GlASS BEAdS diSCoVEREd iN tHE SARmAtiAN CEmEtERiES FRom SoUtH-WEStERN RomANiA

This article analyses the glass beads discovered in the Sarmatian cemeteries from south-western Romania. Beads are the most numerous objects identified among grave goods (over 14000 specimens), being present in 43 cemeteries dated between the 2 nd —4 th century AD. Typologically, we identified 9 main types of mono-chrome beads and 8 polychrome (each with variations and different colours). Most often, beads were sewn onto apparel, being highly important for discussions concerning the fashion of the time, trading relations and Roman-Barbarian contacts.

introduction.Beads were broadly used over the course of time on vast spreads during the Antiquity, which explains the continuation of a large number of types across large time spans.As an archaeological material class, they are a rather significant historical source, being arte facts offering a large scale picture of the trading relations, crafts' development, aesthetic tastes and other aspects of the ancient communities' lives.
Beads were mainly worn in strings around the neck, precisely because of this, being chiefly discovered on the chest and around the neck of the deceased.Nonetheless, most often in the Sar matian world, they are discovered by the wrist or ankle of the dead.Certain bead types were sewn onto apparel, especially by the collar, cuffs and hems, however also in the waist area and on trousers.There are cases when sword belts were also beaded, in this cases beads lying in the han dle and blade area.Similarly to other adornment classes, beads most certainly fulfilled a decora tive and cultic-magical role.They provide an im age of the aesthetic choices and ideas existing in the Sarmatian world, and not only.This likely explains why most often they are discovered to gether with various pendants and amulets.Spe cial attention was granted in Antiquity, and not only, to beads made of semiprecious stones.By their aesthetic and physical qualities (colour, hardness, gloss, strength, shine, etc.) were be lieved to carry certain out of the ordinary qualities.
In the first centuries AD, beads were frequent in the Sarmatian environment, while according to their material, shape and decorative patterns, they are similar to those of the same period from a vast area and different cultural settings.All of these furthermore evidence that beads count among the most spread adornments, being at high demand as early as most ancient times.The Sarmatians are no exception, since beads are ones of most numerous and frequently used jewellery pieces.
Bead making required high craftsmanship, which, as previously noted (Skripkin 1990, p. 75), made impossible their production in the nomad environment, to which the Sarmatians also be longed.For this reason, most beads reached them by trade with the Roman empire and the cen tres from the north of the Black Sea.Still, some coarsely made beads in bone, chalk or various stones might have been crafted in Sarmatian en vironment.
In the Sarmatian graves of the Great Hungar ian Plain beads are quite frequent, in some cases their numbers reaching hundreds or thousands.On the territory of Banat, we may mention for instance grave 24 at Pančevo-Vojlovica, where 2215 beads 1 were discovered (Batistić-Popadić 1984-1985, p. 62).Nevertheless, their number differs from one burial ground to another, accord ing to the peculiarities of each site, distance from the limes, quantity of Roman imports within the burials, resources available to respective commu nities, the chronological period to which the bur ial / cemetery belongs to or the number of female graves in each cemetery.Circumstances are sim ilar in the Sarmatian funerary complexes from plain territories located northward (the Crişana region) and southward (the Banat region) the Lower Mureş river (Grumeza 2014, p. 93-104 with complete bibliography).
We shall discuss below the glass beads discov ered in the cemeteries ascribed to the Sarmatians, especially Foeni-Cimitirul Ortodox, Giarmata -Sit 10 (Timiş county) and Hunedoara Timişană (Arad county; fig.1).These not very large three cemeteries from south-western Romania were investigated in the last years via rescue excava tions, yielding a total number of 62 burials dated to the period between the end of the Marcoman nic wars and the third quarter of the 3 rd century AD (stages C1a-C1b/C2 in the Central-Europe an chronology).
the Sarmatian cemeteries from Foenicimitirul Ortodox, Hunedoara timişană and Giarmata -sit 10.General data.Between 1991Between -2002, the Museum of Banat in Timişoara and the Institute of Archaeology and Art History of Cluj-Napoca carried out systematic archaeo logical excavations in Foeni (Timiş county), site Cimitirul ortodox, the investigated assemblages being mainly prehistoric.In the 1991-1993, 1996-1998 and 2001-2002 excavation cam paigns 18 Sarmatian graves were also discovered, definitely part of a larger cemetery mostly de stroyed by the current orthodox cemetery.Based on the preserved funerary furniture, the group of graves at Foeni may be dated to the end of the 2 nd -mid / third quarter of the 3 rd century AD (Tănase, Mare 2000;Grumeza 2011;Grumeza 2014, p. 179-185, Bârcă, Grumeza 2014, p. 163, 164).Half of the skeletons are oriented northsouth (graves 4-8, 11, 12, 16), while the other half with the head southwards (graves 1-3, 10, 14, 15, 17, 18).Only one grave was located on the west -north-west axis, another orientation cannot be specified (due to the grave's looting).Unfortunately, it is impossible to say which was the cemetery's layout (i.e. the presence of ditch es, graves' grouping, etc.), because the Sarma tian cemetery was superimposed (and partially destroyed) by the contemporary orthodox grave yard.
1.The number of beads is impressive, if we consider that in the 3 bead officinae from Tibiscum, only 10158 intact specimens were recorded over the entire period of the 2nd-4th centuries AD (Benea 2008, p. 135).
In the summer of 2010, the rescue archaeo logical excavations prior the construction of the Arad-Timişoara Highway, respectively the Arad-Seceani section, investigated several archaeologi cal sites and features, among which also site B0_ 7-B0_8, located within the range of Hunedoara Timişană village, Şagu commune (Arad county; Bârcă et al. 2011, p. 187-192;Bârcă 2014, p. 12-14).The investigations yielded 17 inhu mations to which add the pieces from a grave de stroyed by the construction of an early medieval house.The discovered graves represent a small settlement-related cemetery whose nucleus lay west the highway route (Bârcă 2014a, p. 14).The graves' layout indicates that eastward and westward, outside the investigated limits, there existed other graves as well.The excavations performed in the southern side of the excavated perimeter investigated features of the Sarma tian settlement dated to the 3 rd -4 th century AD and a few features from the early medieval pe Д о історії костюма riod (Bârcă et al. 2011, p. 187-192;Bârcă 2014a, p. 14).Except for grave 3, all the other had a rec tangular gravepit with rounded corners, while in 14 cases the deceased were buried with head northwards, north-north-westwards and northnorth-eastwards (Bârcă 2014, p. 73, 80) 1 .The predominant northern orientation of the graves from Hunedoara Timişană confirms, beside other previous or more recent finds, the entry of certain Sarmatian groups (the Roxolani) in the Great Hungarian Plain in the period after the Marco mannic wars (Bârcă 2014, p. 141).Chronological ly, the grave groups from Hunedoara Timişană date to the interval comprised between the end of the 2 nd century and the third quarter of the 3 rd century AD (Bârcă 2014a;2014b, p. 29;2016, p. 253, 254).
From the route of the same Arad-Timişoara motorway, more precisely from Site 10 located within the boundary of Giarmata village (Timiş county), comes another Sarmatian cemetery, where 32 graves were identified, 26 being dated between last quarter of the 2 nd -third quarter of the 3 rd century AD (Grumeza 2014, p. 185-198;Bârcă, Grumeza 2014, p. 161-163;Bârcă 2014, p. 72).Within the same site were discovered and researched many prehistoric archaeological as semblages and a late Sarmatian settlement con temporary with another small cemetery.In this paper we shall refer to the graves dated to the last quarter of the 2 nd -third quarter of the 3 rd centu ry AD.These features were placed as four groups, with distances from a few tens of meters to al most one hundred meter in-between.The «grave nests» were delimited one from the other by long, almost parallel ditches.They do not surround a central grave (or several), but delimited certain grave groups.Very likely, we are dealing with a division of the funerary space upon social or eth nic criteria.The graves are oriented mainly on the south / south-west / south-east axis.Just in 1. Placing the deceased within graves with head northwards is uncommon to the Sarmatian environment of the Great Hungarian Plain, where over four centuries, the southern orientation dominated.In the area south the Lower Mureş river, the northern oriented graves emerge sometime by the end of the 2nd century -early 3rd century AD, being frequent in late date cemeteries, mainly in the southern part of the region.A somewhat larger clustering is yet noted north the Lower Mureş river, in the Criş-Mureş-Tisza area and also along the northern limits of the Sarmatian inhabitancy (Kulcsár 1998, p. 16-20, 93, 109;Bârcă 2014, p. 80-83;Grumeza 2014, p. 49-51).The emergence of the northern orientation in the Great Hungarian Plain beside other funerary customs and elements related to dress and costume is indicative of the entry of new Sarmatian groups from the north-west Pontic area after the Marcomannic wars (see further Párducz 1960, p. 74;Kulcsár 1998, p. 93, 109;Simonenko 1993, p. 63;2001, p. 117, 122;Bârcă 2014, p. 82, 83, 141).
two graves (G.7 and 25) the deceased are placed with the head towards north / north-east.
The results of the archaeological research car ried out at Foeni, Hunedoara Timişană and Gia rmata, supply a multitude of data regarding the interaction of the Sarmatians with the Roman and Germanic worlds and represent, beside other recent finds, proof that the Sarmatians settled the territory south the Lower Mureş river after the Marcomannic wars.Also, it is very likely that the deceased buried with the head northwards from cemeteries on the territory of Banat 2 , were Sarmatian, arriving in this region of the northwest Pontic area or their descendants.
The finds at Foeni, Hunedoara Timişană and Giarmata, together with the other Sarmatian cemeteries and settlements discovered over the last two decades in territories west of the prov ince of Dacia indicate that their settlement in these regions was significant only after the Mar comannic wars, when certain Sarmatian groups massively entered these territories, likely with Roman agreement and under their careful con trol.It is further certain that for between years 20-70/80 of the 2 nd century AD, there was no Sarmatian inhabitancy in the territory south the Lower Mureş.Such archaeological facts show that territories around the western and south-western borders of the province of Dacia were under ef ficient Roman control.The numerous Sarmatian settlements and cemeteries discovered in the plain part of the territory south the Lower Mureş river indicate the area was not incorporated, as argued until recently in the Romanian histori ography (Daicoviciu 1942, p. 103;Benea 1996, p. 114), in the province territory, but lay outside its south-western border located not far from the last westward forts along the Lederata-Berzobis-Tibiscum road.Concurrently, it is certain that this territory, under Roman control, lay though extra provinciam.
Glass beads typology (tables 1 and 2; fig.2-5).Beads are the most numerous grave goods.They emerge in 43 cemeteries ascribed to the Sarmatians and researched in western Romania (18 in Arad county and 25 in Timiş county).These cemeteries yielded over 14000 beads 3 .Amongst, are notewor 2. For the graves in Banat, with heads of the deceased oriented northwards see Grumeza 2014, p. 49-51. 3.For instance, for the Arad county, we approximate a total number of 6000 specimens.Even if we identi fied, documented and recorded in the data base a number of 3727 beads (and other hundreds of frag ments), ca. a third of the graves discovered in the Arad county -especially those identified in the 20th century -either have no specified number of total beads found or the materials were lost; see for instance, the case of grave 9 at Zădăreni: «Scattered around the skeleton there were discovered a multi tude of beads of various colours in clay, shells, glass etc. forming a total length of 4 meters» (archive E. Dörner, Arad Museum Complex; beads are cur rently lost).
p. 148-161) 2 .According to their raw material, the majority of beads are glass made (in a proportion of 70-90 %, depending on each cemetery).For in stance, in the Hunedoara Timişană cemetery, 73 % of the beads were glass made (mainly opaque), followed by beads made of a highly friable rock or limestone (9 %) and chalcedony (10 %).Amber beads represent a percentage of 8 % in the analysed graves (fig.5).Similar statistics are recorded in the Foeni-Cimitirul Ortodox cemetery (92 % glass beads) or Giarmata -Sit 10 (73 % glass beads).
2. To these add other bead fragments documented in all mentioned cemeteries.Such fragmentation is mostly due to grave looting.For better preserved beads see the fig.9-11.kseeva 1975; 1978; 1982).Unfortunately, these typologies may not be adopted in our case, since beads discovered in Sarmatian funerary sites and features from the Great Hungarian Plain (and im plicitly today's western Romania) are typological series different than those from the centre, north and east of Europe.Furthermore, the workshops making and then distributing the beads here are known.Therefore, we drafted (Grumeza 2019, pl. 22-25) our own typology, adapted to the re alities of the area (fig.2-4).
In the case of monochrome glass fabric beads we identified nine main types, each with variations and different colours (fig.2, 3).These types were exhaustively discussed in various studies (Grume za 2013, p. 245-260;2014, p. 93-99;Grumeza, Rumegă-Irimuş, Barcă 2014, p. 120-127).We wish to draw a few additional notes and conclu sions subsequent to the comprehensive analysis of all types documented in the Sarmatian graves from the area south of the Lower Mureş river.
Multicolour glass beads are much rarer, yet of various shapes: globular, biconical or rectangular.We identified eight main groups with 23 varia tions, all of a wide chromatic and decorative vari All specimens are larger than monochrome glass beads (up to 2.8 cm in diameter).Polychrome beads were documented only in 17 graves (from eight cemeteries), the majority in the previous ly mentioned three sites: Hunedoara Timişană (12 beads), Giarmata (3 beads) and Foeni-Cimi-tirul Ortodox (20 beads).The Foeni cemetery is noteworthy, with most polychrome beads, still less than 1 % of total beads (fig.6).
These finds were discussed in other papers (Grumeza 2018, p. 193-211;2020).We wish to make a few additional notes and conclusions, subsequent to the comprehensive analysis of all The small number of polychrome beads may be explained by the fact they were made via a compli cated technology.The raw material consisted of var iously coloured dull glass (black, red, green, blue), while the secondary materials were glass stripes also differently coloured, applied on the vitreous mass.In group I, dots were made by a sharp tool (Benea 2004, p. 202).Another production technique was used in the case of group II, whereby by the beginning of bead making, the glass stripes were melted into a basic colour (Benea 2004, p. 203).In the case of florally decorated beads (Group VI), the millefiori technique was used.
Except for Gr.VII, all the other types of poly chrome glass beads were produced on the western border of Dacia, in Tibiscum workshops, during the 2 nd -early 4 th century AD.The functioning of these officinae may be connected to communities of craftsmen, who came from the Syrian-Palestin ian-African regions following the establishment of military units in this particular area: cohors I Sagittariorum and numerus Palmyrenorum Tibiscensium (Benea 2004, p. 267).Physical-chemi cal analyses have shown that it was mainly the Syro-Palestinian workshops that supplied the imperial market with raw glass (Antonaras 2017, p. 6-8, with further bibliography).
the fashion in the graves.Most often, cer tain apparel parts were beaded in the neck area, the lower sides (cuffs, hems), shoes or belts, be side other pendants.If found in the neck area (close to collars), they formed part of necklaces (fig.8: 1).In certain graves, beads were discov ered by wrists and ankles.Bead mixtures were varied from raw material, shape, colour, deco ration or location standpoints.Good part of the graves were yet disturbed, bones did not survive in situ or did not preserve because of soil acidity.Therefore, in many cases, it is impossible to say where the beads originally lay or reconstruct how they were worn.
The anthropological-archaeological analyses made on various cemeteries ascribed to the Sar matian culture in the Great Hungarian Plain show that garments embroidered with various beads (on dress hems or trousers) was specific to adult women and adolescents (Vörös 2003), and had a similar function with that of a wed ding dress or a garment that marks the entry of women into adult society.
An example of glass beads worn as decoration on the lower sides of the coat / dress was iden tified in grave 3 from the Hunedoara Timişană cemetery, where 592 beads (mainly in glass) were identified.The many specimens set on rows in the ankle area were beaded on the garment in 16 suc cessive rows (fig.7).Each row followed a certain chromatic and structural symmetry, with mostly alternating polyhedral and biconical beads: • Row 1: 28 globular, green glass beads (Gr.I/ D/1).
• Row 1, 2: 27 beads (Gr.I/B/1) of white glass; their surface preserves a dark-blue metal patina here and there.
• Row 3, 4: 39 polyhedral beads (Gr.V/A/2) of a highly friable stone, white; their surface still pre serves a dark-blue metal patina here and there.
• Row 8, 9: 39 polyhedral beads (Gr.V/A/2) of a highly friable stone, white; their surface still pre serves a dark-blue metal patina here and there.
• Row 10-12: biconical beads (Gr.II/B/1) glass, white; their surface still preserves a darkblue metal patina here and there.• Row 13: 22 polyhedral beads (Gr.V/A/2) of a highly friable stone, white; their surface still preserves a dark-blue metal patina here and there.
A chromatic order of the beads sewn onto ap parel was also noticed in grave 9 at Hunedoara Timişană.By the deceased's feet were identified successive rows of globular beads (Gr.I/B), made predominantly of dull green, red and white glass.Each row maintained the same colour (Grumeza, 1.The place at Kiskundorozsma is located nearby Szeged (Hungary).On the territory south the Lower Mureş river, similar bead setting was identified in other Sar matian graves, for instance at Foeni-Cimitirul Ortodox, grave 2. From this funerary complex come 398 specimens, the majority grouped in the lower part of the deceased's garments set symmetri cally on one side, on 7 rows.The first row con sisted of orange beads (Gr.I/B/5), the second -of red beads (Gr.I/B/6), the third -of white beads (Gr.I/B/1), the fourth -of green beads (Gr.I/B/3), the fifth -of red beads (Gr.I/B/6), the sixth -of green beads, all globular (Gr.I/B/3) and the sev enth of carnelian prism beads (Grumeza 2011, p. 190).
The custom of embroidery-decorating garment hems with hundreds or even thousands of beads of various colours is recorded in the Sarmatian milieu of the Great Hungarian Plain as early as their settling of the area.The fashion peaks in the period after the Marcomannic wars, very likely influenced by the arrival in this area of new groups of Sarmatians by the end of the 2 nd -ear ly 3 rd century AD (Kulcsár 1998, p. 48-51, 96, 97, 112), when also emerge new funerary ritual and material culture elements.The hem-beading custom persisted in the 3 rd century AD and to a lesser extent in the 4 th century AD (Kulcsár 1998, p. 51, 97, 112).A careful analysis of the funerary finds shows the fashion spread in the Sarma tian environment of the Great Hungarian Plain, with the note that in the Upper Tisza area and the adjacent territories in the northern part of the Great Hungarian plain, the custom is rarely found (Kulcsár 1998, p. 51, 97, 112).
Beads embroidered on garments (the cuffs, col lar and hem line/lower clothing parts) were also identified in a series of Sarmatian graves from certain cemeteries in the Lower Mureş river ba sin.For instance, glass beads discovered in the chest area, whose position evidences their bead ing onto clothes, come from the grave at Sânni colau Mare-Selişte (G.7/2005; Bejan, Măruia, Tănase 2011, p. 166), dated sometime by early / first two decades of the 2 nd century AD, possibly after the events of AD 107-108 or early Hadri an's reign (Bârcă 2014a, p. 62;2016a, p. 31, 32;Grumeza 2014, p. 142, 143).A similar embellish ing manner of the female dress was documented in grave 2 at Dudeştii Vechi-Movila lui Dragomir, dated to the second half of the 4 th century AD or early 5 th century AD.By both hands of the deceased were found 7 glass beads and 17 lime Grumeza, L., Bârcă, V. Glass beads discovered in the Sarmatian cemeteries from south-western Romania stone beads, likely sewn onto the coat's sleeves, while by the feet -380 limestone and 93 glass beads (Tănase 2004, p. 233-241).
A specificity of the Foeni-Cimitirul Ortodox cemetery is bead wearing in the form of brace lets -documented in graves 2, 14, 15, possibly 8.The bracelet in grave 2 was composed of glass beads (Gr.I/B, Gr.I/C, Gr.VI/A), a biconical lime stone bead and an axe-shaped pendant (Grumeza 2011, p. 190, pl. IV: 1;2014, 179, pl. 15: 2).These bracelets were most often composed of large beads, in limestone or glass, predominating polychrome beads in Groups IV and VI with floral decorations (millefiori) or inlaid stripes (fig.8: 3).Such brace lets (made of multicoloured glass, poppy-head pendants, axed-shape pendants, bells, shells, limestone beads, etc.) are rarely documented in the Sarmatian graves of the Great Hungarian Plain and are a specificity of the richly furnished female graves (see the case of Abony 39 cemetery, graves 95 and 71b; Gulyás 2011).
Another bead wearing manner was document ed in grave 7 at Hunedoara Timişană.In this case, beads were likely part of a fabric braid fas tened centrally by a metallic ring (fig.7: 2).The objects were positioned to the left of the deceased, on a north-south axis.Similar belts likely existed in graves 3, 6 and 15 as well.These were worn on the left side, completed with various pen dants, bucket-pendants, pyxides, bells etc., hung by strings.Such dress objects were discovered in numerous female graves in the Szeged-Csongrádi út cemetery, graves 14, 19, 24, 25 (Vörös 1981, pl. 2, 4, 8, 9).The presence of belts / cords is firstly marked by the find of a link (used to knot the cordon) and the stringing, on the left side, of beads, bronze bells, bone pendants, but also of knives or other objects that could be hung on the belt (Vörös 1981, p. 132).
From above mentioned examples, we note that beads were very important dress objects in the Sarmatian female costume.They did not have only an aesthetic value, but also marked the status of women in society, either adolescent or adult.Furthermore, graves with numerous beads were also richly furnished, thus providing impor tant clues for identifying the Sarmatian female elite from the area south the Lower Mureş river.
Subsequent to the analysis of the beads iden tified in the Sarmatian cemeteries from southwestern Romania (especially the Foeni-Cimitirul Ortodox, Hunedoara Timişană and Giarmata -Sit 10 burial grounds), it may be concluded that most opaque and translucent monochrome glass beads were most likely crafted in the Tibiscum workshops, contemporary with the three cem eteries and making similar glass beads (identi cal in type, colour and size).A similar origin may be invoked for the majority of polychrome beads (groups I-VI, VIII).The position of the beadswhen discovered in the graves from south-west ern Romania -indicates that functionally, we are dealing with the same fashion documented in the most part of the Great Hungarian Plain after the Marcomannic wars.Many glass beads originated from the Sarmatian cemeteries in the area between the Lower Mureş river, the Tisza and the Danube, are dating to the period com prised between the end of the 2 nd century and the last third of the 3 rd century AD.According to the internal chronology of the three above mentioned Sarmatian cemeteries, the bead types (and type mixtures) are specific to this period.
Grumeza, L., Bârcă, V. Glass beads discovered in the Sarmatian cemeteries from south-western Romania of each site, distance from the limes, quantity of Ro man imports within the burials, resources available to respective communities, the chronological period to which the burial / cemetery belongs to or the number of female graves in each cemetery.
Typologically, we identified 9 main types of mono chrome glass beads and 8 types of polychrome glass beads (each with variations, different colours and forms).The studies discussing beads discovered in the European Barbaricum use the classification sug gested by M. Tempelmann-Mączyńska (for the central and north European Barbaricum) and E. M. Alekseeva (for the north of the Black Sea).Unfortunately, these typologies may not be adopted in our case, since beads discovered in Sarmatian funerary sites and features from the Great Hungarian Plain (and implicitly today's western Romania) are typological series different than those from the centre, north and east of Europe.Fur thermore, the workshops making and then distributing the beads here are known (e. g.Tibiscum in the southeastern part of Roman Dacia).Therefore, we drafted our own typology, adapted to the archaeological reali ties of the area.
Most often, beads were sewn onto apparel (the same fashion is documented in the most part of the Great Hungarian Plain after the Marcomannic wars).We note that beads were very important dress objects in the female costume.They did not have only an aesthet ic value, but also marked the status of women in so ciety, either adolescent or adult.Furthermore, graves with numerous beads were also richly furnished, thus providing important clues for identifying the Sarma tian female elite from the area south the Lower Mureş river.Thus, the beads are highly important for discus sions concerning the fashion of the time, trading rela tions and Roman-Barbarian contacts and connections.