Antler Comb Production in the Settlement at Suceagu-Rădaia (Cluj County). A Contribution to the Study of the Cultural Contacts at the Beginnings of the Migration Period

Abstract

The authors are presenting the antler combs discovered as part of the rural settlement at Suceagu – Rădaia, Cluj County. From the very beginning of the archaeological research, the numerous fragments of processed antler pointed towards the presence of a workshop similar to those already known at Bârlad – “Valea Seacă” or from other contemporary settlements in the Central-Eastern European region. The typological classification of the combs discovered here illustrated the presence of three types of combs having a single row of teeth and semi-circular handle, as well as double-sided combs. Of great significance is the zoomorphic decoration present on one of the combs belonging to one of the combs having a single row of teeth and semi-circular handle. The association of combs with a single row of teeth with double-sided ones represents a chronological as well as a cultural “marker” for the Early Migration period, other known analogies pointing towards the area of the Late Roman Pannonian Limes. Double-sided combs are found in a small number in the Sântana de Mureș – Černjachov environment, the chronology of these types of combs, as well as of other small finds identified in the Suceagu – Rădaia settlement, accounting for the presence of antler comb workshops here, during the chronological stages D1-D2. The presence of a production centre for double-sided combs at Pericei, a site positioned beyond the north-western limes of the former province of Dacia Porolissensis, represents a milestone that marks a possible route for cultural influences reaching towards the settlement at Suceagu – Rădaia. To conclude, the present study illustrates the existence of a cultural mixture between the local Sântana de Mureș – Černjachov milieu with northern cultural influences coming from the environment of the Germanic federates in the area of the Pannonian limes. Such a complex phenomenon should have its beginnings around AD 400, at a time when the important cultural environments of the Sântana de Mureș – Černjachov and Przeworsk cultures are starting to fade out of their existence. Mediation between the areas of southern Poland and north-western Transylvania took place, as indicated by the spatial distribution of numerous metal or ceramic artefacts through settlements in eastern Slovakia and north-eastern Hungary, areas that acted as real bridgeheads over the Carpathian Basin.