UN ACCESORIU COSMETIC DIN JURUL ANULUI 1000 ÎN NECROPOLA DE LA ALBA IULIA – IZVORUL ÎMPĂRATULUI
A COSMETIC ACCESSORY FROM AROUND 1000 AD IN THE NECROPOLIS AT ALBA IULIA - IZVORUL ÎMPĂRATULUI

Summary/Abstract: On the occasion of the research conducted by M. Blăjan in the necropolis from Izvorul Împăratului (2001), a rather rare and unusual funerary item dating from around the year 1000 was identified. It is a pair of bronze tweezers of trapezoidal shape, hemispherical in section, provided at its top with an attachment loop (MNUAI F. 9148). The analysis of the items discovered until now allows us to distinguish two different types considering the shape of the trunk: a. straight trunk with lower triangular and possibly ornamented part (Szakcs - Deák Ferenc ut. 6 and Alba Iulia); b. trunk gradually widening towards the lower part (Vukovar - Lijeva bara/M. 86, Rád - Kishegy/M. 15, Izvorul Împăratului, Szob - Kiserdő/M. 60?). We notice that these items, made of bronze or iron, fully or partially preserved, have in some ways a common denominator: the attaching to a bead and collar, their presence in girls’ graves and their association or combination with 10th century materials. In terms of functionality, we can accept their usage for cosmetic purposes, rather than as amulets or pendants. The question arises as to why these items appear exclusively in graves of young girls, at the beginning of their puberty, at an age when the use of such instruments (tweezers) is rather excluded. Most probably, the deposition of these instruments refers to a cosmetic activity which they could not have performed yet in this life. The complementary artefacts appearing in the graves with tweezers depositions are varied: bracelets 4 G and 3 b Kovács (Vukovar - Lijeva bara/M. 86, Rád - Kishegy/M. 15), rings 13 G (Rád - Kishegy/M. 15), rings I-II G (Szob - Kiserdő/M. 60), ceramic vessel /type 50 Tomičić (Szob - Kiserdő/M. 60), collars (Szakcs - Deák Ferenc ut. 6), globulary button 11 a G, cult item (Szob - Kiserdő/M. 60), beads, bone pendant / type E Tomičić (Szob - Kiserdő/M. 60), Western European and Byzantine coins (Szob - Kiserdő/M. 60, Rád - Kishegy/M. 15). The length of these items is between 6.2 cm - 9.3 cm. Based on the existent situations and analogies, as well as on the combinations / associations with other artefacts in funerary inventories from the Danubian Basin, the tweezers in Alba Iulia – Izvorul Împăratului could be dated in the late 10thcentury.

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