Istvánovits Eszter: International Connections... (Jósa András Múzeum Kiadványai 47. Aszód-Nyíregyháza, 2001)

Halina Dobrzanska: Contacts between Sarmatians and the Przeworsk Culture community

data concerning the Tatar invasions are taken into account for the sake of comparison, it must be concluded that a lack of such artefacts among the finds does not preclude the possibility of Sarmatian invasions, particularly if they were short and did not affect vast territories. The archaeological sources that might prove the existence of contacts between the local population and Sarmatians indicate a more peaceful character for those contacts, or at least do not provide any evidence of conflict. Apart from the very spectacular high-status elite grave in Giebultów discussed above, some finds from the cremation burial in Sandomierz-Krakówka are among the items that could reflect Sarmatian customs. According to the authors describing the assemblage, the artefacts in question - two stemmed "incense-bowls" and, most likely, a silver plate decorated with granulation (fig. 3: 1) - correspond to Dacian materials (KOKOWSKI-SCIBIOR 1990, pi. 385/9/51-53). We cannot agree with this view, as the "incense-bowls" (two similar specimens are known from the grave in Giebultów) could belong to vessels used by Sarmatians (DOBRZANSKA 1997, 26), and the silver plate, although it does not have close analogies, could have served as an ornament for some piece of a warrior's leather clothing (cf. SIMONENKO-LOBAI 1991, 49, ris. 26). The authors compare the plate, probably because of the manner in which it is decorated, to pendants. The conical arrowheads placed in the grave in Sandomierz-Krakówka (fig. 3: 1-8) might also be linked with Sarmatian traditions (KOKOWSKI-SCIBIOR 1990, pi. 385/5/23-29), while the bow was either not placed in the grave at all or has not been preserved. For these peoples, the bow had a very important function as an offensive weapon used in both war and hunting, but it was only included in burial goods in exceptional cases. Among Sarmatian burial goods, it is more common to find series of small arrowheads (ABRAMOVA 1993, 148). Such a series of arrowheads and a bow were found in a richly furnished burial of a man (grave 1) at Porogi, Vinnitsa Region on the mid-Dniester, dated to the last quarter of the 1

ST c. A.D. (SIMONENKO-LOBAI 1991, 12-14, 42-43) and thus contemporaneous with the high-status elite grave in Sandomierz-Krakówka. In the case of the latter, the beginning of the 2

ND c. should also be considered. In the Przeworsk Culture, the leaf-shaped arrowheads, which differ from the ones known in Sandomierz-Krakówka and indicate the use of a bow, did not appear until the Late Roman Period (GODLOWSKI 1981, 89). As mentioned above, the richly furnished grave in Sandomierz-Krakówka, containing artefacts of "foreign" origin (among others, four Roman bronze vessels and a small metal bowl with traces of silvering and gilding) might be compared to the pan-regional Early Roman horizon of "princely" burials. However, Early Roman horizon burials were not typically furnished with weapons (EGGERS 1953, 58 ff). It is conceivable that the occurrence of weapons (or parts of weapons) in the Przeworsk Culture burial under discussion resulted from contacts with the Sarmatian "aristocracy", whose custom was to equip men's burials with weapons, both in the North Pontic region (SIMONENKO-LOBAI 1991, 39 ff.) and on the Great Hungarian Plain (KULCSÁR 1998, 115). In the last quarter of the 1

ST c. two coins were minted, one from Olbia (in the years 79-96) and the other from the Bosporan State (in 80-83). Examples of both were found in the incompletely preserved hoard from Gorlice-Glinik Mariampolski.