Ciubotă, Viorel et al. (szerk.): Episcopia greco-catalică de Mukacevo documente 2. (Satu Mare, 2012)
L. Marta: Glitter and Splendour int he Nothern Capital of the Dacian sin Mala Kopanya
Mala Kopanya / Мала Копаня no further discoveries. Nearly a decade ago, however, an iron sword was discovered on the top of a hill near the fortress with a metal detector. It had been ritually bent, in a way typical for the weapons buried in the cemeteries of the time. The archaeological research on the spot where the sword was found also yielded a group of eight graves. It turned out, however, that they were not a part of the great cemetery of the fortress but an isolated group of graves. Some evidence suggests they were the graves of people with a special status in society, likely Germanic allies (primarily the Buri who are mentioned as allies of the Dacians in the wars against the Romans). The metal detectorists uncovered important clues that suggest the existence of a cemetery. Four iron buckles, the ring of a brass buckle and an arrowhead were all found in a small area, on a hill near to the fortress. A survey conducted in the place where the ring of a buckle was found yielded the buckle hook and other metal clothing accessories, suggesting that these pieces were elements of a funeral inventory. The research conducted over the past five years by the University of Uzhgorod demonstrate that the place was a Dacian graveyard with spectacular inventory. The items discovered there include dozens of belt buckles and buckles, long swords, belts-chains for swords, spears and spearheads, numerous horse bits, spurs and some golden and silver jewelery. Particularly interestingare two buckles, one with silver vegetal decoration and one made of iron with animal decoration. The latter has two decorative registers that depict a raptor with a fish in its claws, a scene typical for Dacian mythology. Such finds are very rare in Dacian fortresses. This discovery in Malaya Kopanya is comparable to the scene on the parade shield that was found in the ‘50s in the fortress of Piatra Roşie, in the Orăştie Mountains. The gold pieces are the most spectacular: fragments of a gold necklace, two bracelets and a pendant. The largest amount of gold pieces in a Dacian fortress have been found in Mala Kopanya, topped only by the recent discoveries made in the Orăştie Mountains. The fragments of the golden necklace weigh 500 g, but the necklace as a whole is estimated to have weighted 3-4 kg. The red soil of the forests where many of the metal parts were found prevented a clear delineation of the grave-pits. It was assumed that weapons, adornments and harness were collected from the funeral pyre and buried together with the burnt bones of the deceased, which in turn had been destroyed by the acid soil. The six urns that had contained the cremated bones seemed to support this interpretation. However, the analysis of these bones provided a great surprise, as these bones actually belonged to animals. These results point to a different interpretation of the area where weapons and jewellery had been discovered. It may have been be a “sacred field” where metal pieces were buried after offerings to the gods had been burnt. Such sacred precints are common to several Indo-European populations, and comparable discoveries have been found in the Dacian area. The most impressive analogy is the so-called cemetery from Zemplin, fortress closest to Mala Kopanya.
