Re-evaluation of Medieval Nomadic Graves from Vitănești
Re-evaluation of Medieval Nomadic Graves from Vitănești

Summary/Abstract: Archaeological excavations of a barrow complex by the village Vitanesti (Teleorman county) in 1976 brought up two equestrian burials. Authors of these excavations dated the burials to the 10th – 11th centuries, based on the analysis of the inventory material and attributed it to Pechenegs, mostly because of the burial rite and two straight one-piece snuffle bars found inside. The present article does not aim to criticize the authors of the excavations, but to correlate the dating based on the up-to-date research, which shows, that the two round stirrups from grave 1 most probably couldn´t appear on the territory of today´s southern Romania before the middle of the 11th century. Firm ethnic attribution of the graves to the nomadic Pechenegs also can’t be stated as the only option, mostly due to the turbulent political factors in this time and space and the fluidity of the nomadic societies and their tribal interactions in general

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