Marta, Liviu (szerk.): Satu Mare. Studii şi comunicări. Seria arheologie 29/1. (2013)
Laura Dietrich: Projectile weapons of the Late Bronze Age int he Easter Europe. The case of the Noua-Sabatinovka-Coslogeni cultural complex
intensively from typological and chronological points of view20, the projectile points occupy generally a marginal position in lines of archaeological evaluation. They received some attention on one hand through Klochko's21 extensive studies on Late Bronze Age weaponry and on the other hand through the detailed study of bone projectile points by Beldiman22, based on the finds of the NC settlement from Zoltán, southeastern Transylvania. Nevertheless, a synthesis comprising all finds as well as a metric analysis is yet missing. I collected c. 200 projectile points of bone, stone and bronze from 48 find contexts of the NSC, mostly from settlements. However, an accurate number for the entire find group cannot be estimated yet, as in some publications the total number of finds was not specified and only a few of the around 600 settlements known so far for the NSC23 have been excavated and/or published extensively. Projectile weapons of the Late Bronze Age in the Eastern Europe. The case of... Nevertheless, the catalogue compiled for the present paper adds some new forms and types to those defined by Klochko24 and Beldiman25; a new morphological classification including all types was necessary to reach consistency. Data like length, width and thickness, mostly based on the published drawings, have been taken and introduced into a metric analysis as basis of the classification. Only a part (55%) of the projectile points could be measured, but the results are statistically significant and can be applied to the whole find class. Unfortunately the weight, which is an important parameter, could not be added to the present analysis, since it is generally not given in publications; however a new project will aim at filling this gap26. A total of 5 types, each with several variants, could be differentiated. But, before presenting this classification, some terms and definitions muss be explained. The finds A variety of research languages and traditions determined the development of divergent terminologies; the terms used to denominate projectile weapons have different meanings and connotations for example in German, English and Romanian. Only regarding arrow heads (“Pfeilspitzen”, “vârfuri de săgeţi”), projectile points that are shot with a bow, there is a general consensus in terminology. Similar in form with arrow heads, but using another throwing system are darts27 (“Speerschleuderspitzen” in German, “săgeţi” in Romanian). Darts are generally fixed into a flexible shaft and thrown by a spear thrower or ‘atlatl’ (c.f. reconstruction fig. 2). The typical atlatl is made of about an arm's length of wood (approximately 50-60 cm) with a hook on 20e.g. Petrescu-Dîmboviţa 1977; Dergacev 2002; Uşurelu 2006. 21 Klochko 1993, 1995,2001 22 Beldiman 2002. 23 c.f. Florescu 1991; Sava 2005a. 24 Klochko 1992, 2011. 25 Beldiman 2002. 26 A project of the author is envisaged to start shortly. 27 Not to be confounded with the projectiles used in the modern dart game, with which they have nothing in common. 183 Fig. 2: Reconstruction of throwing process with an atlatl.
