (Cluj County) in Transylvania, a prehistoric (probably elk) antler axe was discovered accidentally and it later came into the possession of a collector. The item is extremely rare, which is why we subjected it to analysis in the present paper. The axe has an arched, but very blunt, blade and a round edge. The shaft was made through an oval perforation, inside which there are numerous traces of a tool. The outer surface of the axe is polished, particularly the circular edge, with edges in the form of a border which was decorated with short, regular indentations. It can be seen that the item was used intensely, in a phase in which its function was probably that of a tool. Upon a closer look, two groups of markings were also identified: one above the blade, made of two "stirrups", and another between the hole and the edge, consisting of oblique stirrups, a cross and several punctures. The shape presents several antecedents until the Neolithic and the Eneolithic in the eastern part of Europe, both in items made of antler and those made of metal or stone. However, the best analogies found among the Bronze Age items from the current space of Ukraine and Russia. In the Ingul-catacomb culture, there were stone items that have similar edges, including some with notched decorations. However, we believe that the closest analogy is the famous sceptre-axe discovered in Dudarkov, which is particularly remarkable due to then numerous zoomorphic, phytoform and geometric motifs incised on its surface, attributed to the Mnogovalikovaja culture. In the same eastern area of Europe, the best analogies are given by stone axes from the Borodino hoard, or Suvorovskaja-type ones, dating from the first half of the 1 st millennium BC. Based on these correspondences, our assessment is that the axe from Pălatca can be interpreted as a sceptre, similar to other antler items already discovered in the Mid-and Late Bronze Age in Transylvania or neighbouring regions. Regarding the item's dating and context, it is highly likely that it came from the site surveyed in Pălatca-"TogulluiMândruşcă", where a settlement dated to the beginning of the Late Bronze Age was discovered and from which other eastern type items originated, such as a bronze needle with four protuberances and Noua culture ceramics.
Weapons of choice. A review of the Early / Middle Bronze Age shaft-hole axes from Eastern Romania
V. Sîrbu, C. Schuster, D. Hortopan (eds.) - Graves, Cenotaphs and Votive Deposits of Weapons in Europe - Bronze and IronAges. Proceedings of the 20th International Colloquium of Funerary Archaeology. Târgu Jiu, Gorj County (Romania), 7th - l0th October 2021, 2022
The paper analyses the package of known data regarding the axes from the third and second millennia discovered in the eastern and south-eastern parts of Romania. For most of the copper and bronze axes, comprehensive data on the context of discovery is notoriously absent, hindering the understanding of their use. The possibility of a long chronology of such items is emphasised here. It is possible for some of the items traditionally attributed to the Early Bronze Age to have originated from Middle Bronze Age contexts. Also, a short discussion on the functional or symbolic meaning of the shaft-hole axes is introduced. The shaft-hole is the most common heavy implement in the studied territory in both the third and the second millennium so their labelling as preferred weapons by the communities of this space can be justified.