ArchAeologicAl
SmAll FindS
And
Their SigniFicAnce
Proceedings of the Symposion:
coSTume AS An idenTiTy expreSSion
Editors:
Iosif Vasile Ferencz
Nicolae Cătălin Rişcuţa
Oana Tutilă Bărbat
Editura Mega
│
Cluj-Napoca
│
2013
Editors:
Iosif Vasile Ferencz, Nicolae Cătălin Rişcuţa, Oana Tutilă Bărbat
Review:
Iosif Vasile Ferencz, Nicolae Cătălin Rişcuţa, Oana Tutilă Bărbat,
Ioana Lucia Barbu, Cătălin Cristescu
Layout:
Oana Tutilă Bărbat, Iosif Vasile Ferencz
Cover Design:
Oana Tutilă Bărbat
(Front cover: Necklace made of shell beads discovered at Ariuşd – detail, photo
Corneliu Beldiman, owner National Székely Museum of Sfântu Gheorghe;
Back cover: Necklace made of shell beads discovered at Ariuşd, photo Corneliu
Beldiman, owner National Székely Museum of Sfântu Gheorghe)
The authors are responsable for the contents.
Descrierea CIP a Bibliotecii Naţionale a României
COSTUME AS AN IDENTITY EXPRESSION. Simpozion internaţional (2013 ; Deva)
Archaeological small inds and their signiicance : Proceedings of the symposion :
Costume as an identity expression : Deva, 2013 / editors: Iosif Vasile Ferencz,
Nicolae Cătălin Rişcuţa, Oana Tutilă Bărbat. - Cluj-Napoca : Mega, 2013
Bibliogr.
ISBN 978-606-543-414-1
I. Ferencz, Iosif Vasile (ed.)
II. Rişcuţa, Nicolae Cătălin (ed.)
III. Tutilă Bărbat, Oana (ed.)
391(498)(063)
DTP:
Crina Sincovici
e-mail: mega@edituramega.ro
www.edituramega.ro
Oana Tutilă Bărbat, Nicolae Cătălin Rişcuţa, Costin-Daniel Ţuţuianu
A Dalmatian Type Brooch
Discovered at Roşia Montană*
Oana Tutilă Bărbat
Museum of Dacian and Roman
Civilisation, Deva, ROMANIA
oanatutila@yahoo.com
Nicolae Cătălin Rişcuţa Costin-Daniel Ţuţuianu
Museum of Dacian and Roman
Civilisation, Deva, ROMANIA
criscuta@yahoo.com
Keywords: dalmatian ype brooch, Roşia Montană, Ţarina
necropolis, Roman period.
Abstract: Preventive archaeological research within the
National Research Programme “Alburnus Maior” contributed
to the enrichment of the database information that can
operate, in this moment, for the high mountain area in the
North-Western side of Alba Couny, the centres of ancient
mining Abrud, Corna, Bucium, Roşia Montană.
The largest roman necropolis from Roşia Montană, until
Museum of Dacian and Roman
Civilisation, Deva, ROMANIA
krieg71@yahoo.com
now, is that located in Ţarina perimeter. Of all the investigated
graves from this point, M28 distinguishes itself by a rich
inventory, but also through several special pieces. Of all these,
we believe that a brooch, discovered among the good-grave,
deserves to be taken into the conversation.
The piece, unique in Roman Dacia until this stage of
research, has the closest analogies in the Dalmatian area, in
the third variant of arched hinged brooches with two pins.
This kind of brooches can be dated in the 1st – 2nd
centuries AD.
I. Introduction
The entire costume is a relection of the need but also is an expression of the social and ethnic
identity1. The cut and the pieces of the garment, the material, the accessories and the adornments
provide signiicant information about the owner: the gender, the age, the social status, the ethnicity.
Of all these, the brooches have an important place in the costume because they are not simple
elements for ixing the clothes, but also they offer data about the fashion in a speciic period, to a
certain ethnic group2.
The brooch which is the subject of this note was discovered in a cremation grave investigated in
2004, in Roşia Montană.
Roşia Montană (the antique Alburnus Maior), the centre of the auriferous mining plants from
Roman Dacia, has become known due to the fortuitous archaeological discoveries, especially the wax
coated tablets3 but also to a series of epigraphic monuments4. Although the archaeological indings
pointed out the special character, already known, of this area, ield surveys have been undertaken only
sporadically, in the 80s5.
*
1
2
3
4
5
We would like to thank Ioana Barbu and Cătălin Cristescu for the review of the translation.
REGNAULT 1900, p. 329 and following.
FEGUÈRE 1985, p. 448; COCIŞ 2004, p. 13.
IDR I, p. 165 – 256.
IDR III/3, p. 374 – 422.
WOLLMANN 1985 – 1986, p. 254 – 257.
Archaeological Small Finds and Their Significance, 2013 / p. 131 – 137
132 / Oana Tutilă Bărbat, Nicolae Cătălin Rişcuţa, Costin-Daniel Ţuţuianu
The purpose of the National Research Programme “Alburnus Maior” was the archaeological investigation of the land affected by the future mining plants6. The results were amazing, especially regarding
the funerary aspects. Five cremation cemeteries have been researched – Hop-Găuri, Jig-Piciorag, Pârâul
Porcului-Tăul Secuilor, Tăul Cornii and Ţarina – and two funerary areas – Carpeni and Szekely7.
The Ţarina Necropolis has been investigated during three archaeological campaigns
(2003 – 2005)8, with the participation of specialists from several institutions9. In 2004, the Museum
of Dacian and Roman Civilisation’s sector has been placed on the property of Gligor Viorel. In the
Southern part of this area, the complex M28, a cremation grave with burning at ustrinum, has been
researched. This grave contained a very rich and interesting funerary inventory10. Of all the pieces, the
brooch provides interesting information on the identity of the owner, but, more importantly, it is the
only item of this kind discovered in Roman Dacia.
II. The brooch’s description
The brooch (Fig. 1) is fragmentary. The remaining parts are the bow and a part of the fasten
system, with the axis around which the needle pivots. The maximum length is 4 cm and the width
is 1.2 cm. The brooch is made of bronze, iron and silver. Fifteen iron rods, of 1.2 cm in length, are
ixed in the curved, almost half-rounded bronze bow. These perforate the bow from one side to the
other. Two bronze sheets are scrolled on each rod (one sheet on each side of the arch), like some
long, tubular beads. The upper part of the bow is silvered and decorated by two parallel rows of linear
incisions, separated by a groove.
Fig. 1. The brooch from Roşia Montană.
There is nothing left of the catchplate and the head, poorly kept, seems to be small and trapezoidal. We can still see, on the pivot, in the middle part, traces of use, because of the movement of the
pin. The ends’ diameters are smaller than the centre, probably because here there were set two beads.
6
7
8
9
10
DAMIAN 2003.
DAMIAN, SIMION 2007, p. 141, with all bibliographic references on the problem.
DAMIAN ET AL 2004; DAMIAN ET AL 2005; DAMIAN ET AL 2006.
National Museum of Transylvanian History Cluj-Napoca, National Museum of the Union Alba Iulia, Museum of
Dacian and Roman Civilisation Deva, National Institute of Historical Monuments, Institute of Archaeology Vasile
Pârvan Bucureşti, Institute of Archaeology and Art History Cluj-Napoca.
The grave will be the subject of a separate study.
A Dalmatian Type Brooch Discovered at Roşia Montană / 133
The brooch has been burnt; probably, it pined up the deceased garment when he was cremated
at ustrinum.
III. Discussions and conclusions
The brooch, unique in Roman Dacia until this point, has the closest analogies in the Dalmatian
area, in arched hinged ibulae with two pins. This type of brooches was analyzed by Ivo Lokošek, who
studied the pieces coming from Dalmatia, from the ibula collection of the Archaeological Museum in
Split. They were divided into three variants11. The piece that we analyze here is very similar to those
from the third variant12. Three rows of beads, that are encrusting the body, separated by two vertical
undecorated or patterned with linear incisions or in the shape of “wolf teeth” bands are the main
characteristics, beside the two pins that revolve around the axis. Likewise, the head is rectangular or
trapezoidal, undecorated or its ornamentation consisting of concentric circles, parallel incisions or in
the shape of “wolf teeth” or is a mixture of these decors. The hinge is formed by the head’s exterior or
interior wounding13. The brooch that is the subject of our study derived from this third variant. The
structure is simpler. It has just one pin and the middle beads row no longer exists. It still keeps two
linear incisions rows on the upper part of the bow, separated through a groove.
Remza Koščević, in the monograph dedicated to the brooches from Siscia, puts on in the sixth
type, the Aucissa brooches14, an arched hinged ibula with two pins, with the bow divided into two
lat bands, patterned with nine beads in three parallel rows15. Beside this one, there are ive more
arched hinged ibulae with one pin16. The author says that they remove visible from the base type,
being, probably, local imitations17. They are analogues to the brooches analyzed by Ivan Marović, who
considers them local Dalmatian variants, made in this area in the 1st century, in the same time with
other forms of Aucissa brooches18. The piece number 14 comes into notice. Its bow is perforated, at
the maximum arching, by a rod with one bead at each one of the ends. We cannot igure if there were
other rods which are missing now or this was the only one. Likewise, in the upper part of the arch
there is an ornamentation consisting of a row of linear incisions19. Analyzing all these aspects, we can
say that this piece from Siscia is, also, a good analogy for our brooch.
Regarding the origin and evolution of this group of ibulae, the researchers’ opinions are divided
into two variants: the irst one says that they are local variety of the Aucissa type and the second
one that there is a distinguished kind of brooches, which has a separate development. Ivan Marović
puts them on an Adriatic-Dalmatian variant of the Aucissa brooches, starting from the geographical
criteria – this kind of pieces was found, mostly, in Dalmatia, while there are just few in vicinity20.
Remza Koščević resumes Marović’s theory about these Dalmatian ibulae, considering them as a
variation of the Aucissa type21. Likewise, Aleksandrina Cermanović-Kuzmanović thinks that the
pieces from Komini are a subtype of the Aucissa brooches22.
Ivo Lokošek treats these brooches as an individual type, afirming that the irst variant previous to
the Aucissa type and the second and third variants are contemporaneous to that one23. Consequently,
he names them arched hinged ibulae with two pins, saying, almost certainly, that they have a local
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
LOKOŠEK 1988, p. 5 – 20.
LOKOŠEK 1988, p. 10 – 16.
LOKOŠEK 1988, p. 10 – 13, pl. 3/1 – 6, pl. 4/1 – 5.
KOŠČEVIĆ 1980, p. 13 – 14.
KOŠČEVIĆ 1980, p. 46, kat. 76, pl. II/13, Foto XXXV/12.
KOŠČEVIĆ 1980, p. 46, kat. 68 – 72, pl. II/12, 14, 15, IV/28, 29, Foto XXXV/13, XXXVI/3.
KOŠČEVIĆ 1980, p. 17.
MAROVIĆ 1959, p. 78.
KOŠČEVIĆ 1980, p. 45, kat. 14, pl. II/14.
MAROVIĆ 1959, p. 77.
KOŠČEVIĆ 1980, p. 17.
CERMANOVIĆ-KUZMANOVIĆ 1997, p. 388.
LOKOŠEK 1988, p. 16.
134 / Oana Tutilă Bărbat, Nicolae Cătălin Rişcuţa, Costin-Daniel Ţuţuianu
tradition, borrowing elements from La Tène spear-shaped brooches, having in common even almost
the same distribution area24.
Recently, Sanja Ivčević, doing the repertory of the brooches from Salona, resumes the problem of
the arched hinged ibulae with two pins, drawing attention to the similarity with the Aucissa type but
considering that local borders and lower limit on the timeline allow framing them in a separate type25.
This kind of brooches is distributed, especially, in central Dalmatia, on the coastline and
hinterland26, but only few copies were discovered in the neighbouring provinces: in Upper Moesia
(for example, a piece from Viminacium27 with very good analogy in the second variant to Lokošek) or
Pannonia (there is a brooch from Siscia28 that corresponds to the third variant to Lokošek).
Our brooch increases the number of discoveries of this type from Dacia. Until now, there has been
recovered one piece, from Abrud, not far from Roşia Montană29. It is an arched hinged ibula with two
pins, irst variant to Lokošek. Sorin Cociş puts it on a special type, XVI, Dalmatian brooches30. Likewise,
he connects the piece to the Dalmatian human presence in the mining activity from Abrud’s area31.
Concerning the chronology, Ivan Marović says that they can be dated in the 1st century32 and
Ivo Lokošek considers, based on analogies discovered in certain contexts, that the third variant of the
arched hinged ibulae with two pins is dated in the 2nd century, in the same time with the Aucissa type33.
In conclusion, we emphasise, again, the particular nature of the brooch discovered in Ţarina
necropolis. It is the only piece of this kind from Roman Dacia and it offers us ethnic identity regarding
the owner. The piece must have belonged to a person arrived from Dalmatia, who brought, among
other things, this brooch that became one of his good-grave. Two funerary monuments, stelae, support
this afirmation34. One of them was discovered close to the Grave M 2835. Starva, the name of the
Dalmatian settlement where the colonists are coming from, is mentioned in the epigraphic texts36.
The settlement is located, probably, in the territory of the municipium Salvium. This is the area where
the most of the arched hinged ibulae with two pins were discovered.
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A Dalmatian Type Brooch Discovered at Roşia Montană / 135
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136 / Oana Tutilă Bărbat, Nicolae Cătălin Rişcuţa, Costin-Daniel Ţuţuianu
2
1
4
3
5
6
7
8
Pl. I. Arched hinged brooches with one and two pins (1–2 – after LOKOŠEK 1988, sl. 3/1, 6; 3–8 – after KOŠČEVIĆ
1980, T. II/12–15, T. IV/28–29).
A Dalmatian Type Brooch Discovered at Roşia Montană / 137
Pl. II. The distribution map (after LOKOŠEK 1988, sl. 5, with our additions for Dacia).