SACRED CONVIVIALITY IN THE LOWER DANUBE REGION. THE CASE OF THE SÂNCRĂIENI HOARD
SACRED CONVIVIALITY IN THE LOWER DANUBE REGION. THE CASE OF THE SÂNCRĂIENI HOARD

Summary/Abstract: The article is analysing the practical and symbolic meanings of the silver hoard discovered at Sâncrăieni, in eastern Transylvania. The recovered inventory consists of one specific set of garment accessories, the assemblage of different drinking vessels, two silver coins and a ceramic vessel which was presumably used as a container. Previous analyses of the hoard suggested that the vessels belonged to a feasting assemblage amassed by one of the local chieftains, and the deposit might have been a particularly lavish offering. However, the comparative analysis of its context of discovery, the functional structure of the assemblage and the functional and structural relationships between this hoard and others from the north and the south of the Danube indicates that the hoard is more likely related to the social function, status and identity of a priestess, being similar with those used in rituals. Thus the interred assemblage is the result of a commemorative practice through which the material symbols related to the social self of a deceased priestess were buried in order to be transferred into another world. The silver drinking vessels might have been selected, brought over and offered by a number of individuals as part of a ritual of separation, which might have also contributed to the reiteration of the social connections between the participants.

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