Marisia - Maros Megyei Múzeum Évkönyve 33/4. (2013)
Articles
262 Zs. Nyárádi Very few artifacts dated to the 14th-15th centuries. The filling of grave GR-19 yielded a highly corroded object with a hooked ending, found in secondary position (Plate 12.9). The silver denarius minted under the reign of John Hunyadi from 1446, recovered from the brownish grey, thick filling of grave GR-141 was also found in a secondary position68 (Plate 12.3).The only grave containing a coin in situ was grave GR-35, where the right hand was holding a silver denarius minted under Louis II of Hungary (1516-1526), Matthias II’s 1615 imprint from Körmöcbánya (Slovak: Kremnica)69 (Plate 12.2). Another silver denarius minted in 1582 under Rudolf II (1576-1608), was found scattered in excavation pit nr. I70 (Plate 12.1). The number of artifacts dating back to the late middle ages was enriched by a ring found upon the left hand of the body in grave GR-137 (Plate 12.15). Inside grave GR-32, around the right hand of the skeleton, we found a highly corroded iron object, but we did not manage to discern its purpose. We also found a medieval spur in secondary position inside the filling of grave GR-137 (Plate 13.1). Most of the artifacts dating back to the period of the Principality are head ornaments, coronets. Inside grave GR-112, which belonged to a child, we found the remains of a coronet made from interwoven metal wire, decorated with small white and blue pearls that had slid down to the skull’s right side (Plate 11.1-2). Similar coronets decorated with pearls were found in Szentábrahám71 and in Csíkszentamás (Romanian: Tomenti ).72 Beside the coronet decorated with pearls, the more simple lace-like head ornaments decorated with metal wire were more commonly found. The skull inside grave GR-139 showed traces of a highly corroded coronet with metal wires, fitted with leather. A similar discoloring also appeared on the skull in grave GR-144. In this case, we also found, on the ring finger of the left hand, a broken silver ring (Plate 12.14).The remains of similar 2.5-3 cm wide coronets with metal wires were recovered from graves GR-190 and GR-171. Sadly, most of these were preserved in a very poor condition and in some cases we only managed to document the imprints of the metal 68 Unger 1980, 33, type 485. 69 Unger 1980 61, type 870. 70 Unger 1980, 56, type 812. 71 Benkő 1992, 236. 72 Botár 2005,51. materials. The graves excavated in the Reformed church in Telekfalva, which had been dated with the help of coins and which contained similar objects, may offer us greater insight.73 The long hair pin, ending in a small solid, bulb, was also one of the preferred accessories of this period and we found such objects in secondary position in excavation pit 5, at a depth of 140 cm. Similar hair pins were found in greater numbers at the excavation of a dwelling at a site in Csekefalva-Lok (Romanian: Ceche§ti ).74 Another type of the Principality period artifacts are the iron boot fittings (Plate 13.4-7), which in our case were found only as residual objects. In recent years they were found in graves in Udvarhely at the Jesus Chapel75 and in Fenyéd.76 Among the other scattered artifacts we also ought to mention iron fragments belonging to two pocket knives recovered from pit 1., which had a ring on the edge of its handle and bore the maker’s seal on the blade, had lengths of 9.5 cm and 8.5 cm (Plate 13.2-3). A completely corroded iron button was found in poor condition, decorated with embossed/engraved flower ornaments (Plate 12.5), similar to the ones found on adorning dolmans.77 Almost completely corroded clothing accessories are the hooking elements of a clothing clip and the fragments of an incomplete iron buckle. In grave GR-85, which belonged to a child and was dated to the 18th century, we uncovered traces of a coronet made from wire and pearls, with the forehead area decorated with lace fabric in a zigzag pattern. A gilded woven material was found near the shoulders of the skeleton, which was supposedly holding down the coronet. The coronet was placed upon a fine brownish colored cloth, alongside the spiral shaped wire ornaments, also with elliptic shapes and with small white pearls stitched between them (Plate 11.4). The wire found on the coronet’s right side, had blue pearls stitched on it. The head ornaments made from spiraled wire and glass pearls only began to appear from the 17th century. A coronet with spirals similar to the one found in Bögöz was also recovered from the garden of Orbán Balázs Gymnasium in Székelyudvarhely, which also had pieces of bronze wire used with small glass pearls. The grave containing the remains of a woman 73 Nyárádi - Sófalvi 2009, 91. 74 Benkő 1992, Pl. 77.1-3. 75 Sófalvi 2012, 27 fig. 18. 76 Undisclosed excavation. 77 Benkő 2012, 165.
