Marisia - Maros Megyei Múzeum Évkönyve 30/1. (2010)
Articles
50 В. Rezi 8. Fragmentary knife (PL 3/8), with a straight blade, a very slightly curved back and sharpened tip. On his entire length the back of the blade is strengthened with a rib. It is a carefully manufactured artefact, the casting ridges being totally removed. It is fragmentary in the area of the second rivet hole, even from prehistory. The cutting edge of the knife was sharpened multiple times, always only on one side. The tip of the piece is also sharpened. Wear and tear marks are noticeable on the surface of the blade. It has a dark green patina - similar to the socketed axe nr. 4 -, preserved evenly on its entire surface. Dimensions: L: 12.7 cm; 1: 1.9 cm; w: 39.5 g. Seckler National Museum, inv. nr. 16556. Apart from the earlier presented facts and taking into consideration only those bronze artefacts which got to the already mentioned two museums, the hoard from Sämbria§ has an one sided structure. Excepting the knife fragment, all of the objects are either socketed axes or socketed-hammers. In spite of the fact that the socketed axes are one of the leading types in the hoards from Romania, and they were recovered in a very large number, there is no comprehensive work which can be correlated with the already mentioned artefact type, and which analyses its archaeological characteristics. This fact is more obvious in the case of the developed types, with vertical and curved ribbing ornamentation. Excepting the socketed axe with concave rim and the socketed hammer the other bronze types are typologically related, and can be distinguished based on their rib decoration. The two socketed axes decorated on their sides with Y shaped ribs (PI. 2/1-2) know multiple types and a large variety. There is almost impossible to find two identical objects. They can be dated to a chronologically limited period. The analyses of the later versions, which are evolved from typological point of view, escaped the attention of the most researchers and are briefly touched. The papers which have discussed the classifications of the socketed axes from the end of the Bronze Age and the beginning of the Iron Age, focused mostly on those from the HaBl period. It was proposed that the strengthening of the socketed axes with different ribs, with horizontal concentric ribs placed under the rim, are characteristic for the HaBl period, having also antecedent.17 M. Novotná distinguishes two forms in the category of the socketed axes with attachment loop and rich decoration: those with the blade not separated from the body and those where the blade and the body are separated by a curved or straight horizontal deepened ridge. Only the second type has chronological value, being placed in the hoard series of Rohod and Celldömölk, and dated by the Slovakian researcher to the HaBl period.18 The same typological argumentation appears in the analysis of the hoard from Priigy, where the simple socketed axes with ribbing decoration are separated from those with horizontal ridge, which separates the blade from the socket area. Very similar typological characteristics appear in the later periods also, being only smaller in proportions and having a lightly curved cutting edge.19 The slim and decorated socketed axes in M. Rusu's typology appear in the HaAl period, and continue their 17 Novotná 1970a, 44-45. In her opinion the appearance of this rich ribbing ornamentation on the sides of the socketed axe, mostly in the area right under the rim, is the result of the manufacturing method of the blade, which does not allow the presence of any decoration in that area. Also the chronological value of these ornamentations is reduced. 18 Novotná 1970b, 94-95. It has to be mentioned that initially the five hoards recovered from Celldömölk-Sághegy were dated to the HaB 1 period, after which A. Mozsolics marked their dating. Nowadays a HaB2 chronological positioning is correct (see Mozsolics 1984a, 65-66; Mozsolics 1984b, 304; Kemenczei 1996b, 252; Kemenczei 1996c, 95-97). 19 Kemenczei 1981, 34. See also Kemenczei 1996a, 78. Both of the types can be found also in the hoard series from the IIPd period of his chronology (HaA2), but those with horizontal ridge in an extremely low number. This is why the chronological differentiation of the two hoard series is based on the high number of the second type in the hoards of the IVth period.
