Marisia - Maros Megyei Múzeum Évkönyve 34-35. (2014-2015)
Articles
Late Iron Age Finds from the Collection of István Dénes 21 observed that the caves used as shelters or settlement are easily accessible, while the funerary or fortified sites are harder to reach.14 In the case of the caves from the Varghi§ Ravine - except for the cave 1200/87 (Kőcsűr) - it is highly probable that in the Late Iron Age (1st century BC - 1st century AD) these were the temporary shelters and refugee places of the inhabitants, shepherds and hunters of the fortifications and settlements from the area. Since the majority of the pottery from the caves is hand-made, with pots presenting traces of secondary burning on their exterior or interior surface which would suggest their use for cooking or heating, it is also possible that caves were used for a shorter or longer period of time by individuals or communities during natural calamities or wartime, maybe as a hiding-place of the helpless persons. It is possible, however, the ritual use of these caves, either. These ceremonial acts interwoven with myths and legends had rarely left archaeological traces in our region, but they are well documented for the Mediterranean region.15 Yet, the few written sources referring to the Late Iron Age religion of the area report about the caves, too. According to Herodotus (Histories IV, 93-96) Zalmoxis, who resembles with Pythagoras, preached about the life after death among the Getae, and as a proof he withdrew for three years in an underground place, and while the people mourned him as dead, in the fourth year he came out, thereby supporting his doctrines. Strabo in his Geographika (VII, 3, 5) mentions the astronomer, magician, prophet, high priest and later divine Zalmoxis, who allowed in his cave on the Kogainon mountain only the king and his followers. Tire difficultly accessible and humid, but naturally illuminated cave from Iabalcea-Pes/era 7apului, Cara§-Severin County, has been associated with the cult of Zalmoxis.16 There, besides a drachma of Alexandria from the third-second centuries BC found in the thin and mixed prehistoric and medieval layer,17 in the back of the central chamber three vessels dated to the 4lh-3rd centuries BC were found placed in the holes of the floor.18 Another cave connected to the reports 14 Bergsvik 2014, 392. 15 Eliade 2000, 90-91. 16 Rogozea 1987, 350; Boronean( 2000, 32-33; Luca 2006, 139. 17 Petrescu 2000, 72, fig. 1. Regarding the cultic function see: Petrescu 2000, 82-83. 18 Cri§an 1986, 382; Petrescu 1997, 33. of the ancient sources is the Limanu Cave also known as La Icoane in Constanta County:19 Cassius Dio mentions the conflict from 28 BC between Rholes, allied with the Roman Marcus Licinius Crassus, and Daphix the king of Getae, when the supporters of the latter retreated and hid with their wealth and flocks in the cave named Keiris. On the territory of Transylvania, however, in most of the cases the caves yielded only pottery fragments and traces of short term settling. The two caves from Federi, Hunedoara County might have served during the Late Iron Age as a temporary shelter of a small community,20 although, as in the case of the caves from Ohaba Ponor, Hunedoara County,21 the possibility of their use as observation posts during the Dacian wars was also supposed.22 The traces found in the caves from Grad i§ tea de Munte, Hunedoara County, where the Late Iron Age materials were also dated to the first century BC and the first century AD, indicated their use during the Dacian wars, too. However, not all the Transylvanian caves served only as shelters during the Late Iron Age. Based on the discovered coins from Thasos, Apollonia and Dyrrachium it can be presumed that the caves with thermal and medicinal waters at Geoagiu-Bäi, Hunedoara County were also used before the Roman conquest, in the period of the Late Iron Age.23 During the earlier researches from $uncuiu§-Pe$tera Mifdului or Napifileu, Bihor County, a vessel and a Dyrrachium coin from the 2nd-1st century BC were found.24 The excavations from 2000 brought to light, at the entrance of the cave, a cultic feature together with several vessels, two iron spearheads, an axe, a knife, a bronze arrowhead and two silver Dyrrachyum coins.25 In the case of the Värghi§ Ravine the cave 1200/87 (Kőcsűr) is outstanding: here, István Dénes reports about traces of a blacksmiths’ workshop: pieces from the walls of a smelting 19 Boroneant 2000, 50-51. 20 Oltean 2007, 76. 21 During the excavations in 1999-2000 only materials from the first century BC and first century AD were found, but from the earlier researches in the cave Ohaba Ponor-Borául Mare a LT Cl (250-175 BC) C-Ielsova or A17-Piscolt type (fibeln mit Achterschleifen) silver brooch was also found (see: Ferencz 2007, 43-44). 22 Roska 1924, 304, no. 1. 23 Gheorghiu 2005, 38; Luca 2008, 79-80. 24 Boronean( 2000, 7-8. 25 Ignat - Ghemi$ 2001, nr. 202; Ghemi§ et al. 2011, 52, no. 9.
