A Nyíregyházi Jósa András Múzeum évkönyve 49. (Nyíregyháza, 2007)

Régészet - Dan Pop: The Copper Axe from Corni

The Copper Axe from Corni* Dan Pop During the archaeological excavations at Oarta de Sus "Dealul Stremtului", in the autumn of 2003 (Oarta de Jos, Maramures County), I was informed by Zaharia Doru that a friend of him, Mihai §ofron, studying at the school of Bicaz, found a metal axe in Corni. I immediately travelled to the place, to observe the circumstances of the find, and to acquire the piece for the Maramures County Museum. From the father of the boy, I learned that the axe had been found by itself, without accompanying materials, at the surface, in the southern part of the terrace called Guruiét, following the agricultural activities of 1996 or 1997.

1 The Guruiét Terrace, about 230 m high, lies in the southern part of Corni (Bicaz, Maramures), on the left side of Cerna Valley, in the vicinity of the road to Bicaz, at about 250 m east from the junction with the road to Corni. To clarify the context in which the piece had been found, I carried out two field surveys,

2 but did not find artefacts that would prove ancient settlement at the mentioned point (Fig. 1). Fig. 1 Location of the site of the copper axe at Corni 1. kép A corni rézbalta lelőhelye On the whole, the content of this article is similar to that published in Romanian, in Marmatia in 2005 (POP 2005.). There are five more Székely-Nádudvar axes added and information omitted before because it was not available at that time, for instance Igor Mazura's article. The eight axes added to the initial list enabled me to correct the word processing errors that occurred during the editorial work of the first edition, especially in text, appendix and graphs. Special thanks to my colleagues Igor Mazura and Nikolaus Boroffka for the information, literature, and suggestions on the topic discussed here. On this occasion the piece was offered for acquisition to the Maramures. County Museum. The first one on the 27th of October, 2003, with my colleagues Zamfir Somcutean (preserver) and Dorian Ghiman (restorer), the second one on the 4th of October, 2004, where, along with those mentioned above, Raul Cardos. (archaeologist, Maramures. County Museum), and Sofron Mihai, the owner of the land and his wife took part. 0 500 1000 m I I I NyJAMÉ XLIX. 2007. 49-87. 49