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In thc tank dlscovered at Sarmizegctusa Regia. among thc archacologlcal 11nds. has becn found a socalled "disk-- which S!lOWS a hUlllan face on one side. This piece prescnts a Uacian origin. The lace'5 featurcs are presented in a seh'~lllatic styk of work: thc cyes arc rcpn:scnted by twn cclls. thc nose by a protuberancc in a trapcZllidal shapc. thc Illouth is n1lSsing. lInl()rtullateil. thc archaeological Icvel where this pleee has bcen fi.llind can't help us sa\ very precisel\ what the slgnifieatlon and the utilily of the pieee. But it IS out of Cjuestion that the "disk" rcprescnts a deity who had been adored bv Dacians. It is possibk that thc piccc \Vas uscd in blaek witehcrali OI' I'H practices of iniliation. This human fiIce could be a rcpresentatlon of the initiation-man itscJr. Thc person who understands thc knowlcdgc ami can dlscern them; who is thc bear,:r of a ditferent languagc. but \\'hol11 is I'Hbiddcn to tell thc sccrets to the others. Evcn il' \Ve can't offer a ckar answer eoncerning thc signification and thc dcstination of piecc. \Ve have considereel as a good thlllg to prescnt it bccausc oi' its uniquc statute 111 the Dacian world anei the small nUlllber ufthc reprcscntatlon ofhuillan Elce in the sUlTounding arca ofthe capital ofthe Dacian kingdolll
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The study of small-town houses is not a very common topic among researchers. The analysis of the development of the historical house "Panský dom" (literally house of nobility) in the town of Týnec nad Labem has been highly informative. The aim of the article is to show the individual development phases of house construction according to research into material and written sources. Reconstructions, the building use, as well as individual structural changes can be analysed from the late Middle Ages to the 20th century.On the basis of the research performed, it can be stated that the use and purpose of the building changed with each new owner, related to his social status (suzerain house; inn; house of reeve and aristocratic officers; uninhabited; house of a noble with a regular income that led to the construction of a dance hall; semi-agrarian farmers; the transformation to an apartment building and hotel; bakery; etc.). The function of the courtyard also adapted to the desires of the new owner and the quality of life the residents changed accordingly. The quality of life of its residents illustrates the ability to exploit the potential for the house (including loft, farm buildings in the courtyard, etc.), to express the fashion and trends of the particular period. The vision of the owner, the structural possibilities and especially the methods of modification that embody the fashion of the particular period can be appropriately illustrated. Individual structural modifications describe the ambitions and situation of the owners.In this case, it is not a "great" history, but it is a study of the traces of life left in the house that surrounded its owners. At certain points, general history overlaps with the micro-history of "Panský dom" and together they influenced the form of house construction. The research identified several building phases and reconstructions when the modus operandi accurately corresponded with the social status of the owners. The informative value grows from the early periods to the later periods, in proportion with the number of written sources, as well as the material source – the house itself.
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As a result of the archaeological research developed at the Roman settlement of Romula a fragment of a Roman pottery was discovered, which is nowadays preserved in the Museum of Caracal. Here the word ΓΑΔΑΤΗС was incised. D. Tudor considered it a Syrian anthroponym derived from the name of the god Gad, which lead to the formation of numerous Syro-Palmyrean anthroponyms. This opinion was shared by all those who, up to the time being, inserted this graffito in various epigraphic corpora of Dacia, considering it as further evidence of the Syrian presence in Roman Dacia. Yet, the supporters of such a viewpoint did not take into account all the available data which allows us to assert that Gadates is definitely an Iranian anthroponym attested on other sources as following: Xenophon’s Cyropaedia, The Letter of Darius to Gadatas, the Elamite Ka-da-da inscription discovered in the Persepolis fortifications, a Greek inscription from Delos and another Greek inscription from Antiphellos in Lycia pertaining to the Roman period. Xenophon’s Gadatas and the one mentioned in the Letter provide the Iranian character of the anthroponym. Within the Letter, Darius specifically name Gadatas ‘(his) slave’. We encounter this term in the Old Persian variant of the Behistun inscription as comprised in the collocation mana bandaka, meaning ‘my subject’ or ‘my servant’. It exclusively refers to the highest ranked Iranian individuals in the proximity of the Great King. Gadatas anthroponym is probably ahypochoristic derived from Bagadata, a very widespread name in the pre-Islamic Iranian world, having the same meaning with the Greek Theodotos and the Slavic Bogdan, i.e. ‘the Gift of God’. We do not know precisely where Gatates of Romula came from. He could belong to Syria as well, where the Iranian anthroponyms were natural, as the land had been subjected to the Iranian rule for more than two centuries.
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In the Balkan archaeologies, ethnic identity has been traditionally treated as a stable and monolithic category, readily recognizable in the material culture. The issue of "ethnogenesis" of the Palaeo-Balkan "peoples" is the dominant topic and the basic research subject in culture-historical archaeology, today regarded as the consequence of the modern European nationalisms. Starting from the constructivist point, the paper seeks to examine the interpretations of ethnicity in the Balkan Iron Age, on the example of the so-called "early Classical settlements" – a series of mutually very similar fortified settlements located in the vast lands of the Balkan hinterland, today in the territory of several modern states. These settlements are broadly dated into the period from the 5th to the 3rd centuries BC, and have traditionally been interpreted as the final phase of the ethnogenesis of the Palaeo-Balkan communities, supposed to have been living in "tribal states", whose population has been recognized as "people" or even "nation". In the traditional literature, the ethnic characteristics have been readily recognized, projecting directly the modern socio-political structures onto the communities of the past that could have been founded on completely different group identity or political organization. The paper deals with the issue of the political aspects of these interpretations in variousBalkan countries, favoring certain Palaeo-Balkan communities, and an attempt is made to contextualize these nationalistic narratives into the present.
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The authors discuss the issue of presence of vessels in the inventory of an early-medieval warrior. The goal was to answer a question of to what extent this category of artifacts belonged really to non-military accessories. The source basis was constituted by 106 burial sets, equipped with military artifacts and containing vessels, recorded at burial grounds from Polish lands, utilized in the period of 10th – 13th centuries. Basing on the find overview, three basic groups of vessels were distinguished: wooden vessels (a bucket, a scoop, and others), clay and metal ones (bronze bowls). The discussion included also leather vessels, only hypothetically present in the graves. The authors express an opinion, that all of the mentioned vessel categories could have been used by early- Medieval warriors. Material, shape and technical parameters of the buckets makes them especially suitable for this role, although basing on the data present we cannot unambiguously identify these finds as related to riders. They could have been used by any military formation. The smallest specimens were used as drinking mugs, larger ones were used mainly for storing of food or as containers of liquids, subsequently poured to smaller vessels. The largest ones, although not numerous, could have been used for horse watering. A small number of other types of wooden objects in the graves with military artifacts does not allow any further discussion. Ceramic vessels were probably used ad hoc as mugs during military expeditions. Miniature specimens were included in personal inventory, while larger specimens probably followed the army transported on wagons. Bronze bowls were included in grave sets containing horse equipment, caparison elements and prestigious weapon elements. All this suggests, that they were used (as vessels for washing hands) by the representatives of the contemporary social elites, serving most probably as riders. Considering the luxurious character of the bowls, however, we have doubts about practical usage of this category during military expeditions. No sources exist that would prove the use of leather vessels by the warriors. The performed analysis excludes the possibility that the vessels found in graves could have been used for liquid transportation, since all of them, independently on their type, were open in form. They could, however, been used on camps, as vessels for consumption of meals and fluids. Probably most of the analyzed vessels were the warrior’s property.
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Uwagi na temat budownictwa warownego zakonu niemieckiego w późnośredniowiecznych Prusach
The article constitutes a collection of remarks concerning military aspects of the construction and functioning of the Teutonic castle in Bezławki (Bayselauken, Bäslack) in the last decades of the 14th century. Speculations included in the article refer to opinions expressed by the authors of the collective monograph about the late medieval settlement complex in Bäslack published in 2013. It presents the findings of archeological research in the castle and the village in the years 2008-2012. Remarks presented in the article concern three out of six problems which are considered the most essential. While it goes beyond doubt that the castle played an important defensive role, the hypothesis of it being a “fortified camp” for the army during military actions of the Teutonic Order against the Lithuanians and Ruthenians has been undermined. It is not possible to consider it to play a military role on a significant strategic level, as do the authors of the monograph of 2013. In the second part of the article the author undermines the hypothesis about the “systematic” character of the complex of fortifications situated on the eastern Prussian border. If the castle in Bäslack was indeed part of some defensive system, it could operate on the local level and consist of an insignificant number of elements including longitudinal fortifications constituting the so called “Landwehr”. The next issue addressed by the author was a problem of the typology of the term “wildhaus”. As in the 14th century the term connoted the location of the fortification on the border of the forest, the author shows a far-reaching morphological diversity of fortifications on the eastern outskirts of the Prussian state, which were or could be classified as “wildhauses”. Thus, a “wildhaus” cannot be classified as a morphological type of a fortification. The typology of fortifications based on the morphological criteria cannot be connected with the typology based on the administrative and terminological criteria. Archeological examination of the Bäslack fortification evinces its major cognitive potential and makes us aware of how little is known about the functioning of minor fortifications in late medieval Prussia. Further research in this field belongs to one of the most important elements of historical science in the Prussian regional dimension and related branches of science.
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In the rock art of Fennoscandia, the compositions that can be associated with armed violence, represent “warfare” through the prism of ancient mythology. In the rock art of hunters-fishers-gatherers of the Neolithic and Bronze Age, there are only three compositions that can be confidently identified as images of fighting. At the same time, in the petroglyphs left by the Bronze Age societies with producing economy any clearly identifiable scenes of fighting are absent, despite the fact that it is difficult to find male figures without weapons. Most scenes with confrontting anthropomorphs are associated with the Neolithic elk-head axes, which are considered as magic items, or bronze axes, whose meaning in rock carvings is similar to that of the elk-head axes. The Bronze Age petroglyphs known in the southwestern part of Sweden include numerous anthropomorphs, armed with swords, axes, spears and shields, but there are only a few explicit scenes of armed fighting.At the same time, petroglyphs left by the Bronze Age societies with producing economy do not contain any clearly identifiable scenes of fighting
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In the spring of 1967, at the village Köröstarján (Tărian), lying close to the western border of Romania, in the vicinity of the town Nagyvárad (Oradea) on the right bank of the river Sebes-Körös graves were found during the extraction of sand pits on the hill called Csordásdomb (Fig. 1). Rescue excavations were started in April of the same year by N. Chiodosan and D. Ignat, who opened altogether 41 graves. Apart from graves dated to Celtic, Sarmatian and uncertain periods, there were 12 Hungarian burials of 10–11th centuries (Fig. 2). The former 10–11th century cemetery must have contained much more graves as the excavations could not delimit the extent of the cemetery in any directions. The documentation concerning the excavations remained also in a deficient state. Thus it is very difficult to draw conclusions on the order of the burials. The graves were oriented, with minor divergences, to the west, with the exception of grave No. 29 oriented with the head facing south. Several of the graves were disturbed in the remote past. Horse harness was found in two graves (21, 29) and remains of a horse skull in one (this latter was a robbed grave, see Fig. 3/7). In grave No. 21 (Fig. 3/5) an arrowhead made of iron was found. This was the only grave with arms among the grave-goods. On the basis of the finds, all of the graves could be dated to the 10th century with one exception. Probably they started to use the cemetery before the middle of the 10th century and it was continued in this function till the end of the century. The only exception is one skull buried separately dated by a denar of Ist (Saint) László, King of Hungary in 1077–1096 (Fig. 3/2). According to the opinion of the author, this skull was dug into the already long forsaken cemetery by the end of the 11th century
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2015 m. birželio 9–13 d. Švedijoje, Geteborgo universitete, įvyko 13-asis Šiaurės Europos bronzos amžiaus simpoziumas (13th Nordic Bronze Age Symposium). Kas trejus metus (12-asis – Orhuse, 11-asis – Helsinkyje, 10-asis – Tronheime) organizuojamas renginys pastaraisiais metais išsiplėtė ir tapo viena ryškiausių Baltijos jūros regiono bronzos amžiaus tyrinėjimams skirtų konferencijų. Be to, šis simpoziumas tapo puikia moksline erdve vyraujančioms temoms, taikomiems metodams bei dabartinei archeologijos mokslo raidai palyginti.
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In der Burg von Ónod (Nordostungarn, südlich von Miskolc) wurden 1985–1991 mehr als 4000 St. Ofenkachelfragmente gefunden. Zwei Ofenkachelgruppen von diesem Fundort werden hier beschrieben. Das Material der Kacheln der ersten Gruppe ist rot, auf ihrer Rückseite sind Textilabdrücke zu erkennen. Die Kacheln wurden über weißer Engobe mit gelber, brauner, grüner und farbloser Bleiglasur überzogen. Üblicherweise verwendete man auf einer Kachel mehrere Glasurfarben, die beim Brennen häufig ineinander flossen. Der Musterschatz der Kacheln ist heterogen, neben einigen gotischen Motiven dominiert der Renaissance-Stil. Einige Typen wurden nachweislich kopiert. 26 Typen konnten unterschieden werden – wahrscheinlich stammen sie von mehreren Öfen.
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The actually standing Calvinist church of Boldva is of a royal founding. The building functioned as a Benedictine abbey around 1175–1180. The archaeological excavations conducted between 1976 and 1982 uncovered 68 graves within the church. A 14–16 years old girl lay in grave no. 21 in perfectly preserved renaissance clothes. She probably died in 1567 or 1568 and she was a member of the Putnoky family of the Rátót clan. This family owned Boldva until 1570, and then the Basó family owned it for about 160 years. The girl’s uncle Mihály Basó lay in grave no. 14 and her mother Klára Basó in grave no. 17.
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