THE COPPER METALLURGY IN THE COOFENI CULTURE (TRANSYLVANIA AND BANAT)

The analysis made by A. Vulpe regarding copper metallurgy in the Eneolitihic period rendered evident the sudden drop of the quantity of metal used in Late Eneolitihic, emphasized in the case of the Coofeni culture by P. Roman. The causes of this phenomenon are rather various, ranging over the effect of the arrival of northern-Pontic tribes among the natives, the possible exhaustion of accessible copper carbonate deposits, or the altering of the attitude towards copper, as a symbol of value. Up to now, there is little evidence concerning mining in the area occupied by the Coofeni communities; the winning of the copper deposits was probably made through simple methods, based on collecting the easily accessible native copper. The metal could be processed through hammering, followed or not by hardening, for which a temperature of 150 degrees Celsius sufficed. Roman supported the theory of reduction on the spot of complex copper ore, relying mostly on the observations made at Bile Herculane and Moldova Veche, where slag remains, copper ore and finished objects were found. At Cuptoare - "Piatra Iliovei", alongside of finished objects (awls, a needle and the blade of an axe), bits and pieces of molten copper were discovered beside grinding mills and stone hammers, thus indicating local metallurgical activity, possibly based on the winning of copper ore lodes present in the rocks near the terrace where the settlement lies. Pieces of copper were also found in the settlements from Clnic, Boarta and Petera Bolii. Copper objects are rather frequent starting with the Coofeni III phase in various settlements from Banat, at Boca

"Colani", Moldova Veche "Humca", Bile Herculane "Petera Hoilor", Bile Herculane "Petera Oilor" and Cuptoare "Piatra Iliovei". The traces of the workshops earlier mentioned entitled us to assume that during the Coofeni culture the stage of processing native copper had already been surpassed and replaced by extracting copper from complex ore. A similar situation is recorded in the Baden milieu, since kilns and pieces of slag have been found in the settlement from Novacka Cuprija, Okukalj and Salo. As regards the composition of metal objects unfortunately, only few of them have been analyzed metalographically, the results indicating the presence of almost pure copper and excluding a possible alloy with tin. The situation is different in the case of using copper together with arsenic, since various objects containing the alloy have been discovered: a dagger from Bile Herculane "Petera Hoilor", containing 6% arsenic, an awl from "Petera Oilor" 4%, while a copper ingot (?) from Petera Bolii was only 0,246 % arsenic. It is obvious that in this latter case it is a matter of copper ore composed of arsenic, while according to some scholars the hypothesis of intentional alloy is plausible in the first case. The arsenical copper are known on Romanian territory in various cultural milieus since Eneolitihic, a situation similar to the rest of Europe. Only those objects coming from a certain stratigraphical context have been used for the following typological analysis. The copper axe-adzes ("Hackenxte") have been eliminated from this presentation, although in some cases they are still claimed to be associated with Coofeni material, while it is quite certain that they belong to a previous period. 1. Weapons Daggers mainly represent this category, their number having considerably increased since the publication of Romans monograph. Two new pieces from incai and one from Crciuneti have been added to those earlier discovered at Bile Herculane and Boca Montan. They fall into the following categories: a) daggers with triangular blade, rhombic section and triangular fastening part, with rivet orifices (pl. 1/8, 10-11); b) daggers with leaf-shaped blade, lenticular section and rounded fastening part, with rivet orifices (pl. 1/4-5); c) daggers with triangular blade, plan-convex section and grip-tongue (pl. 1/1). Such daggers have antecedents in Early Carpathian-Balkanic Eneolitihic, those from the first category resembling the Jagodina type (the beginning of 4th millennium BC). No satisfying analogy could yet be drawn as regards the grip-tongue dagger in neighbouring cultural areas. 2. Tools a) Awls are the most numerous; 14 pieces from Boiu, Cuptoare - "Piatra Iliovei", Bile Herculane - "Petera Hoilor" and "Petera Oilor", incai and Boca Montan - "Colan" have been published up to now. Having rectangular or rhombic section, they fall into three categories: - awls with sharped hilt (pl. 2/8, 12-13, 15); - awls with both sharp ends (pl. 2/3, 14, 17, 19); - awls with straight end (pl. 2/9, 21-23). Considered the earliest piece of this type on Romanian territory, the awl from Balomir has been attributed to the Cri culture, dating recently questioned, due to its being manufactured of a copper and arsenic alloy, It could rather belong to the Coofeni culture, whose traces have been reported in the same place. Awls were currently used during Early and Middle Eneolitihic. Closer chronologically are the pieces from the Boleraz and Baden milieu, which do not differ significantly from those belonging to the Coofeni culture. b) Axes are of two types: flat axes with enlarged blade and axes with raised edges, though the latter categorys belonging to the Coofeni culture is still controversial. Flat axes ("Flachbeile") have been found so far only in the Banat area, at Boca Montan - "Colan" (pl. 1/9) and Cuptoare - "Piatra Iliovei" (pl. 1/6). The piece from Boca is a "Flachbeile mit verbreiterter Schneide", according to Vulpes classification, the oldest piece found on Romanian territory being the one from Horoditea. The blade fragment from Cuptoare - "Piatra Iliovei" is rather difficult to classify.

The axes with raised edges ("Randleistenbeile"), are represented by the piece from Bretea Murean, which belongs either to Coofeni inhabiting according to M. Rotea, or rather to the Early Bronze Age, in Andrioius opinion. It should also be noted that at Sincai, where the well-known Coofeni settlement from "Cetatea Pgnilor" lies, another axe of the same type was discovered, just like in the case of Clnic. Yet, the belonging of this type of axes to the Coofeni culture is still uncertain, as new discoveries in clear stratigraphical contexts are needed, in order to finally solve the problem. c) Knives are less numerous, a piece with a short thorn-shaped rib was found at Ampoia - Piatra Boului" (pl. 2/1) and another one with leaf-shaped blade, (which could also be considered a dagger), at Mete - "Piatra Peterii" (pl. 2/2). Both are unpublished, the former being a surface discovery from a settlement where only Coofeni III material has been found, while the latter has been discovered through systematic excavation in a clear stratigraphical context, in a dwelling from the last Coofeni inhabiting level. An early analogy for the piece with thorn-shaped rib is represented by the knife found in tomb 44 from the Tiszapolgr-Basatanya cemetery. Knives from the Aegean area usually have fastening orifices at the base of the blade, while the blade markedly narrows towards the bent tip, pieces resembling typologically the one from Ampoia are extremely rare. At Dikili Tash a single knife with short rib, was found in the level 3b, belonging to Early Bronze II, having curved blade, thinner towards the end with thickened rib. Blades similar to the piece from Mete are known also from the Tiszapolgr cultural milieu. Such a blade comes from tomb 23 from Vel'ke Rakovce, being considered either a knife by its finder, or a dagger by other scholars. The discovery of a knife blade from the Kostolac level was reported at Gomolava. d) Needles proper are known through the piece from Poiana Ampoiului - "Piatra Ampoiului" (pl. 2/11), made out of twisted and hammered copper sheet, which is a significant aspect regarding the primitive technological level. Simple needles are known in the Tiszapolgr culture and later in the Baden milieu. e) Chisels are poorly represented, a piece from Moldova Veche being known in the Banat area (pl. 2/18). It has rectangular section, a sharp end and a widened one. Chisels dating from Early or Middle Eneolitihic are more solid, the upper part being usually round and deformed due to knocking. 3. Ornaments a) Spectacle-shaped pendants are indirectly documented through representation on ceramics from the Transylvanian area, such as a handle from Rchita (pl. 3/1), or on the body of vessels from Ampoia - La Pietri (pl. 3/2),- Sebe - "Rpa Roie" (pl. 3/3) and eua Gorgan. The pendants present on Coofeni ceramics belong, according to the classification made by Pavelik, to the so-called Jordanw type, dated at the end of Eneolitihic and Bronze Age. Most pieces belonging to Eneolithic come from the Jordanw and Brze-Kujawski cultures, the oldest object being the one from the Hlinsko deposit, dated in the first half of the IVth mil B.C. Geographically speaking, the pendants of the Coofeni culture fall into the Danubian group, charted by Matuschik, in which most pieces belong to Early Bronze Age, unlike those from the Western-Alpine area, dating from the end of Eneolithic. The spectacleshaped pendants are a type of adornment which is frequently present in tumular necropoles from the Apuseni Mountains, dating from the end of Eneolithic and the beginning of Bronze Age. As regards the usage of this type of adornment, one should keep in mind the possibility of their being used either as head ornament, or as pendants suspended by the neck or on the chest. b) Bracelets are represented through three pieces, one older, without guaranteed stratigraphical context, one coming from the Sebe - "Rpa Roie" excavations (pl. 2/4) and the last one, found recently in the settlement at Poiana Ampoiului - "Piatra Corbului" (pl. 2/5). They all date from phase III, belong to the monospiralic type and fall into two categories: - with circular section (pl. 2/5); - with rectangular section (pl. 2/4); The monospiralic bracelets with circular section are known in the Tiszapolgr culture.

There is no analogy yet in the Eneolithic milieu for the variety with rectangular section, the belonging of the Czneti piece to the Coofeni milieu still being uncertain. c) Necklaces are documented by the piece from Boholt, which has antecedents in the cemetery from Decea Mureului. Pieces closer chronologically and culturally are known in the Baden milieu such as the pieces from the Vel'k Lomnica deposit. d) Beads are represented through two pieces in twisted sheet, belonging to the so-called "Blechperle" or "Blechrllchen" category, both coming from the Poiana Ampoiului settlement (pl. 2/6-7). Similar pieces are signalled in the Baden milieu, in the settlement of the Boca group from Bnow, as well as among Kostolac material from Ia. e) Fragmentary oval plate, worked in thin sheet and adorned on the brim with circular impressions, in the au repouss technique (pl. 1/3). The piece comes from level eVI from Bile Herculane "Petera Hoilor", and the only analogy as regards the technique and the way of arranging the decoration is the copper diadem from the Baden grave from Vrs, Although the piece from Bile Herculane is incomplete, it is difficult to say that it could have belonged to an ornament of the Vrs type. It is closer rather to the diadem from the Vel'k Lomnica deposit, also attributed to the Baden culture. This presentation of copper ornamental pieces does not include the four pieces (three spirals and a willow leaf-shaped ring) discovered in mound 2 from Moldva Veche, due to the certain belonging of this complex to the Vuedol culture. The copper metallurgy recovers during the last phase of the Coofeni culture, the greatest part of the metal objects discovered in clear statigraphical situations and the traces of workshops from Bile Herculane, Cuptoare - "Piatra Iliovei" and Moldova Veche belonging to the 3rd phase of the culture. However, there are no evidence so far for the local production of typical Early Bronze Age weapons and tools, such as the shaft hole axes. This is one of the reasons why it is still hard to accept the belonging of the Coofeni culture to a different historical period, respectively the Bronze Age, as A. Vulpe recently proposed. HORIA CIUGUDEAN
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Pl. 1 - Copper objects: Bile Herculane "Petera Hoilor" (1, 3-4), Moldova Veche (2), Crciuneti (5), Cuptoare "Piatra Iliovei" (6), incai (7-8), Boca Montan (4, 9) (apud Lazr 1977, Roman 1976, Andrioiu 1978, Maxim 1993)

Pl. 2 - Copper objects: Ampoia "Piatra Boului" (1), Mete (2), Sebe (4), Poiana Ampoiului (5-7, 11), Bile Herculane "Petera Hoilor" (10, 12, 14), Bile Herculane "Petera Oilor" (13, 15), Moldova Veche (1, 3, 8-9, 18-19), Boca Montan (16), incai (20-23) (apud Roman 1976, Lazr 1977)

3 Pl. 3 - Representations of spectacle-shaped pendants on the Coofeni pottery from Rchita (1); Ampoia - La Pietri (2); and Sebe - "Rpa Roie" (3)