Descoperiri arheologice din a doua epocă a fierului în zona satului Vețel, jud. Hunedoara
Archaeological Discoveries from the Second Iron Age in the Area of Vețel Village, Hunedoara County

Summary/Abstract: The importance of the middle Mureș area for human communities in all historical epochs is mainly due to mineral resources. But its role as the main link between Transylvania and the Central European areas of the Carpathian Basin must also be emphasized. The wide and easily accessible corridor of this river facilitates the communication between the two geo-morphological units. And the importance of trade in antiquity has been noted by many historians. More than that, some ancient authors considered that the river Maris flows into the Danube and not into the Tisza (Fig. 1). In the area of Vețel village, Valea Mureșului is well individualized within the surrounding mountain landscape (Fig. 2). The sector crossed by Mureş downstream of Deva and up to the locality of Lipova is called by some geographers Culoarul Mureşului (Mureș Corridor). The area provided good conditions for the establishment of human settlements and even if the discoveries belonging to the Roman era are the best known in this micro-area, there are also discoveries belonging to other historical epochs. On this occasion, we will try to present in a synthetic way the discoveries dating back to the centuries that preceded the founding of Micia. A first chronological interval that we have in mind is constituted by the so-called “Celtic horizon” (c. 350–175 BC). Transylvania and the parts in western and northwestern Romania today, were colonized by the Celts in several stages. Biritual necropolises, in which there are dead buried and cremated, with inventories that include objects specific to the La Tène culture, but also some from the local background, mark the main access roads from the west to Transylvania and are also present in the center of the Transylvanian Plateau. At the same time, small groups of deep dwellings are associated in settlements of farmers and animal breeding communities.In the microzone in which the traces of ancient Micia were also identified, we notice that the objects belonging to the respective chronological and cultural horizon, which we know, are not numerous. They are represented by a fragment of a bronze belt (Fig. 4) and some fragments of ceramic vessels, recently discovered in the eastern extremity of the village (Fig. 5, 7-8). Even in such small numbers, they can indicate the presence of a settlement, in the place called Gerhat and may be a necropolis, at the point La Hotar.Other complexes dated in stage C1 of La Tène, seem to have been discovered in 2018 in the place called Luncă/ În Vie. The second chronological interval that we have in mind in the area of Micia is the so-called „Dacian horizon” that falls from the second half of the second century BC, until the beginning of the second century AD. Among the accidental discoveries recorded over time, we draw attention to an object made of gold plate, interpreted to be a harness (prometopidion) (Fig. 9/1) and a spearhead (Fig. 10). But the most numerous objects specific to the Dacian horizon come from the Piatra Coziei Hill, where small-scale archaeological research, carried out more than half a century ago, seems to have identified a settlement, or maybe even a fortress.To summarize, it can be seen that the analyzed micro-zone have a rich potential of archaeological discoveries dating back to the second Iron Age, whose exploitation is still awaiting systematic involvement.

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