Deviant Burials of Wietenberg Culture at Miceşti-Cigaş (Alba County, Romania)
Deviant Burials of Wietenberg Culture at Miceşti-Cigaş (Alba County, Romania)

Summary/Abstract: The site at Miceşti-Cigaş is on the right terrace of Ampoi River, a tributary to Mureş. The archaeological excavations carried out since 1999, revealed the existence of a complex site with settlements dated to the Copper Age (Coţofeni culture), Early Bronze Age (Gornea-Orleşti/Iernut group), Middle Bronze Age (Wietenberg culture), Late Bronze Age (Cugir-Band group), Early Iron Age (Gáva and Basarabi cultures), Late Iron Age (the 1st century BC - 1st century AD) and Early Medieval Age (the end of 9th – first half of the 10th centuries). In this paper, I present three features from the Wietenberg culture, dated to the Middle Bronze Age, which were discovered during rescue excavations in 2009 and 2012. On the bottom of these features (C.7/2009, C. 56/2009 and C.11/2012) were inhumed skeletons in a crouched position. In these pits, cups dated to the 4th phase of the Wietenberg culture were discovered in close association with the skeletons. In the pit deposit of feature C.7/2009, we found many sherds typical of the last phase of this culture. Many burials are known from Wietenberg settlements: Derşida, Bernadea, Miceşti – Valea luncii, Obreja, Păuleni, Tureni (inhumation burials), Derşida, Aţel, Sânnicoară – Lab, Laslea – Cariera de nisip, Sântimbru, Rotbav – La pârâuţ, Mihai Viteazul and Uioara de Jos (cremation burials). Burials within settlements were also practiced in other neighbouring Bronze Age cultures: Monteoru, Otomani, Periam-Pecica (Mureş) and Verbicioara. This type of burial behaviour is included by scholars in the so - called deviant burial/atypical burial/ Sonderbestattung/Irregulärre Bestattung. All these terms refer to the same kind of features.

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