Mormintele sarmatice de la Prăjeni (județul Botoșani) / The Sarmatian graves from Prăjeni (Botoșani County)

Abstract

Between 1985 and 1988, 14 Sarmatian graves were excavated at Prăjeni (Botoșani County), in the locations known as Alimândra, Nelipești, Țarnă and Lutărie 2. These graves have not been systematically published but information about them may be found in the literature published so far. The authors intend, by this contribution, to publish the data concerning the Sarmatian finds of Prăjeni. Out of the 14 graves uncovered there, which could be considered as belonging to the Sarmatians, 13 are secondary burials in tumuli – five in Tumulus III from Prăjeni – Alimândra, two in Tumulus IV of the same location, one in the mound of Nelipești and five in the tumulus from Prăjeni – Țarnă. Considering the five Sarmatian graves from Prăjeni – Țarnă as secondary burials in older tumuli might, at first sight, arise some doubts. The authors consider that the main criterium was the intention of those who buried the dead to choose a higher ground, as they were not aware that, during the late first century AD, what it looked like a higher ground, was, in fact, soil that had slid from the southern slope of a Bronze Age tumulus. Most of the 13 graves in discussion are oriented along the N– S axis, with variations, with only two exceptions (WSW– ENE and S– N). Dorsal decubitus, with arms and legs stretched was recorded for six deceased. Reinhumation seems to be attested in Grave 4 of Tumulus III from Alimândra, where the long bones and the ribs have been arranged somehow radially around the skull and the pelvis. Grave goods were deposited in all the 13 Sarmatian secondary graves in older tumuli from Prăjeni. Except for Grave 3 in Tumulus IV from Alimândra, and possibly Grave 4 in Tumulus III of the same location (where only a pottery fragment was found), all the other 11 graves contained pottery vessels, either one (nine cases), or two (two cases). These vessels are, mainly, hand-made. The wheel-made pottery is less frequently found (five cases). Besides pottery, other categories of grave goods, such as adornments (beads, earrings, pendants, bracelet, and bells), dress items (brooches), toilet implements (mirrors), household tools (spindle whorls), and weapons were deposited in the Sarmatian graves of Prăjeni, too. The great number of items that the Sarmatians living in the area took over from the Dacians (the hand-made mug from Prăjeni – Țarnă Grave 2, the small mug from Grave 7 at the same location, the profiled brooches from Prăjeni – Alimândra Tumulus IV Grave 3 and Țarnă Grave 2, the pendants made of profiled bars from Alimândra Tumulus III Grave 3 and Țarnă Grave 9, maybe also the bucket-shaped pendants found in this last grave) should also be mentioned. The items of Dacian origin found in the graves of Prăjeni indicate the fact that some of the burials took place after the Sarmatians established relationships with the Dacians in the area, indicating a certain time span, difficult to estimate, elapsed between the precise moment of their arrival in this territory and the burials. Generally speaking, the secondary graves of the tumuli from Prăjeni can be dated between the second half of the first century AD and the first half of the next century. The five graves in the tumuli from Prăjeni – Țarnă may be of a later date than the graves in the tumuli from Alimândra and Nelipești, if we take into account the presence in three burials of the grave goods of Dacian origin. The grave from Prăjeni – Lutărie 2 differs from the previously analysed graves, as concerns the layout (flat grave), the location (grave in a settlement) as well as the grave goods. The little girl, less than seven years old was buried only with adornments : a necklace of beads and pendants, earrings and a bracelet whose analogies suggest a chronological framing in the third century AD.