Marisia - Maros Megyei Múzeum Évkönyve 1. (2019)
Iosif Vasile Ferencz, Cristian Constantin Roman: A Late Iron Age Belt Buckle from Ardeu
A LATE IRON AGE BELT BUCKLE FROM ARDEU* Iosif Vasile FERENCZ” Cristian Constantin ROMAN”' In the memory of Marius Ráza Starting in 2001, the excavation systematically organized by the Museum from Deva on the Ardeu village, Hunedoara county, continue till today. A lot of items were unearthed and also buildings structures. The Late Iron Age site Ardeu-Cetdfuie from the vicinity of the core region of the Dacian Kingdom was identified in the 19th century (1885) by Téglás Gábor - the first director of the Museum from Deva. The systematic research of the site has been initiated by the Museum of Dacian and Roman Civilisation from Deva in 2001. In 2017, on the eastern slope of the Cetáfuie Hill the natural erosion brought to light an iron belt buckle. The piece is a part of a sword belt set dated to the LT C2-D1 period; it was made of metal components combined with organic materials (mostly leather). Their presence at Ardeu documents the long distance mobility of artefacts during this period of the Iron Age. Keywords: iron belt buckle, Ardeu, Late Iron Age, Dacians, connectivity Cuvinte cheie: cataramä de fier, Ardeu, a doua epocä a fierului, daci, contacte The Dacian fortress from Ardeu has been systematically researched and constantly presented in the archaeological literature of the last decade.1 The archaeological site Arde\i-Cetä(uie (Fig. 1) is located on the territory of Ardeu village, Bal§a commune, Hunedoara County and it comprises the hill with the same name (455 m asl), the plateau situated to the east, the foothills, the terraces positioned towards south and the Ardeu Gorges from the south-western part (Fig. 1-2). The hill with steep slopes is surrounded by the Ardeu Creek, which forms on the northern and western sides a sector of short, picturesque gorges. The site was inhabited in other historical periods too;2 but only discoveries from the Dacian period had been published so far. The archaeological research of the site started at the end of the 19th century led by Téglás Gábor.3 During the 20th century, because of the stone quarry opened on the territory of the site (Fig. 1) the Museum from Deva and the National History Museum of Romania from Bucharest undertook a small scale excavation in the area, which led to the identification of several metal artefacts.4 The systematic research of the site has been initiated by the Museum of Dacian and * This work was supported by a grant of Ministry of Research and Innovation, CNCS - UEFISCDI, project number PN-IIIP4-ID-PCE-2016-0353, within PNCDI III. " Iosif Vasile Ferencz. Museum of Dacian and Roman Civilisation, Deva, RO, fiosifvasile@yahoo.com *” Cristian Constantin Roman. Hunedoara, RO, cricr2001@yahoo.com 1 See Ferencz 2014 (with further bibliography). 2 Ferencz-Roman 2010, 173; Ferencz et al. 2016a, 265-266, fig. 2. 3 Téglás 1885, 299-307; Téglás 1888, 134-138. 4 Nemoianu-Andrijoiu 1975; Ferencz 2013. MARISIA 1,2019, p. 43-48.
