The elements part of the ornamental necklace (chain) from Lăceni and new artefacts discovered at Tărtăria – Podu Tărtăriei Vest
Text: Corina Borș; photo: Marius Amarie
Introduction
The present study discusses a number of Hallstattian bronze archaeological pieces, recently entered in the NHMR collections (2007 and 2012), but having very different conditions of discovery (accidental discovery versus preventive archaeological research). As will be seen below, these prehistoric objects understood in their historical and chronological context provide new information about the middle period of the First Iron Age (middle Hallstatt period), but also advocate the need to protect the archaeological heritage and its sites, which have been subjected to more and more anthropic aggressions over the last two decades.
Last but not least, the study is also a plea for the importance of researching museum collections and accurate documentation of the objects' provenance.
Four Hallstattian ornamental objects of bronze:
• two components of an ornamental bronze necklace, from a “fortuitous” discovery in the area of Lăceni (Orbeasca commune, Teleorman county);
• a pendant and a “grip-handle” for a bronze Hallstatt period ornamental necklace (or pendant) from the preventive archaeological researches at the Tărtăria – Podu Tărtăriei vest archaeological site.
All these findings led to the reconsideration of data regarding another particular archaeological piece, namely the ornamental necklace from the Vintu II bronze deposit (discovered in the 1960s) and kept in the collections of the National Union Museum from Alba Iulia.
Brief history of the object`s discovery
The two components of an ornamental necklace from a “fortuitous” discovery in the area of Lăceni (Teleorman county) were offered for purchase to the National History Museum of Romania, in February 2007, by Ionică Senteș. This person stated that he accidentally found these archaeological objects in the area of the locality of above mentioned, without any other details regarding the exact context of the discovery, although the area is known as having a particularly significant archaeological potential. The pieces entered the NHMR patrimony, being considered initially as Scythian objects (“canopy tips”), dating from the 6th – 5th c. BC. In 2018, in the context of reinventoring the museum’s heritage collections, Sorin Oanță-Marghitu Ph.D. pointed out to me the existence of these pieces and, afterwards, was kind to allow me to study and publish them.
As for the pendant (twisted bar with rhombic ends) and the Hallstatt period “grip-handle” of bronze, they were found by preventive archaeological research (2012 campaign) of the site of Tărtăria – Podu Tărtăriei vest (Borș et alii 2014). The Tărtăria – Podu Tărtăriei vest site was discovered in thefall2011 / spring 2012, in the context of the construction of the A1: Orăștie - Sebeș highway. Preventive archaeological research from 2012 and the following 4 scheduled campaigns of systematic archaeological research (2016–2019) have proven that this is the most important archeological siteof the ones assigned to the Basarabi culture on the repertory of such finds made so far for the entire area of spreading of this prehistoric culture. There is a habitat with complex elements, namelycertain votive deposits (bronze and iron objects, but also deposits of pottery vessels), a delimitation system (without analogies known in sites of the same time), a particular funerary discovery (a multiple burial in the settlement) etc.
The pendant is part of the composition of the Tărtăria I hoard (of bronze and iron objects) (Borș 2019, 32, 38–53, 178) discovered in a (refuse ?) pit, in association with an appreciable amount of typical pottery and entire vessels from this important settlement dating from the early period of the Basarabi culture. It is worth mentioning that from 2016 until now, a
systematic (scheduled) archaeological research is being conducted here.
Description of the objects
Element (with miniature vessel) part of an ornamental necklace (chain) (Figure 1)
Description: Component / segment element of an ornamental necklace (chain); fragmentary, being
broken (from ancient times?) at both ends. Very elaborate
piece, made by casting in the technique of “lost wax”, from a bitronconic vessel (partially hollow inside), decorated with two concentric incisions on the maximum diameter, around it, which is continued with a perforated portion, of relative form. hexagonal shape in plan (a dodecahedron?, consisting of 6 wide strips, on the middle of which is a small cylindrical (protruding) button with a broad end, alternating with elongated openings); this segment of the piece, hollow inside, is placed between two cylindrical rods. The upper stem has a broad end, in the shape of a cone trunk, decorated with 6 fine concentric grooves, starting immediately below the base of the vessel; the rod at the bottom ends with a (small) flat disk, with openings (with 4 symmetrically arranged openings, of relatively triangular shape), below which a clamping element (wedge?), currently fragmentary, starts directly (continuing the stem).
Conservation status: Broken piece (since ancient times ?) on both ends; traces of ancient patina. Relatively good condition, restored.
Analogies: an element part of the (fragmentary) ornamental necklace (chain) of the Vințu II hoard of bronze and iron objects (Alba county, Romania) (Popa, Berciu 1965, 58, 64; fig. 1/6; pl. IV/1); Petrescu-Dîmbovița 1977, 164, pl. 393/2; Vasić 1997, Abb. 5/1), object in the collections of the National Union Museum – Alba Iulia; two elements part of the (fragmentary) ornamental necklace (chain) from Kisterenye, a chance find from mid 19th c. (Kom. Nógrád, Hungary) (Kemenczei 1988, Abb. 5/1; Vasić 1997, Abb. 5/3; Kemenczei 2005, 139/C 9, Tafel 43/J 1, 2; Jankovits 2017, 254–258, Tafel 88/3105, 3106), object in the collection of the National Magyar Museum – Budapest; elements part of the ornamental necklace (chain) from Lisičin Dol – Marvinci, discovered on the very rich inventory of Grave no. 15 of this necropolis (Valandovo, Macedonia) (Videski 1996–1997, 104, T. V; Mitrevski 1996–1997, 75, fig. 6; Chausidis 2017, 341–342, T. I–II), this major find being kept in the collection of the Museum of Macedonia – Skopje.
References: Unpublished.
Element part of an ornamental necklace (chain) (Figure 2)
Description: Element (end ?) of an ornamental (massive) necklace (chain); curretly fragmented, being broken (since ancient times ?) at one end. Part of relatively cylindrical shape, only partially hollow inside; a broad end of truncated shape, with 4 triangular perforations (with the tip pointing towards the “body” of the piece), symmetrically located and a handle, in the shape of the letter “A”, with the arms ‘’welded” inside the in the shape of a truncated cone; the piece is continued with a circular section rod, on which 3 small, flat circular discs are symmetrically located.
Conservation status: Broken piece (since ancient times ?) on one end; traces of ancient patina. Relatively good condition, restored.
Analogies: a relatively similar piece from either Banatski – Karlovac (Károlyfalva) or according to more recent opinions from Kisterenye (Kom. Nógrád, Ungaria), a chance find from mid 19th c. (Kemenczei 1988, Abb. 5/2; Kemenczei 2005, 139/C 9, Tafel 43/J 1, 2; Jankovits 2017, 254–258, Tafel 88/3105, 3106), object in the collection of the National Magyar Museum – Budapest; also, very similar to components of the ornamental necklace (chain) from Lisičin Dol – Marvinci, discovered on the very rich inventory of Grave no. 15 of this necropolis (Valandovo, Macedonia) (Valandovo, Macedonia) (Videski 1996–1997, 104, T. V; Mitrevski 1996–1997, 75, fig. 6; Chausidis 2017, 341–342, T. I–II), this major find being kept in the collection of the Museum of Macedonia – Skopje.
References: Unpublished.
Pendant – twisted bar with rhombic ends (Figure 3)
Description: Short bar, with a rectangular profile, twisted in the middle area and finished with two heads of rhombic shape, having perforations of oval shape.
Conservation status: Traces of ancient patina, thin and uniform. Very good condition, restored.
Analogies: elements part of the (fragmentary) ornamental necklace (chain) of the Vințu II hoard of bronze and iron objects (Alba county, Romania) (Popa, Berciu 1965, 58, 64; fig. 1/6; pl. IV/1,); Petrescu-Dîmbovița 1977, 164, pl. 393/2; Vasić 1997, Abb. 5/1), object in the collections of the National Union Museum– Alba Iulia; the pendant attached to a brooch found in the inventory of Grave no. 8 from the Vajuga Pesak necropolis in Serbia (Popović – Vukmanović 1992, Pl. III/3); two similar elements of the ornamental necklace of the Vințu II bronze hoard (jud. Alba, România) (Popa, Berciu 1965, 58, 64; fig. 1/6; pl. IV/1); Petrescu-Dîmbovița 1977, 164, pl. 393/2; Vasić 1997, Abb. 5/1), an object preserved in the collection of the National Union Museum – Alba Iulia; two similar elements of the ornamental (fragmentary) from Kisterenye, a chance find of mid 19th c. (Kom. Nógrád, Ungaria) (Kemenczei 1988, Abb. 5/1; Vasić 1997, Abb. 5/3; Kemenczei 2005, 139/C 9, Tafel 43/J 1, 2; Jankovits 2017, 254–258, Tafel 88/3105, 3106), an artefact preserved in the collection of the National Magyar Museum – Budapesta.
References: Borș 2019, 178
„Grip handle” for an ornamental necklace (chain) or pendant (Figure 4)
Description: Piece in the shape of an arched rod, with the profile in the shape of the letter “V” (with a median rib) on 2/3 of the length, respectively circular on 1/3 of length, finished with a truncated end of trumpet shape – a cone trunk with very wide base, with 4 triangular perforations on the body, arranged symmetrically at an angle of 90 ° to each other. At the point of connection between the profile in the form of the letter “V” and the rest of the rod with a circular profile, a small, partially broken, circular bail for hanging. On the sides there is a register of incised decoration consisting of a simple zigzag line.
Conservation status: Broken since ancient times in two parts, but reconstituted through restoration; traces of ancient patina, thin and uniform. Very good condition, restored.
Analogies: a relatively similar artefact (initially considered as a fragmentary harness cheek-piece by Al. Popa, I. Berciu and M. Petrescu-Dîmbovița) of the Vințu II hoard of bronze and iron objects (Alba county, Romania) (Popa, Berciu 1965, 54, 58, 64; fig. 1/4; pl. I/1); Petrescu-Dîmbovița 1977, 164, pl. 393/5), object in the collections of the National Union Museum – Alba Iulia; a series of similar objects („grip handle” for ornamental necklace / chain or pendants) discovered on a series of archaeological sites from the nowadays territory of the Republic of Macedonia (the finds from Veles, Orešani – Skopje, Gevgelija – Suva Reka, Gevgelija – Bišiov Javor, Marvinci – Lisičin Dol, Valandovo – Karakush) or Lower Austria (Chausidis 2017a, 343–344, T. III – IV, 354)
References: Unpublished.
Historic context and signification
The two fortuitously discovered (?) pieces from Lăceni determine an obvious reconsideration of the spreading area of these distincive ornamental pieces from the First Iron Age (more precisely the middle Hallstatt period), in the direction of the eastward extension, in the Lower Danube area. Moreover, if we are to consider the older findings regarding the ornamental necklace from the Vințu II bronze hoard (Figure 5) and similar items found at Kisterenye (Figure 6), as well as the most recent find of a relatively similar piece from the inventory M. 15 from the necropolis at Marvinci – Lisičin Dol (Figure 7), one can formulate the hypothesis that the two objects in the collections of the National History Museum of Romania are very particular, and most probably belonged to a bronze hoard or to a funerary inventory of a high rank person, but both (possible) contexts have not benefited from archaeological research in the field more than a decade ago, so at this time the reference information in this regard is lost. However, it is worth noting the closest analogies for these pieces, namely the ornamental necklace from the Vințu II deposit and the one from the aforementioned prehistoric necropolis on the Vardar valley, which seems to indicate that in the area adjacent to the village of Lăceni there may be an important archaeological site dating from the middle Hallstatt period (the Basarabi culture period).
Totally different is the situation of the two pieces discovered through preventive archaeological research from Tărtăria – Podu Tărtăriei vest. Their provenance, the accurate documentation of the archaeological context, but also the subsequent analyzes allow significant nuances regarding chronological, chorological, but also typological issues. First, in the case of the piece discovered in the inventory of pit Cx 070 in association with an appreciable quantity of ceramics with typical decoration of the early phase of the Basarabi culture (including entire vessels) reopens the discussion on its beginnings. If we refer to the pendant with twisted bar and rhombic ends, this also causes a reconsideration of the chronology of the period in question since new 14C data (still unpublished), obtained by analyzes in the Radiocarbon Laboratory Poznan (Poland) and the RO-AMS Laboratory of the "Horia Hulubei" Institute of Nuclear Physics and Engineering, places the beginning period of the Basarabi culture at least in the last quarter of the 9th century.
The comparative analysis of these findings in relation to those south of the Danube, respectively the necropolis of Vajuga – Pesak (Serbia) (Figure 8a), but especially with the more recent discoveries (since the late 1990s) in the area Gevgelija – Valandovo (Republic of Macedonia) (Figure 8b) brings typological and functional clarifications, but also determines an in-depth study of the chronological data since – at least in the case of the discoveries from Tărtăria – Podu Tărtăriei vest – this horizon of bronze hoards from the period HaB3 - HaC1 (generically named in the Romanian specialized literature as the horizon of Bâlvănești – Vinț bronze hoards), considered until recently to be at the end of the eighth century BC and in the first half of the seventh century BC, seems to be significantly earlier. Likewise, the discovery of Grave no. 15 from the necropolis of Marvinci – Lisičin Dol shows that these ornamental necklaces are ritual pieces, and the so-called “cheek-piece” in the Vințu II deposit is not a piece of harness but an ornament (a belt pendant ?) or a “grip handle” for an ornamental necklace / chain.
