Un tipar de piatră din secolele VI-VII p.Chr. descoperit în așezarea de la București-Băneasa, Str. Gârlei

Abstract

This paper reports on a casting mould discovered in 2013 at the archaeological site from Băneasa, Str. Gârlei (Bucharest, Romania). Based on archaeological analogies, the mould was dated to the 6 th -7th centuries AD, a time period well represented at this archaeological site by a large number of pit dwellings. As the agricultural works had affected the entire site destroying the possible occupation levels, as well as the upper layers of the pit dwellings, it was difficult to establish the context in which the mould was abandoned. The object might have been used to cast certain tin and/or lead alloys with low melting points in order to manufacture small size items used as stand-alone artefacts or as elements subsequently reassembled in the structure of more complex adornments. The distinct features of this mould retain the remote echo of adornments made from precious metals, richly decorated by granulation, while preserving the decorative merits regardless the reduced value of the raw materials, and of the originality of the technological approach.