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

Halina Dobrzanska: Contacts between Sarmatians and the Przeworsk Culture community

(from about 80 to 160), the spearhead from Bodzanowo might be of a slightly later chronology: the later stage of phase B2 or phase С la (about 200 to 230) (KACZANOWSKI 1988, 57, 59-61, rys. 3: 1). In that case, the specimen from Bodzanowo would be synchronous with the period when spearheads decorated with elements closely resembling tamga-signs occurred on the territory of the Przeworsk Culture (phase С la). With regard to those signs, Shchukin is of the opinion that they were adopted by the Przeworsk Culture people as a result of its contacts with Sarmatians, which would have occurred at the end of the 1

st and the beginning of the 2

nd c. (SHCHUKIN 1994, 494). Kaczanowski believes that decorated spearheads of the Przeworsk Culture ought to be dated to the first three decades of the 3

rd c. (KACZANOWSKI 1988, 61-63). According to some researchers, some of these artefacts are ornamented with signs that closely resemble tamgas. In my opinion, there are some similar signs among tamgas from the Sarmatian high-status elite grave discovered on the territory of the Olbian State and dated to the end of the 1

st c. A.D. to the beginning of the 2

nd c. A.D. (SIMONENKO 1999B, 113, ris. 7: 8, 30; 8: II: 3). Tamga-signs are variously interpreted in archaeological publications as religious or magical symbols or as property signs. They were used to mark various objects on the territory of Bosporan State, and the custom spread to Sarmatian territories. Tamga-signs originated in the Kingdom of Pontus in the southeastern part of the Black Sea region (SULIMIRSKI 1979, 132 ff.). They were characteristic of Sarmatian peoples in the North Pontic region, but they did not usually occur on weapons. In contrast to North European Germanic runes, they are of Asian and East European origin. The finds from the richly furnished burial 22 from the cemetery at Grzybów, Swiçtokrzyskie Voivodship, are dated to the second half of the 2

nd c. - beginning of the 3

rd c. The deceased was a man, whose remains have not been found, probably due to partial destruction of the grave. He was cremated and buried with an unburned horse. Among the burial goods are weapons, pieces of clothing, tools and numerous potsherds of the Przeworsk Culture, as well as lumps of melted bronze and glass (GARBACZ 1990, 185-186; GARBACZOWIE 1990, 263-278; GARBACZ 1992, 183). The grave-goods demonstrate that the deceased warrior must have been considerably well off. All of the objects found bear traces of burning and destruction, which is consistent with the burial rites of the Przeworsk Culture. Nevertheless, burials with horses were unknown in that culture, whereas they were known in the East, particularly in the case of richly furnished graves of steppe peoples (SULIMIRSKI 1979, 73, 80, 90). The same cemetery yielded a series of small three-winged arrowheads with a barb (fig. 6:1) of a type unknown in the Przeworsk Culture and linked by the author of the publication with Roman finds (GARBACZ 1995, 213, fig. 2, 214 ff). This kind of arrowhead is regarded as Sarmatian (ABRAMOVA 1993,162-163, ris. 65: 1-8; SIMONENKO-LOBAI 1991,15, ris. 7:2,45). As far as contacts between Sarmatians and the people of the Przeworsk Culture are concerned, we can distinguish two main periods. The first one spans the second half of the 1

st c. A.D., especially the last quarter. Among the artefacts belonging to that period the following must be mentioned: a gold necklace and an assemblage of wheel-made vessels found in the high-status elite grave in Giebultów (fig. 2); a silver plate and wheel-made vessels from the richly