A Unique Object from the 10th-Century Transylvanian Basin: The Mount Ornamented Sabretache of Grave No. 25 in Cluj-Napoca-Plugarilor Street

Abstract

To the southeast of the Roman town of Napoca, 26 graves from the 10th century were discovered during the excavation of a Roman-period cemetery between 1985 and 1986. In the southern, slanted part of the funerary site, the individual of grave 25, the richest and most varied depositions and the only horse burial in the cemetery, was excavated. The most important object of the tomb’s very varied grave goods material is clearly the leather sabretache, which was ornamented with different types and sizes of mounts by the masters/leather craftsmen of the 10th century. Based on the available data, the sabretache, decorated with mounts, was not placed horizontally in the grave, but obliquely, at an angle of 45 degrees on the leg of the deceased person. Based on the structural and typological analysis of the mounts, the Cluj-Napoca mount ornamented sabretache shows a connection with the sabretaches of the Upper Tisza region and southern Poland and we can state that we do not know an identical analogy of the mounts on the sabretache from Cluj, so up to the present day, it is a unique piece. The traces of wear and repairs on the mounts of the Cluj-Napoca sabretache clearly indicate its long-term use. The signs of wear on the central mount of the sabretache and the biological age of the skeleton (60–65 years) indicate not only the lengthy use of the sabretache, but taking into account the above observations, they also confirm their placement in the grave in the second half of the 10th century. Based on the 14C samples’ results taken from the 60–65-year-old man and the horse sacrificed (4–5 years old), as well as the typochronological analysis of the finds, and the radiocarbon samples taken from the other six graves in the cemetery, grave 25 was most likely dug in the second half of the 10th century, approximately in the years 960–990. This also means that the life course of the senilis man, based on the available scientific researches, had begun around the years 910–930 and, which is at least as important, he was probably born in the vicinity of Cluj-Napoca.