Step by Steppe: Yamnaya culture in Transylvania
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Dragoș Diaconescu
Summary
The older horizon of the tumuli cemeteries from Transylvania were connected with the Early Bronze Age cultural phenomenon (Livezile/Bedeleu, Șoimuș and Copăceni cultural groups). Some of the discoveries made especially during the second half of the 20th century while searching for the Scythians were considered as belonging to the Ochre Grave Culture (Câmpia Turzii, Cipău, Răscruci). The archaeological research from Silvașu de Jos (Hunedoara county), together with the older and more recent discoveries from Bodo, Bucova Pusta IX and Bucova Pusta IV, prove that the Lower and Middle Mureș valley were used as a path by the Yamnaya Culture, connecting the discoveries from central and western Transylvania to those from the Tisza Plain. This event is contemporary with the earliest manifestation of the Early Bronze Age. Moreover, completing again the observations made on the Tisza Plain and Lower Danube (Trnava, Bulgaria), it is clear that the barrow trend precedes the Yamnaya Culture also in Transylvania, based on the results from Cheile Aiudului and, recently, Silvașu de Jos, showing that the barrows were used by the Coțofeni III communities.
Résumé
L’horizon ancien des nécropoles de tumuli de Transylvanie était lié aux cultures du Bronze ancien (groupes culturels de Livezile/Bedeleu, Șoimuș and Copăceni). Certaines découvertes faites durant la deuxième moitié du 20e siècle lors de recherches sur les Scythes furent attribuées à la culture des Tombes à ocre (Câmpia Turzii, Cipău, Răscruci). Les recherches archéologiques effectuées à Silvașu de Jos (district de Hunedoara) – et les découvertes plus ou moins récentes faites à Bodo, Bucova Pusta IX et Bucova Pusta IV – démontrent que la culture Yamnaya a emprunté la moyenne et basse vallée du Mureș. Ce corridor relie en effet les découvertes effectuées en Transylvanie occidentale et centrale à celles de la plaine de Tisza. Cet événement est contemporain des premières manifestations du Bronze ancien. Et en complément des observations faites dans la plaine de Tisza et le long du Bas-Danube (Trnava, Bulgarie), les résultats obtenus à Cheile Aiudului et récemment à Silvașu de Jos montrent très bien que les tumuli étaient déjà à la mode dans les communautés Coțofeni III, précédant donc aussi la culture Yamnaya en Transylvanie.
Rezumat
Necropolele tumulare timpurii din Transilvania au fost legate îndeobște de manifestările caracteristice Bronzului Timpuriu (grupurile culturale Livezi/Bedeleu, Șoimuș și Copăceni). Câteva dintre descoperirile de acest gen, făcute în mod special în a doua jumătate a secolului al XX-lea, în căutarea sciților, au fost considerate ca aparținând Culturii Mormintelor cu Ocru (Câmpia Turzii, Cipău, Răscruci). Cercetările arheologice de la Silvașu de Jos (județul Hunedoara) împreună cu descoperiri mai vechi sau de dată recentă cum sunt cele de la Bodo, Bucova Pusta IX și Bucova Pusta IV arată faptul că valea inferioară și mijlocie a Mureșului a fost folosită de cultura Yamnaya, conectând astfel descoperirile din zona centrală și vestică a Transilvaniei cu cele din câmpia Tisei. Aceste evenimente sunt contemporane cu cele mai vechi manifestări ale Bronzului Timpuriu din vestul României. Mai mult decât atât, completând încă o dată observațiile din câmpia Tisei și Dunărea de Jos (Trnava, Bulgaria), este clar faptul că moda mormintelor tumulare precede cultura Yamnaya și în Transilvania, aspect demonstrat de descoperirile de la Cheile Aiudului și, mai nou, Silvașu de Jos, situri ce arată utilizarea tumulilor de către comunitățile Coțofeni III.
Zusammenfassung
In Siebenbürgen kann der ältere Horizont der Tumuli-Gräberfelder mit Kulturphänomen der frühen Bronzezeit verbunden werden (Kulturgruppen Livezile/Bedeleu, Șoimuș und Copăceni). Einige Entdeckungen aus der zweiten Hälfte des 20. Jahrhunderts wurden ursprünglich der Ockergrabkultur zugerechnet (Câmpia Turzii, Cipău, Răscruci). Die archäologischen Untersuchungen in Silvașu de Jos (Landkreis Hunedoara) sowie ältere und jüngere Entdeckungen in Bodo, Bucova Pusta IX und Bucova Pusta IV belegen, dass die Yamnaya-Kultur das untere und mittlere Mureștal als Verbindungsweg von Zentral- und West-Siebenbürgen zur Theiß-Ebene nutzte. Zeitlich läßt sich dieser Befund mit der frühen Bronzezeit synchronisieren.
Kombiniert man nun die Beobachtungen in der Theiß-Ebene und an der unteren Donau (Trnava, Bulgarien), so zeigt sich, dass die Anlage von Hügelbestattungen auch in Siebenbürgen der Yamnaya-Kultur vorausgeht, dies basierend auf den Ergebnissen von Cheile Aiudului sowie jüngst in Silvașu de Jos. Zu verstehen ist dies als Beleg der Nutzung der Tumuli seitens der Coțofeni III-Gemeinschaften.
© 2020 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Titelseiten
- Abhandlungen
- The site of Edewecht 82-East, district of Ammerland, and the role of Red Heligoland flint in the Late Glacial
- Step by Steppe: Yamnaya culture in Transylvania
- In the light of new data: The population of the first farming communities in the eastern Marmara region
- The Northern Way: Graves and Funerary Practices in Corded Ware Finland
- Origin of a silver Stollhof-type disc excavated at Vanovice (South Moravia)
- Danish Bronze Age antler axes – depositions in time and space
- Modelling Bronze Age sheepherding and wool production: the case of the Terramara settlement at Montale, Italy
- When iron was the new bronze. Three hoards from the early Hallstatt period from around Kraków, and the phenomenon of ‘pure’ deposits of iron objects
- Possibilities and limitations of pXRF as a tool for analysing ancient pottery: a case study of Late Bronze and Early Iron Age pottery (1100–600 BC) from the northern Black Sea region
- Functions of early Iron Age handstones. Experimental and traceological approach.
- Neues zur Hausforschung in Polen – der erste kaiserzeitliche Langhaustyp im Gebiet der Przeworsk-Kultur
- Late Neolithic multicomponent sites of the Tisza region and the emergence of centripetal settlement layouts
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Titelseiten
- Abhandlungen
- The site of Edewecht 82-East, district of Ammerland, and the role of Red Heligoland flint in the Late Glacial
- Step by Steppe: Yamnaya culture in Transylvania
- In the light of new data: The population of the first farming communities in the eastern Marmara region
- The Northern Way: Graves and Funerary Practices in Corded Ware Finland
- Origin of a silver Stollhof-type disc excavated at Vanovice (South Moravia)
- Danish Bronze Age antler axes – depositions in time and space
- Modelling Bronze Age sheepherding and wool production: the case of the Terramara settlement at Montale, Italy
- When iron was the new bronze. Three hoards from the early Hallstatt period from around Kraków, and the phenomenon of ‘pure’ deposits of iron objects
- Possibilities and limitations of pXRF as a tool for analysing ancient pottery: a case study of Late Bronze and Early Iron Age pottery (1100–600 BC) from the northern Black Sea region
- Functions of early Iron Age handstones. Experimental and traceological approach.
- Neues zur Hausforschung in Polen – der erste kaiserzeitliche Langhaustyp im Gebiet der Przeworsk-Kultur
- Late Neolithic multicomponent sites of the Tisza region and the emergence of centripetal settlement layouts
