THE SARMATIANS AND THE OTHERS:

NOMADIC AND SEDENTARY CULTURES

IN CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE
IN THE FIRST HALF OF THE 1ST MILLENNIUM AD
 PONTICA ET MEDITERRANEA

Vol. XI

Editorial Board:
Victor Cojocaru (editor-in-chief)
Vitalie Bârcă, Lavinia Grumeza, Joachim Hupe,
Valentina Mordvintseva, Ligia Ruscu, and Cristina I. Tica
 The Sarmatians
and the Others
Nomadic and Sedentary Cultures
in Central and Eastern Europe
in the First Half
of the 1st Millennium AD

Editors:
Lavinia Grumeza, Victor Cojocaru, Cristina I. Tica

MEGA
Cluj‑Napoca
2024
 The Proceedings of the International Conference The Sarmatians and the Others:
Nomadic and Sedentary Cultures in Central and Eastern Europe in the First Half of the 1st
Millennium AD, organized by the Banat National Museum and Institute of Archaeology
in Iaşi from June 29 to July 2, 2022, with support from the Timiș County Council

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The Sarmatians and the Others: nomadic and sedentary cultures in Central and
Eastern Europe in the First Half of the 1st Millennium AD / ed.: Lavinia Grumeza,
Victor Cojocaru, Cristina I. Tica. – Cluj‑Napoca: Mega, 2024
Conţine bibliografie
Index
ISBN 978‑606‑020‑783‑2
I. Grumeza, Lavinia (ed.)
II. Cojocaru, Victor (ed.)
III. Tica, Cristina I. (ed.)
902

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Cover image: Phalera from Cazaclia © National History Museum of Moldova,

photo Iurie Foca
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 Contents

Preface 7

Note on Abbreviations 21

Contributors 23

I. STATE OF THE ART

AND PROSPECTIVE RESEARCH DIRECTIONS

Valentina Mordvintseva
Elite Burials in Northern Black Sea Barbaricum from 3rd Century BC to mid-3rd
Century AD: Summary of Comparative Network Analysis 31

Liana Oța
Some Thoughts on the Sarmatian Discoveries from Wallachia and Moldavia 45

Stanko Trifunović
Archaeological Culture of the Limigantes 87

Jelena Đorđević, Vojislav Đorđević

The Horizons of the Settlement Ciglana in Dolovo and the Chronology
of the Roman and Late Roman Period in Banat 133

II. NEW DISCOVERIES AND NEW INTERPRETATIONS

Mikhail Treister
Bronze Strainers of Eggers 160/Petrovszky X.6 Type from the Burials of the Nomads
of Asian Sarmatia 173

Denis Topal, Valeriu Bubulici

Jade gé Hilt (格) from Southern Bessarabia and Sword Elements outside
the Han Empire 205

Eszter Istvánovits, Valéria Kulcsár, Martin Borsódi

Data on the Sarmatian Agriculture of the Great Hungarian Plain 219
Éva Szakos, Andrea Vaday
Notes on the So-Called Sarmatian Buckles and Strap Ends 233

Tamás Szebenyi
Imitations of Roman Vessels in the Barbaricum: A Case Study on Red Painted
Sarmatian Pottery 269

Robert Gindele, Vitalie Bârcă

Handmade Cups and Shallow Bowls in the ‘Free Dacians’ Settlement of Arad
(Site B_06) 301

III. LITERARY SOURCES AND EPIGRAPHY

Agustí Alemany
From the Sarmatians to the Alans and Beyond: Some Source Problems 331

Victor Cojocaru
The Northern Black Sea Sarmatians in Epigraphic Sources 353

IV. (BIO)ANTHROPOLOGY AND GENETICS

Lavinia Grumeza
Sarmatians with Artificial Cranial Modifications from East of the Carpathians 403

Cristina I. Tica, Tamás Hajdu, Orsolya Mateovics-László,

István János, Sándor Évinger
Life in the Barbaricum: A Bioarchaeology of the Sarmatians on the Fringes
of the Roman World 431

Oszkár Schütz, Zoltán Maróti, Endre Neparáczki, Balázs Tihanyi, Bence Kovács,
Kitti Maár, Gergely Varga, Alexandra Gînguță, Emil Nyerki, Tibor Török
Preliminary Genetic Results on the Sarmatians from the Carpathian Basin 473

Indices 483
1. Literary Sources 483
2. Inscriptions 484
3. Proper Names 486
 Handmade Cups and Shallow Bowls in the
‘Free Dacians’ Settlement of Arad (Site B_06)

Robert Gindele, Vitalie Bârcă

Abstract: The authors discuss a specific class of the pottery assemblage discovered
during the archaeological excavations conducted in 2010 prior to the construction
of the Arad-Timişoara motorway, at the site conventionally termed Arad B_06. The
archaeological investigations carried out at the site, within the limits of the motor-
way route perimeter, identified and exhaustively explored 132 stratigraphic units,
three of which were Sarmatian inhumations. Out of the total researched features,
106 were discovered in the northern half of the excavated area, while three burials,
alongside another feature (Cx 45), lay midway in the project area. The inhumations
were isolated from both the 106 northern features and the 22 found southwards.
The 107 assemblages belong to a Dacian settlement broadly dated to the 2nd – first
decades of the 3rd century,1 while the graves date to late 2nd century and the first
decades of the 3rd century. Features emerging in the southern half of the research
area belong to a different chronological and cultural level (the 4th–5th century).
Out of the 107 assemblages, handmade cups or shallow bowls were identified in 23
of them; their typology and parallels on the Hungarian Plain and on the Western
Plain of Romania are extensively discussed here.

Introduction
he investigations in the Arad settlement were conducted prior to the
T construction of the Arad-Timişoara motorway, in 2010, the site being
conventionally named Arad B_06. The examined area lay on the Arad-
Seceani stretch of the Arad-Timișoara motorway, by km 15+490–15+780,
covering an area of 1.45 ha (Figs. 1–2).2
Out of the 132 total investigated assemblages, 106 were identified in
the northern half of the research area, while three inhumations, together
with another feature (Cx 45), lay midway in the project area (Fig. 3). The
1
All dates are AD unless otherwise stated.
2
Bârcă / Gindele 2021, 92f.

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 R ob e r t G i n d e l e , V i t al ie Bârcă

inhumations are isolated from both the 106 northern features and the 22
assemblages situated southwards. From the latter, these are separated by
Cx 129, namely a ditch that ran W–E, identified on 25.6 m in length and
with a width of 0.58 m (Fig. 3). The 107 assemblages belong to a Dacian
settlement broadly dated to the 2nd – first decades of the 3rd century.3 The
inhumations have features that suggest a connection with the Sarmatian
culture and, on the basis of their grave goods, are dated to the late 2nd to
the first decades of the 3rd century.4
Such dates are confirmed by a knee brooch with a spring inserted into a
half-scroll5 present in grave 3, in use between the seventh decade of the 2nd
and the first decades of the 3rd century.6 Burial G 2 had some beads, and a
trapezoidal bronze buckle with an iron prong;7 a mirror with a round, flat
disc8 discovered a metre from the burial designated as G 1.
The archaeological material discovered in the assemblages that lay in
the southern half of the research area, notable among which are the intact
or fragmented slow wheel-thrown wares, belongs to another chronologi-
cal and cultural level (the 4th–5th century).
The pedestrian surveys, carried out a few days before the actual archae-
ological excavations began, revealed that the settlement was large in size
(ca. 300 m long by 250 m wide, or about 7.5 ha) and was located on the
motorway route (15+490–15+780 km), as well as to its west and east. We
believe that most of the settlement was located east of the motorway. The
archaeological investigations covered ca. 20% of the settlement area iden-
tified subsequent to the pedestrian surveys.
General research information has been published in the form of archae-
ological reports9 and more recently, as a preliminary study.10 At this point
we would like to discuss in more detail some aspects of the handmade
cups and shallow bowls from the identified pottery assemblage.

1. Typological aspects
The handmade Dacian cup type was defined by I. H. Crișan. Its main
features include a wide mouth, narrow base, and splayed walls. The mas-
sive handle starts below the rim and terminates at the base. The author
3
See Bârcă / Gindele 2021.
4
See Bârcă 2014, 147f. pls. 1–3, 44, 47, 72.1–2.
5
Bârcă 2014, 108, 110, 147, pls. 2.2, 72.2, fig. 23.3.
6
Cociş 2004, 95f.; Bârcă 2014, 108, 110.
7
Bârcă 2014, 102, 147, pls. 1.5, 47.3, 72.1.
8
For this and the discussion of mirrors of this type, see Bârcă 2014, 133–136 & 147,
pl. 44.1–2; Bârcă 2016, 55–61.
9
Bârcă et al. 2011.
10
Bârcă / Gindele 2021.

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 Handmade Cups and Shallow Bowls in the ‘Free Dacians’ Settlement of Arad

establishes typical sizes, with a diameter of 12–20 cm and a height of

7–10 cm, except for a few larger specimens − 12–18 cm high and the min-
iature versions, 2–3 cm high. In terms of the manufacturing technique, the
author mentions that vessel and handle were made separately and joined
prior to firing. Some exemplars may be decorated with alveoli or alveolar
belts. I. H. Crișan defines four variants of this basic type, which are in fact
rarer forms, such as the two- or three-handled specimens, funnel-shaped,
with a pierced base or even wheel-thrown.11 The handleless variant was
subsequently defined and dated to the classical Dacian period and into the
later, Roman period.12
The main works on the material culture of the ‘Free Dacians’ (published
during the communist era) refine the cups’ typologies. For instance, Gh.
Bichir defines four types of handled cups specific to the Carpian culture: 1)
handle starts below the rim and ends at the base; 2) solid handle; 3) mid-
height handle; 4) handle starts at the base and terminates below the rim.13
In a subsequent work, the same author further elaborates on handle-
less cup typology within the context of the ‘Free Dacians’ from Muntenia,
delineating three distinct types: the conical version, akin to those with one
handle; the version with a ‘strongly profiled’, flared base, often with alve-
olar base; and the version with alveoli by the base.14
By early 1990, C. H. Opreanu details in a study on Dacian finds from
the province the handleless cup type, with alveoli by the base, conclud-
ing these are mainly dispersed throughout Dacia and in Muntenia.15 In
the case of the Dacian cups discovered in the Gilău fort, F. Marcu and
O. Țentea divide the handleless cups16 into three typological classes: sim-
ple, with alveoli by the base, and with alveolar belt. The same authors, in
a general study of the Roman period, defined four basic types: one-han-
dled, two-handled, handleless, and with alveoli by the base of the cups.17
M. Negru has compiled a repertoire of intact and restorable Dacian cups
from Roman Dacia and classified them according to the number of han-
dles and the inclination of the walls.18
The analysis of the geographical area west and north-west of the prov-
ince of Dacia must firstly consider the circumstances in the Upper Tisza
basin. In the book that addresses the finds from the Upper Tisza Basin,
V. I. Kotigoroško briefly approached the issue of Roman period Dacian
11
Crișan 1969, 154–156.
12
See the discussion in Țentea 1999; cf. Marcu / Țentea 2000, 69.
13
Bichir 1973, 64.
14
Bichir 1984, 31.
15
Opreanu 1993.
16
Owing to the fragmentary state of the material, handled cups are not attested.
17
Marcu / Țentea 2000, 71–75.
18
Negru 1998.

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cups. The author believed that they could be distinguished by a conical

or spherical body, a mouth diameter varying between 14–16 cm, a base
diameter of 8–9 cm, and a height between 5.5 and 13 cm.19
One of the authors of this paper compiled cups from north-western
Romania, referring to the Upper Tisza Basin. This typology reflects the
previous groups: with a handle starting from the rim (if the material
is fragmented, the connection to the wall or base is uncertain); with an
over-heightened handle and spout; with a mid-height handle and a solid
horizontal handle. Handleless cups were included in two main typolog-
ical groups: biconical and with curved walls.20 Although their typology
has been studied on several occasions, their functionality has been less
discussed. The secondary burning on the inside undoubtedly means that
some material was burned in these cups, which is why they have been
classically interpreted as lighting objects, although their use as censers has
also been suggested.21
Roman period cups from the Hungarian Plain have not been placed
within a precise typology and have only been mentioned in various places
without any discussion of their formal or chronological elements. The
Dacian cups from the Hungarian Plain were analysed for the first time by
M. Párducz, who mentioned a Dacian background in the early Sarmatian
material culture.22
The next catalogue of Dacian finds was drafted by Zs. Vissy, who also
resumed and completed M. Párducz’s data.23 Zs. Vissy initially attrib-
uted the cups to the Dacians. However, this attribution was later chal-
lenged by B. Maráz, who argued that the cups belonged to the early Sar-
matian period of the 1st century. Maráz’s argument was based on the
lack of archaeological evidence for the presence of the early Sarmatians
and on finds dated to the year 50 in the eastern part of the Hungarian
Plain.24 The issue of Dacian finds east of the Tisza was resumed also by
I. Nepper (when the materials of the Biharkeresztes-toldi útfél were pub-
lished), who mentions a few unpublished classical Dacian finds from
the county of Hajdu-Bihar that remained only reported on a distribu-
tion map.25 I. Nepper, when the Ártánd-Kis Nagyfarkasdomb settlement
was published, defined shallow bowls, cups, and bowls without a clear

19
Kotigoroško 1995, 137.
20
Gindele 2004, 72.
21
Nedelea 2019, 402f.
22
Párducz 1941a.
23
Visy 1970.
24
Maráz 1977, 59 and n. 64.
25
Nepper 1971, 84f.

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 Handmade Cups and Shallow Bowls in the ‘Free Dacians’ Settlement of Arad

typological differentiation.26 It is very likely that some of the published

items described as cups are in fact lids with grips.
When the research on Gyoma 133 was published, A. Vaday separately
mentioned the Dacian cups, which she considered to be only handled
specimens, and defined a detailed typology based on the size of the vessels
and the starting and ending points of the handle. A. Vaday independently
discussed shallow bowls with curved walls and conical shallow bowls,
together with their wheel-thrown counterparts.27
In a study of lighting objects from the Sarmatian area of the Hungarian
Plain, the so-called ‘Dacian cups’ were briefly mentioned, with examples
from the Sarmatian burial at Nyíregyháza-Felsősima, Gyebrás-tanya, M3
motorway, Site 161, burial 328 and the settlement of Gyoma 133.29 The group
of Dacian cups also included small, handled cups, as exemplified by a
small vessel from Gyál Site 7B.30 According to E. Istvánovits and G. Pintye,
Dacian cups were used in the Sarmatian environment of the Hungarian
Plain from the early times until the Hunnic period.

2. Typology of cups from the Arad settlement (Site B_06)

Typologically, cups may be first differentiated based on presence or
absence of handles. Of course, given the fragmentary state of the material,
it cannot be excluded that some of the examples we have included in the
handleless type actually belong to the other category. Their form is the
same – conical, with a few exceptions of Dacian cups with curved walls,
giving them a hemispherical appearance. We would like to discuss this
typology in connection with the cup finds in the geographical context of
the Arad settlement, the flatlands between the provinces of Dacia and Pan-
nonia, without yet emphasising the well-known extra-Carpathian areas,
where the parallels for the cups are innumerable.

I. Handled cups
All of them are conical, with a slight difference in terms of the outward
flaring of the upper part (Fig. 4.1–6) or un-flaring walls (Fig. 4.7–10).
I.1. The first variation may be attested in both single and two-handle
exemplars. The latter start just below the rim and end a few millimetres
above the base, except for taller cups. In the case of the 11 cm high cup
from assemblage 101 (Fig. 4.4), the handle ended almost halfway up the
26
Nepper 1984, 234.
27
Vaday 1996, 122, 133, pls. 108.16–20 & 137.1–10.
28
Istvánovits / Pintye 2011, 103, fig. 45.
29
Vaday 1996, fig. 167.4–5.
30
Istvánovits / Pintye 2011, 104, fig. 47.

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 R ob e r t G i n d e l e , V i t al ie Bârcă

vessel. In this category from the settlement discussed here, we note that
handles end by the rim, at sharp angle with the wall. In terms of size, the
smallest cup has a diameter of 12.8 cm and the largest 22 cm including the
lip, while the height varies between 6.5 and 11.2 cm. Handle sections are
rectangular, with rounded corners. The only exception is a ribbed, trian-
gular handle section (Fig. 4.4), which is an unusual shape for this cup type
for the Sarmatian pottery assemblage.
In the Miskolc museum storeroom, there is a two-handled cup deco-
rated with garlands from Miskolc-Fecskésszög with no known archae-
ological context.31 Similarly uncertain is the context of cup finds from
Békéscsaba-Fényesi szőllők, in the Békéscsaba museum – an one-handled
cup found by chance at Mezőkovácsháza during the construction of the
Tóthkomlós-Arad railway,32 and an one-handled trace cup from Deszk
graveyard F.33
Construction work at Jánosszállás, near the Szeged-Budapest railway,
revealed several graves and a pit containing an one-handled decorated
cup, 7 cm high and with a mouth diameter of 13 cm.34 At the time, this cup
was considered to be one of the most specific Dacian vessels from the ter-
ritory of Hungary.35 Unfortunately, still without context, a single-handle
cup of Abony36 has also been recently published.
Cups very similar to those from Arad (for their notched decoration,
among other similarities) were found in a ‘Free Dacian’ settlement at Biha-
rea, in round pits thought to be possible cremations.37 From Gyoma 133,
several cups of this type with a single handle of medium height have been
published. These cups were found mainly in the settlement’s development
phase C, in the aftermath of the Marcomannic Wars.38
I.2. The second typological variation is not as clearly defined as the
biconical versions with an outwardly flared upper part. Handles similarly
start in this case just below the rim and terminate at the base (Fig. 4.8–9) or
just a few millimetres above (Fig. 4.10). The cups of this class are smaller
than those of the previous class, with the exception of Cx 49 (Fig. 4.7),
which has one of the largest mouth diameters, although this is largely
uncertain due to its fragmentary state. As with the previous type, the han-
dle section is rectangular with rounded corners.
During the inventory of Dacian finds from Hungary, an one-handled
31
Visy 1970, 12; Párducz 1941a, 14, pl. X.13.
32
Párducz 1941a, 12, pl. VIII.4 & 14, pl. X.12.
33
Párducz 1956, 18.
34
Párducz 1941a, 14, pl. XI.5.
35
Párducz 1956, 15.
36
Dinnyés 2007, 356, 384, pl. IX.3.
37
Dumitrașcu 1994, pls. LVII.6, LXV.1, LXV.5; 1980, 52, fig. 4.
38
Vaday 1996, 133.

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 Handmade Cups and Shallow Bowls in the ‘Free Dacians’ Settlement of Arad

Dacian cup from Gyoma-Téglagyár was recorded and kept in the Szarvas
museum, but without any known archaeological context.39 The cataloguing
work also led to the publication of another cup, from Doboz-Hajdúirtás,
from a Sarmatian pit.40 Another cup with an applied handle was invento-
ried in the Hungarian National Museum, with Szeged as the findspot, but
only because of the donor’s residence.41 There is also a cup with a broken
handle in the storeroom of the Szeged museum, which was found in the
agricultural layer of the Csolyós Puszta.42
A cup with traces of burning on the inside and on the handle, starting
from the base and ending at the rim, was identified east of Budapest, at
Gyál Site 7B. The vessel comes from a sunken house in a settlement dat-
ing from the 2nd–3rd century. The author mentions significant quantities
of handmade pottery: lids and pots.43 A cup of this category, with a rim
diameter of about 11 cm and an applied handle, was found in a settlement
at Kiskunhalas-Tesco and dated to the period 180–220/230.44 Several cups
of this type were found in the settlement of Gyoma 133, dating from the
period after the Marcomannic Wars. In all cases, the handle starts at the
base and ends at the rim. It is worth mentioning that in one of the cups,
the base is ‘profiled’ and has a ring-shaped form, imitating wheel-thrown
vessels.45 Somewhat different from the typology we have established here
are the solid handle cups with a notch on each side found in the settlement
of Tápé-Széntéglaégető and dated to the Hunnic period.46

Tab. 1. Sizes of handled cups of Types I.1. and I.2.

Assemblage no. Figure Height (cm) Mouth diameter (cm) Base diameter (cm)
Cx 79 Fig. 4.1 8.8 17 7.6
Cx 49 Fig. 4.2 7.8 16.6 7.4
Cx 113 Fig. 4.3 6.5 12.8 5.6
Cx 101 Fig. 4.4 11.2 19.4 10.2
Cx 83 Fig. 4.5 9 22 8
Cx 113 Fig. 4.6 6.6 14.8 6.6
Cx 49 Fig. 4.7 - 19.4 -
Cx 63 Fig. 4.8 8.4 14.2 6
Cx 83 Fig. 4.9 5 12 6
Cx 62 Fig. 4.10 5 9.2 4.7

39
Visy 1970, 7f. fig. 1.3.
40
Visy 1970, 7, pl. I.4.
41
Visy 1970, 10, pl. II.2.
42
Párducz 1941a, 14, pl. X.14; Visy 1970, 11.
43
Istvánovits / Pintye 2011, 104, fig. 47; Zsoldos 2008, 217.
44
Rosta / Lichtenstein 2011, 95, 105, fig. 5.5.
45
Vaday 1996, 236 & 256, figs. 117.17, 137.1, 2, 3.
46
Vörös 1992, 16, 19, 22, pls. IX.7, XIV.7.

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The broken handles found in the excavation layer of the Arad Site B_06
most likely refer to several cups present at the site (Fig. 6). Broken han-
dles also indicate the probable presence of handled cups in the settle-
ments of Ártánd-Nagyfarkas domb,47 Gyoma 133,48 Pócspetri,49 Biharea-
Grădina S.A.50.

II. Handleless cups and shallow bowls

In the following, we will examine all the variations of handmade cups
and shallow bowls that appeared in the settlement of Arad, since the
references for this period are confusing in terms of their typology. Most
often, the cup was mistaken for a deep hemispherical or flat bowl. With
the exception of a single vessel, these are all fragmentary, with inaccu-
rate information on the height of the vessel or the diameter of the rim.
As a result, their typology cannot be determined with certainty. Due to
the fragmentary nature of the material, some of these vessels may have
had handles. Their most important typological detail is the emphasised or
non-emphasised rim.
II.1.1. The single intact exemplar from assemblage 8 (Fig. 5.1) has a
slightly outwardly curved lip. This, together with its biconical shape,
makes it virtually identical in typology to the first variant of the handled
cups (Type I.1). Their dimensions (mouth diameter – 22 cm, base diam-
eter – 10 cm, height – 8 cm) make them one of the largest examples of
this type of vessel. Due to the similarity with handled cups, this type of
vessel has been attributed to the repertoire of Dacian forms since the first
publications on the Roman period on the Great Hungarian Plain, such as
the cups published from the settlements of Hódmezővásárhely-Solt Palé51
or Kiskunfélegyháza.52 Unfortunately, the archaeological context of these
cups is once again unknown.
Other exemplars of such cups were found in Apagy-Peckés tanya, but
they are smaller than those from Arad.53 This type is more likely to be found
in the context of assemblages from settlements such as Ártánd-Nagyfarkas
domb,54 Kistelek, Szegedi sarok II55 or Tiszaug-Földvár.56 A cup of similar
47
Nepper 1984, 178, 208, 221, pls. V.2, XXXV.6, XLVIII.2.
48
Vaday 1996, 256, fig. 137.5.
49
Masek 2012, 233, 319, pl. 26.6.
50
Dumitrașcu 1994, pls. LXI.4, 7 (C 6), LXV.2 (C 14), LXVI.8 (C 17), LXXIV.9 (C 31), LXXV.7
(C 33).
51
Párducz 1938, pl. I.8.
52
Visy 1970, 11, pl. II.5.
53
Istvánovits 1993, 23, pl. III.1.
54
Nepper 1984, 128, pl. XIII.7.
55
Sóskuti 2010, 190, fig. 3.19.
56
Vaday 1989, 278, pl. 137.1.

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 Handmade Cups and Shallow Bowls in the ‘Free Dacians’ Settlement of Arad

shape, but much smaller (mouth diameter 10 cm), was found in an infant
grave, oriented SSE–NNW, from Tápiószele-pedagógusföldek (G 5). It
was placed in the grave close to the right hand,57 in a cemetery dated to
the late 2nd – first half of the 3rd century.
This cup subtype also has a version with a wider mouth, which could
be interpreted as a shallow bowl, but which is not clearly distinguishable
from the ones discussed here, found in the same settlement at Kunszent-
márton-Téglagyár.58 A fragment of a cup of this type was found at Szeg-
vár-Oromdűlő, in a settlement dating from before the Marcomannic Wars.
With a mouth diameter of 24.6 cm and a height of 5 cm, it was considered
to be a shallow bowl.59 These conical, short, shallow bowls with a larger
rim and base diameter than the Dacian ones were found in Tiszaföldvár
during the Hunnic period.60
II.1.2. These are conical, shallow bowls, with non-flaring walls (Fig. 5.2–
3), with a wider mouth diameter than other vessels (27–29 cm), as exem-
plified by two vessels from the Arad settlement. Both exemplars have the
rim decorated with notches or cuts. This vessel type has no good parallels
in the Sarmatian settlements of the Hungarian Plain and is most likely
a local form. A shallow bowl similar to the exemplars here is reported
from Ártánd-Nagyfarkas domb, but its dimensions are not mentioned in
the publication.61 Another resembling shallow bowl is known from Bihar-
ea-Grădina S.A.; it has a double notched band on the rim.62
II.1.3. Smaller conical cups (rim diameter 13.5–17 cm) are those frag-
ments of vessels which, we believe, could have had one handle. Slight dif-
ferences may be noted in the curving wall angle, some having a wider
(Fig. 5.4–7,10) others a more restricted (Fig. 5.8–9) span. Slight differences
may still be noticeable in the curvature of the walls, these being outward
flared (Fig. 5.4–5) or vertical. This type of vessel is undoubtedly the most
common among cups, and is more frequent than the other variants in the
area inhabited by the barbarians, between Dacia and Pannonia.
Compared to the other cup subtypes, it appears in several Sarmatian
graves. Such a cup, less conical and with vertical walls, was found in the
first horizon of the 1st-century Sarmatian graves at Füzesabony-Kastély-
dűlő I, in a female burial (G 140) oriented S–N. The cup was found next to
a small pot decorated with a notched belt and next to the right knee.63 At

57
Dinnyés 1980, 190 & 214, pl. 14.2.
58
Vaday / Vörös 1980, 118 & 119, pl. II.14, 17.
59
Istvánovits et al. 2005, 156 & 200, fig. 25.9.
60
Füle 1995, 65, pl. 3.8.
61
Nepper 1984, 210, pl. XXXVII.5.
62
Dumitrașcu 1994, pl. LXII.1.
63
Farkas 2000, 17 & 44, pl. 12.11, 12.

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 R ob e r t G i n d e l e , V i t al ie Bârcă

Kiskunfélegyháza-Külsőgalambos, in a male grave with an east-west ori-

entation (G 4) dating to the late 2nd century, a conical cup, with a profiled
base, was found next to the skull.64 At Törökszentmiklós-Surján újtelep, in a
female grave, oriented S–N (G 36), dated to the late 2nd – first half of the 3rd
century, another small cup (rim diameter 8.6 cm) was found by the feet.65
Similar cups are found in other Sarmatian graves: at Hévízgyörk (G 14),
female burial, oriented NW–SE, dated to mid – second half of the 2nd cen-
tury;66 at Szentes-Sárgapart (G 3), female burial, oriented S–N, conical cup
placed between the ankles;67 at Nyíregyháza-Felsősima, Gyebrás-tanya,
motorway M3, Site 161 (grave 3), in a burial of an infant, dated to the
2nd–3rd century;68 at Szentes-Kistőke (G 108), female burial, oriented
SE–NW, by the feet, with some graves in the cemetery dated to before
the Marcomannic Wars.69 In the large Sarmatian cemetery of Madaras-
Halmok, a handmade cup with a rim diameter of 11.7 cm was found in
grave 26, placed by the feet of the deceased.70 This cup shape appears in
Sarmatian graves from Banat. For instance, in the cemetery at Giarmata
(Site 10), such a cup was discovered in the lower limb area of the deceased
in grave 4, dated to late 2nd – first two thirds of the 3rd century.71
At first sight, one would expect a wider presence of this cup subtype
within settlements, yet due to a dearth of publications, it seems to domi-
nate in burials. It appears in settlements with a higher percentage of hand-
made pottery, such as Ártánd-Kisfarkas domb and Nagyfarkas domb,72 at
Pócspetri motorway M3, Site 201, both with profiled base73 as well as with-
out.74 In the settlement at Hódmezővásárhely-Barattyos Site 137, a cup rim
was found in an assemblage beside terra sigillata fragments, dated to 175–
230/240.75 At Apagy-Peckés, a conical cup, with profiled base, was found
and viewed as influence from the neighbouring Daco-Germanic cultural
area.76 Vertical-walled conical cups have a version with a profiled base,
and in some cases they probably copy shallow bowls with ring feet.77 Two
64
Kulcsár 1986, 12 & 14, pl. III.8.
65
Vaday 1985, 348 & 353, fig. 6.15.
66
Dinnyés 1991, 152 & 196, pl. 10.27.
67
Párducz 1950, 7, pl. LX.7a–b.
68
Istvánovits / Pintye 2011, 103, n. 42.
69
Párducz 1944, 12, pl. XVII.11; Nagy 1997, 77, fig. 8.1.
70
Kőhegyi / Vörös 2011, 30 & 320, fig. 283.2, pl. 7.9.
71
Grumeza 2014, 187 & 322, pl. 22.6, 7.
72
Nepper 1983, 76, pl. XI.14; 1984, pls. VIII.12, XII.1, XXVIII.2, XLIII.5.
73
Masek 2012, 233 & 317, pl. 24.5.
74
Masek 2012, 233 & 316, pl. 23.9.
75
Csányi 2011, 51 & 80, fig. 8.6.
76
Istvánovits 1993, 11, fig. 2.2 & 22.
77
Szentes-Kistőke, K 108 (Párducz 1944, 12, pl. XVII.11; Nagy 1997, 77, fig. 8.1); Apagy-
Peckés (Istvánovits 1993, 16 & 28, pl. III.2).

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 Handmade Cups and Shallow Bowls in the ‘Free Dacians’ Settlement of Arad

cups copying wheel-thrown shallow bowls were discovered in the settle-

ment at Gyoma 133; similarly to the wheel-thrown, they have profiled,
thickened rims.78 Some handmade shallow bowls resemble this type, but
exceed it in dimensions, a good example being that of Gyoma-133, with a
rim diameter of 36 cm.79
II.2.1. Conical bowls, deep, with everted rims, are in fact the hand-
made variations of similar wheel-thrown shallow bowls. A slight differ-
entiation is reflected in the length of the everted rim, with the longest
having a larger mouth diameter of 19.5–25 cm (Fig. 5.11–13), and those
with a smaller rim having a diameter of 17.7–23 cm (Fig. 5.4–16). Some
of these shallow bowls are decorated with notches on the rim. This
vessel type was found in a relatively large number in the settlement
studied here; it is a rare form in contemporaneous settlements from
the Western Plain of Romania or from the Hungarian Plain. A simi-
lar item, with notches on the rim, was reported at Ártánd-Nagyfarkas
domb, in a settlement dated to the 2nd century.80 A fragment of a deep,
conical cup, with an inverted rim was interpreted as a pot in Székku-
tas-Kakasszék II – a settlement broadly dated to the late 2nd – first half
of the 4th century.81
II.2.2. Shallow bowls with curved walls and outward splayed rim
(Fig. 5.19–21) have a mouth span of 19–22.6 cm, some having notches on
the rim. It is a well individualised vessel type, with slight differences being
noted in rim diameter. The Szegvár-Oromdűlő settlement has a similar
shallow bowl with an inverted rim and a spherical body, but it is much
smaller, with a mouth diameter of only 10.4 cm,82 half the size when com-
pared to the items from the Arad settlement.

III. Hemispherical cups

They are represented only by a single exemplar: incomplete, small in
size, with a mouth diameter of 15.4 cm (Fig. 5.22).
A hemispherical cup, with the rim diameter of 9 cm, was discovered in a
Sarmatian grave at Makó Pap-hát Site I (G 2), of an adult female, oriented
SW–NE, placed next to the right foot (beside another shallow, wheel-
thrown bowl, which was placed by the left leg). The burial dates to the 3rd
century.83 The hemispherical cup was extensively burnt due to its exten-
sive use, leading the author of the publication to conclude that it had been
78
Vaday 1996, 256, fig. 137.4,10.
79
Vaday 1996, 222, fig. 103.6.
80
Nepper 1984, 216, pl. XLIII.4.
81
Csányi 2014, 51 & 59, pl. 3.7.
82
Istvánovits et al. 2005, 152 & 195, fig. 20.2.
83
Gulyás 2012, 255 & 283, pl. 5.1.

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 R ob e r t G i n d e l e , V i t al ie Bârcă

used as censer.84 A similar cup (rim diameter 9 cm) was found in a child’s
grave (G 1) from Kunfehértó-Kovács tanya, dated to the 2nd or first half of
the 3rd century. In the SE–NW oriented grave, the vessel was placed next
to the right shin.85
Almost identical vessels, but with rim diameters of 10 and 18 cm respec-
tively, were discovered at Gyoma 133, in the same assemblage (no. 346),
dating to the period after the Marcomannic Wars.86 Based on the finds at
Gyoma 133, A. Vaday attempted to finish the rim-based typology, includ-
ing these vessels beside other wheel-thrown, in the bowls’ class.87 Other
similar vessels (rim diameter 9 cm) were found at Újhartyán,88 Ártánd-Kis-
farkas domb89 and Ártánd-Nagyfarkas domb.90 An exemplar with dimen-
sions similar to the cup of Arad, with a rim diameter of 15.6 cm and height
of 9.9 cm, was found in the Szegvár-Oromdűlő settlement. Its base was
decorated by a band of finger-impressed notches.91
In the Sarmatian settlements, there is a distinction between cups with
curved walls and those with inverted rims. Cups with inverted rims are
found in large numbers at Kunszentmárton, in a settlement dated to the
3rd century, and their mouth diameter varies between 10.6 and 20 cm.92
Small cups with inwardly curved walls were found in several settlements
throughout the 3rd–4th century. For instance: at Földdeák, in a storage pit,
one with a mouth diameter of ca. 10 cm;93 at Hódmezővásárhely-Kopáncsi
dűlő,94 Kántorjánosi95 or Pócspetri, Site 201 (G 3).96 On the Hungarian Plain,
there is a group of hemispherical cups with a more or less profiled base.
An exemplar with profiled base, similar to a lid, comes from Kecskemét-
Mária városi téglagyár.97 Hemispherical cups were in use until the late
Sarmatian period, an exemplar from the settlement of Kanizsa (Serbia)
being dated to the time of Attila.98

84
Gulyás 2012, 270. The lamp functionality of these vessels has been questioned in relation
to the cup found at Kunfehértó-Kovács tanya, which was not secondarily burnt (Vörös
2015, 79).
85
Vörös 2015, 68 & 83, pl. I.2.
86
Vaday 1996, 122, 240, 253, figs. 121.22, 137.6.
87
Vaday 1996, 122 & 204, fig. 85.1–5.
88
Vaday / Szekeres 2001, 250 & 279, fig. 18.10.
89
Nepper 1983, 70, 81, 83–84, pls. III.10,15, XIV.5, XVII.3.
90
Nepper 1984, pls. II.2.6,9, IV.4., XII.10, XIII.3–4, XXIV.13, XXVII.1, XXVIII.1, XXXIII.2,10, XLI.3.
91
Istvánovits et al. 2005, 151 & 193, fig. 18.1.
92
Vaday / Vörös 1980, 123, pl. I.27.
93
Párducz 1941b, 93, pl. XXVIII.1.
94
Párducz 1942, 117, pl. VI.33.
95
Masek 2012, 205 & 303, pl. 10.6.
96
Masek 2012, 233, 316, 318, pls. 23.10, 25.9–10.
97
Párducz 1950, pl. CXXXII.20.
98
Szekeres 2005, 276, fig. 1.2.

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 Handmade Cups and Shallow Bowls in the ‘Free Dacians’ Settlement of Arad

Tab. 2. Assemblages where handmade cups and shallow bowls were discovered.
Type Type Type Type Type Type Type Type
Assemblage no.
I.1. I.2. II.1.1. II.1.2. II.1.3. II.2.1. II.2.2. III
Cx 8 1
Cx 41 2 1 2 1
Cx 45 1
Cx 47 1
Cx 48 1
Cx 49 1 1
Cx 50 1
Cx 56 1
Cx 60 1
Cx 62 1
Cx 63 1
Cx 79 1
Cx 83 1 1
Cx 84 1
Cx 85 1
Cx 86 1
Cx 91 1
Cx 94 1
Cx 97 1
Cx 101 1
Cx 102 1
Cx 113 2
Cx 120 1

Conclusions
Handmade cups and shallow bowls are represented in the Arad set-
tlement (Site B_06) by 32 exemplars from 23 of the 107 assemblages dat-
ing from the 2nd to the first decades of the 3rd century. Some of these
assemblages contained numerous pottery fragments, while others had no
archaeological material at all, so any statistical analysis must be treated
with some caution. At the same time, the distribution and clustering of
the handmade cups and shallow bowls within the research area are note-
worthy. The general plan shows that these were concentrated in the east-
ern part of the research area and centrally, in Cx 45, located around the
Sarmatian burials. Typologically, there is no spatial division of a specific
vessel type. Tab. 2 shows that in a few assemblages emerge two (Cx 49,
83) or more types of cups/shallow bowls (Cx 41), however handled and
handleless exemplars do not occur in the same contexts. The archaeologi-
cal material found in the Arad settlement still needs to be analysed. How-
ever, neither the distribution within the settlement of the handmade cups/

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 R ob e r t G i n d e l e , V i t al ie Bârcă

shallow bowls nor the overall finds demonstrate chronological differenti-

ations among the defined types.
Since we identified several parallels for the types we established in the
area between the provinces of Dacia and Pannonia, it is possible to iden-
tify a few general features of the handmade cups and shallow bowls in
this region. The main research issue for the period between the 2nd and
5th centuries in this area is the lack of publications of the finds. In Hun-
gary, over the last three decades, extensive areas have been surveyed for
archaeological purposes during the development of road and industrial
infrastructure, yet a majority of these discoveries remain unpublished.
In western Romania and in Serbia, large-scale rescue excavations began
more than a decade ago, but published research results has lagged far
behind field excavations. Our view on Roman era handmade cups and
shallow bowls may change based on future works. Nevertheless, we
believe that a general picture can be sketched based on current and pub-
lished scholarship.
Many of the conical handled cups (Types I.1 and I.2) are known from
older finds, without archaeological context. There are only a few finds
published from excavations that do not chronologically go beyond the
first decades of the 3rd century and do not have a definite geographical
distribution. The only two solid handled cups that would indicate a later
date are those from Tápé-Széntéglaégető.99
Handleless conical cups with curved walls (Type II.1.1) are similarly fre-
quent and date until mid-3rd century. Other specimens of this type, typo-
logically defined as shallow bowls, have been published; they appear in
the early 5th century. Still in the class of shallow conical bowls with wide
mouths, we have included Type II.1.2, which has parallels in settlements
where handmade pottery occurs in high percentages and whose shapes
and decorations have analogies in Dacian settlements.
The most common cup type is conical, with a smaller mouth diameter
(Type II.1.3), which occurs in both settlements and inhumations, and is of
Sarmatian origin. They are mostly found in female and infant graves,100
oriented southwards, with cups at the feet. The exception is the male
grave at Kiskunfélegyháza-Külsőgalambos (G 4), which was oriented
E–W, with a conical, profiled base cup deposited next to the skull.101 The
female grave from Hévízgyörk (G 14) is characterised by its NW–SE ori-
entation and the placement of the cup at the head of the burial, next to a
mirror.102 Based on our analysis and on published works, we would argue
99
Vörös 1992, 16, 19, 22, pls. IX.7, XIV.7.
100
Vaday 1985, 382; 1989, 176.
101
Kulcsár 1986, 12 & 14, pl. III.8.
102
Dinnyés 1991, 152 & 196, pl. 10.27.

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 Handmade Cups and Shallow Bowls in the ‘Free Dacians’ Settlement of Arad

that exemplars from both settlements and graves do not survive beyond
the first half of the 3rd century.
There is often confusion in publications when vessels are classified as
either cup or shallow bowl. In the case of the Arad settlement, Types II.2.1
and II.2.2 are shallow bowls; Type II.2.1 is a wheel-thrown version of the
conical shallow bowl with everted rim. It may be deemed a local varia-
tion, yet not without parallels, which are found in settlements with Dacian
material from the 2nd century. Hemispherical cups are widespread in the
barbarian area between Dacia and Pannonia; in the Arad settlement they
are represented by a single exemplar (Type III). In several cases, they have
a profiled base and are present throughout the existence of the Sarmatian
material culture (2nd–5th century). In our opinion, the handmade hem-
ispherical cup is clearly chronologically and culturally distinct from the
conical specimens, alongside which it appears in the same settlement.
Here we have attempted to address the issue of handmade cups and
shallow bowls from the barbarian area between Dacia and Pannonia,
based on finds from the Arad settlement (Site B_06). This type of vessel
has often been interpreted as specific to the material culture of the ‘Free
Dacians’, the so-called ‘Dacian cup’. Our preliminary analysis should be
continued with a study of the context and assemblage of other pottery
finds considered to be of Dacian origin (for instance the handmade wares
with notched belt or other decorative motifs, or the wheel-thrown wares).

Robert Gindele
Satu Mare County Museum
robigindele@yahoo.com

Vitalie Bârcă
Institute of Archaeology and Art History, Cluj-Napoca
vitalie_barca@yahoo.com

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Fig. 1. Map showing location of Arad settlement (Site B_06).

Handmade Cups and Shallow Bowls in the ‘Free Dacians’ Settlement of Arad

Fig. 2. Orthophotoplan showing location of Arad settlement (Site B_06).

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Fig. 3. General plan showing the layout of the assemblages and the distribution of
different types of cups and shallow bowls within the investigated area of Site B_06.

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Handmade Cups and Shallow Bowls in the ‘Free Dacians’ Settlement of Arad

Fig. 4. Handled cup Types I.1 and I.2 from the Arad settlement (Site B_06).

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Fig. 5. Cup Types II.1.1, II.1.3, III and handleless shallow bowl Types
II.1.2, II.2.1, II.2.2 from the Arad settlement (Site B_06).

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Handmade Cups and Shallow Bowls in the ‘Free Dacians’ Settlement of Arad

Fig. 6. Cup handles from the Arad settlement (Site B_06).

327
 III.
Literary Sources
and Epigraphy