NECROPOLA MEDIEVALĂ TIMPURIE DE LA ALBA IULIA – STR. BRÂNDUSEI (III)
THE EARLY MEDIEVAL CEMETERY FROM ALBA IULIA – BRÂNDUSEI STREET

Summary/Abstract: During this campaign a number of 35 inhumation graves have been uncovered. The dead (men, women and children) were laid down in dorsal decubitus, with the skull fallen on the left or the right side. Most of the times the skeleton orientation is from West (head) to East, but some deviations VNV – ESE do exist. As compared to the 10th century burials, now we notice a row alignment. The position of the arms differs: both forearms are laid on the pelvis, the left forearm along the body, and the right one on the pelvis. There are also some customs preserved, such as side plating the grave with shapeless lithic material (pseudo-cyst) and covering the grave with fragments of limestone (5 cases).The graves covered with lithic material are children’s graves, only one of them belongs to an adult. We have also identified superposed graves (M. 59 and M. 89). There are also cases when the lithic material protects the head, the pelvis or the lower limbs. A more particular situation was represented by M. 63, which had a piece of wood on the skullcap. The remains of burned wood are frequently seen in most of the graves. There are very clear traces of cremation in MN. 89 where one can see them all along the grave. The totality of the funeral rite and ritual pleads for dating the necropolis at the edges of the 1st and 2nd Bjelo Brdo phases. The phase before the last third of the 11th century may be considered a terminus post quem for this necropolis.

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