INDUSTRIA MATERIILOR DURE ANIMALE ÎN PREISTORIA TRANSILVANIEI: DESCOPERIRILE APARłINÂND EPOCII ENEOLITICE DE LA SEUSA- „GORGAN”, COM. CIUGUD, JUD.
THE INDUSTRY OF HARD ANIMAL MATERIALS IN THE PREHISTORY OF TRANSYLVANIA: THE ENEOLITHIC DISCOVERIES IN THE SITE FROM SEUSA-“GORGAN”, (COMMUNE CIUGUD

Summary/Abstract: This study proposes a detailed morphological and technological analysis of a number of objects (mostly tools, but also chips and technical pieces, blanks and throw-outs) made of hard materials of various animal origin—bone, antlers of stag and roebuck, wild boar’s fangs, canids’teeth. The artifacts belong to the Eneolithic cultures Decea Muresului and CoŃofeni (the latter one having two distinct phases of habitation). The pieces were discovered in well defined stratigraphic contexts (houses and external structures with domestic or ritual purpose) during systematic research carried out in the interval 2000-2004. These objects are kept now in the collections of the University “1 Decembrie 1918” Alba Iulia. The study belongs to a series of recent articles by the main author, which aim at the systematic publication of the lots of artifacts of prehistoric industry of hard materials of animal origin (IMDA) from Romania (see the bibliography). The methodology used is the one employed in his doctoral dissertation and it was inspired by the concept of “typological index cards of the prehistoric bone industry” edited by Henriette Camps-Fabrer. The studied lot consists of 50 pieces (2=horizon Decea Muresului; 48=CoŃofeni). The repertory includes data concerning the objects: conservation state, morphometry, complet description—morphology, technical study (the stages of cutting, fashioning, traces of use perceivable with naked eye or with binocular microscope. These data are inserted in tables in abbreviated versions. Each object is individualized through a combinative indicative: symbol of site, number of layer of habitation of its origin, order number in the list of artifacts of each culture: SEG/I=Decea Muresului; SEG/II=CoŃofeni. The raw materials used are primarily the long bones of sheep, goat and cattle. The typology is dominated by various spikes (N=30). The great majority was made of sheep and goat metapodia.This study has allowed the discovery of nine new types of prehistoric bone industry from Romania (see table 1). The typology displays a single significant typological group, that of the spikes (I A) within which we can distinguish the predominance of small spikes (51-100 mm) and of medium length spikes (101-150 mm). The technical stage of cutting proves the use of simple solutions, such as direct strike or fracturing through bending; fracturing and direct strike/splitting. Grooving through bilateral axial trenching seems to be a solution applied very seldom for cutting the cattle horns. Sometimes these technical solutions combine in much more complex schemes (with twothree components). Fashioning and finishing stages required more diversified methods than those of cutting.

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