Documente Academic
Documente Profesional
Documente Cultură
Edited by
Sándor Berecki
Editura MEGA
Târgu Mureş
2014
Contents
J. Vincent S. MEGAW
Preface. Proceedings of the Sixth International Colloquium held at Târgu Mureş 7
Tiberius BADER
Nachbau des Wagens aus dem Fürstengrab von Hochdorf, Deutschland 19
Marcin Rudnicki
Nowa Cerekwia. A Celtic Centre for Craft and Commerce of Interregional Importance North of the
Carpathians 33
Peter C. Ramsl
La Tène Period Craftsmanship in Eastern Austria 71
Marko Dizdar
Bronze Fibulae with Enamel Inlay from Scordiscan Sites 97
Csilla Gáti
On the Crossroads of Cultures. Cultural and Trade Connections of the Site of Szajk in South Transdanubia in
the Sixth–Fourth Centuries BC 115
Zoltán Czajlik
Traces of Prehistoric Smelting Workshops in the Carpathian Basin 139
Károly TANKÓ
Traces of Iron Smelting in La Tène Iron Age Settlement at Ménfőcsanak 147
Attila, Horváth M.
A Decorated La Tène Sword from the Budapest–Csepel Island 161
Martin FURMAN
A Central European Form of La Tène Ornament: Rings with Three and Four Large Hollow Knobs from
Slovakia 183
Gertrúda Březinová
La Tène Bone and Antler Artefacts from Nitra 191
János Németi
Pottery Production during the Late Iron Age in North-Western Romania 199
Horea Pop
The Metal Smiths’ Settlement at Şimleu Silvaniei–Uliul cel Mic 209
Mariana EGRI
Desirable Goods in the Late Iron Age – The Craftsman’s Perspective 233
Andreea Drăgan
Production and Circulation of La Tène Painted Pottery North of the Lower Danube 301
Jan Bouzek
Hook, Lock, Furnace Rake or a Damaged Sickle for Harvesting Olives? 319
ABBREVIATIONS 325
Hook, Lock, Furnace Rake or a Damaged
Sickle for Harvesting Olives?*
Jan Bouzek
Prague, Czech Republic
jan_bouzek@yahoo.com
Archaeologists are much pleased if, in the course of their researches, they find some exotica brought
from far away and consider them being the most important documents for studying distant relations.
Though they may be interesting not only for their own specific purposes, of much greater impact for
ancient world cultures were transfers of technologies, of ‘know-how’. In the field of mining, of extract-
ing metals from ores, of metalwork and smithing technique the civilisations of temperate Europe were
nearly as competent as their neighbours in the Mediterranean; this concerned notably the iron smelting,
processing and smith’s work in the fields which were of basic importance for the Iron Age crafts and
economy in most parts of Europe and the Near East.
Thus, iron objects may provide useful information for the study of interrelations between the La
Tène cultures and their more sophisticated contemporaries in Greece and Italy. In the field chiefly of
personal weapons – swords and spears which were deposited in Celtic graves as symbols of social sta-
tus – we are relatively well informed and they are also known from battlefields and sacked hill-forts,
like from Pistiros, while arrowheads well-known from the latter sites only rarely appear in graves (cf.
Bouzek et al. 2013b; Baitinger 2001; 2011) (Fig. 1/1–3, 5).
Fig. 1. Iron spearheads, arrowheads, knives and shears from Pistiros, late fourth–
early third century BC (no. 4 of bronze; after Bouzek et al. 2013a).
* The paper was prepared in the frame of the project P 12 in the Faculty of Arts, Charles University “History in interdisci-
plinary perspective”.
Iron Age Crafts and Craftsmen in the Carpathian Basin, 2014, p. 319–324
320 | J. Bouzek
Tools and implements were included in hoards, like at Čínov (Pl. 2), but among the Celtic monu-
ments they are better known only from the oppida. Though the smith apparently enjoyed some higher-
in-rank social position in the social hierarchy, he preferred to be represented as one of the men-in-arms.
A large number of iron artefacts are known from Greek sanctuaries (Baitinger 2001; 2011;
Baitinger–Villach 2007), others from large excavations in Greek cities (for the northern Aegean cf.
esp. Robinson 1944); and from Thrace as well (Bouzek et al. 2013b, Antonova 2013; Nikolov 1970;
Stoyanov–Michailova 1996; etc.), but most of them were not conserved properly and are decaying.
Moreover, in many cases even conserved artefacts have further problems and it behoves the excavator
to record iron items immediately on their removal from the soil. The process
of disintegration may continue even in the storeroom; much depends on the
conditions of the deposit from which they have been recovered.
In trench B SW of the Eastern Gate of Pistiros in September 2013 in the
Celtic destruction level a further spearhead and several arrowheads of iron
were found (Pl. 1/2–3, 5),1 of the categories already well documented in the site
(Bouzek et al. 2013b, 256–258, fig. M 3–4). In the lower destruction debris,
dated c. 310 BC, in Square B 16 NE (coordinates E-5.08/N–1.07) an unusual
artefact occurred. It was lying on the floor of a courtyard together with the blade
of a small (85 mm) knife (Pl. 1/4). The 261 mm long iron hook or lock (?) (reg.
no. ČPI 311, found 26.9.2013) is flattened on one end; probably originally it was
inserted into a wooden handle. The tip of the hook is damaged; on the bow of
the hook a thick layer of rust can be observed (Pl. 1/1).
Similar artefacts have been interpreted as hooks or locking mechanisms
for doors or boxes, sometimes explained as hearth rakes, notably if the tip of
the damaged hook can be restored in a way similar to the Olympia rake no. 374
(Baitinger–Völling 2007, 193, pl. 29, here Fig. 2), while other similar artefacts
were held for locks (Baitinger–Völling 2007, 124, pl. 46–48, notably no. 507–
508). A number of other Olympia locks show other parallels to our piece, but
Fig. 2. Iron hearth rake also similar is a hook from a hoard of Early La Tène iron artefacts from Černov
from Olympia (after in Moravia (Pl. 2/8; Podborský 1993, 386–387, fig. 254; Čižmářová 2004, 199)
Baitinger–Völling not much less so (cf. however, other rakes e.g. Antonova 2013, 239, fig. N 2/4–
2007, pl. 29).
6). It should also be noted that the artefact – if restored with a longer ‘nose’ –
would be very similar to sickles used for harvesting olives both in antiquity and
in contemporary times as well.
The resemblances between iron tools and devices, of which just one particular example is discussed
in this note, may also be applied to many types of knives, sickles, shears (Pl. 1/6–8), axes and even nails
and hooks as well (cf. Bouzek et al. 2013a). Such similarities are not fortuitous. At the simple level
of iron weapons, tools and implements the differences between the Mediterranean and the temperate
zone of Europe were only small and the two areas belonged together to a broader civilization zone with
a number of traits in common (cf. Pleiner 1969; Kostoglou 2008; Nikolov 1970; Katinčarova-
Bogdanova 1996).
References
Antonova 2013 Antonova, A., Topography and classification of metal tools from Pistiros
(preliminary report), IN: Bouzek, J.–Domaradzka, L.–Gotzev, A.–Archibald, Z.
(eds.), Pistiros V, Excavations and Studies, Prague, 238–249.
Baitinger 2001 Baitinger, H., Die Angriffswaffen aus Olympia, Olympische Forschungen, 29,
Berlin.
Baitinger 2011 Baitinger, H., Waffenweihungen in griechischen Heiligtümern, RGZM, 94, Mainz.
1 Spearhead L. 220 mm, tip and one side of the blade damaged; from square B 16 NE, spit III, N-2.41/E-4.05, two arrowheads
from the same deposit, L. 48 and 35 mm.
Hook, Lock, Furnace Rake or a Damaged Sickle for Harvesting Olives | 321
Baitinger–Völling Baitinger, H.–Völling, H., Werkzeug und Gerät aus Olympia, Olympische
2007 Forschungen 32, Berlin.
Bouzek et al. 2013a Bouzek, J.–Domaradzka, L.–Gotzev, A.–Archibald, Z. (eds.), Pistiros V,
Excavations and Studies, Prague.
Bouzek et al. 2013b Bouzek, J.–Musil, J.–Ondřejová, I., Metal objects, IN: Bouzek, J.–Domaradzka,
L.–Gotzev, A.–Archibald, Z. (eds.), Pistiros V, Excavations and Studies, Prague,
224–237.
Čižmářová 2004 Čižmářová, J., Encyklopedie Keltů na Moravě a ve Slezsku, Praha.
Katinčarova- Katinčarova-Bogdanova, D., Traces of metallurgical activity in the emporium,
Bogdanova 1996 IN: Bouzek, J.–Domaradzki, J. M.–Archibald, Z. (eds.): Pistiros I. Excavations and
studies, Prague, 103–107.
Kostoglou 2008 Kostoglou, M., Iron in steels in ancient Greece. Artefacts, technology and social
change in Aegean Thrace from Classical to Roman time, BAR, 1883.
Nikolov 1970 Nikolov, B., Kolektivna nachodka ot železni predmeti ot halštatskata epocha ot
gr. Krivopol, Vračanski okrug, Аrcheologia Sofia, 152–157.
Pleiner 1969 Pleiner, R., Iron working in Ancient Greece, Prague.
Podborský 1993 Podborský, V., Pravěké dějiny Moravy, Brno.
Robinson 1944 Robinson, D., Metal and minor miscellaneous finds, Excavations at Olynthus,
Part 10, Oxford.
Stoyanov– Stoyanov, T.–Michailova, J., Metal working in the Getic city in “Sboryanovo”
Michailova 1996 locality near Isperih, NE Bulgaria (preliminary report), EphemNap, VI, 55–77.
List of figures
Fig. 1. Iron spearheads, arrowheads, knives and shears from Pistiros, late fourth–early third century BC
(no. 4 of bronze; after Bouzek et al. 2013a).
Fig. 2. Iron hearth rake from Olympia (after Baitinger–Völling 2007, pl. 29).
List of plates
Pl. 1. 1–5. Iron spearhead, arrowheads, knife and hook from Pistiros, 2013 season; 6–8. Iron hearth rake
(?), knife and long sickle from Pistiros, late ourth–early third century BC (after Bouzek et al.
2013a).
Pl. 2. Iron tools hoard from Černov, Moravia (after Podborský 1993, fig. 254).
322 | J. Bouzek
2 3
6 8
Plate 1. 1–5. Iron spearhead, arrowheads, knife and hook from Pistiros, 2013 season; 6–8. Iron hearth
rake (?), knife and long sickle from Pistiros, late fourth–early third century BC (after Bouzek et al. 2013a).
Hook, Lock, Furnace Rake or a Damaged Sickle for Harvesting Olives | 323
1
2
3
6
7
11
12
14 15
13
9 10
4
Plate 2. Iron tools hoard from Černov, Moravia (after Podborský 1993, fig. 254).
ABBREVIATIONS
Iron Age Crafts and Craftsmen in the Carpathian Basin, 2014, p. 325–328
326 | Abbreviations