THE COPPER METALLURGY IN THE COŢOFENI 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 Coţofeni 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
Coţofeni 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 Băile Herculane and Moldova Veche, where slag
remains, copper ore and finished objects were found. At Cuptoare - "Piatra Ilişovei", 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 Cîlnic,
Boarta and Peştera Bolii. Copper objects are rather frequent starting with the Coţofeni III
phase in various settlements from Banat, at Bocşa –
"Colţani", Moldova Veche – "Humca", Băile Herculane – "Peştera Hoţilor", Băile Herculane -
"Peştera Oilor" and Cuptoare – "Piatra Ilişovei". The traces of the workshops earlier mentioned
entitled us to assume that during the Coţofeni 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 Saloš.
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 Băile Herculane – "Peştera Hoţilor", containing 6% arsenic, an awl from "Peştera Oilor"
4%, while a copper ingot (?) from Peştera 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 ("Hackenäxte") have been eliminated
from this presentation, although in some cases they are still claimed to be associated with
Coţofeni 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 Roman’s monograph. Two new pieces from Şincai and one from
Crăciuneşti have been added to those earlier discovered at Băile Herculane and Bocşa
Montană. 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 Ilişovei", Băile
Herculane - "Peştera Hoţilor" and "Peştera Oilor", Şincai and Bocşa Montană - "Colţan" 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 Criş culture, dating recently questioned, due to its being
manufactured of a copper and arsenic alloy, It could rather belong to the Coţofeni 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 Coţofeni culture.
b) Axes are of two types: flat axes with enlarged blade and axes with raised edges,
though the latter category’s belonging to the Coţofeni culture is still controversial.
Flat axes ("Flachbeile") have been found so far only in the Banat area, at Bocşa
Montană - "Colţan" (pl. 1/9) and Cuptoare - "Piatra Ilişovei" (pl. 1/6). The piece from Bocşa is
a "Flachbeile mit verbreiterter Schneide", according to Vulpe’s classification, the oldest piece
found on Romanian territory being the one from Horodiştea. The blade fragment from
Cuptoare - "Piatra Ilişovei" is rather difficult to classify.
 The axes with raised edges ("Randleistenbeile"), are represented by the piece from
Bretea Mureşană, which belongs either to Coţofeni inhabiting according to M. Rotea, or rather
to the Early Bronze Age, in Andriţoiu’s opinion. It should also be noted that at Sincai, where
the well-known Coţofeni settlement from "Cetatea Păgânilor" lies, another axe of the same type
was discovered, just like in the case of Cîlnic. Yet, the belonging of this type of axes to the
Coţofeni 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 Ampoiţa
- Piatra Boului" (pl. 2/1) and another one with leaf-shaped blade, (which could also be
considered a dagger), at Meteş - "Piatra Peşterii" (pl. 2/2). Both are unpublished, the former
being a surface discovery from a settlement where only Coţofeni 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 Coţofeni inhabiting level.
An early analogy for the piece with thorn-shaped rib is represented by the knife found in
tomb 44 from the Tiszapolgár-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 Ampoiţa 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
Meteş are known also from the Tiszapolgár cultural milieu. Such a blade comes from tomb 23
from Vel'ke Raškovce, 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 Tiszapolgár
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 Răchita (pl. 3/1), or on the body
of vessels from Ampoiţa - “La Pietri” (pl. 3/2),- Sebeş - "Râpa Roşie" (pl. 3/3) and Şeuşa -
“Gorgan”. The pendants present on Coţofeni ceramics belong, according to the classification
made by Pavelčik, to the so-called Jordanów type, dated at the end of Eneolitihic and Bronze
Age. Most pieces belonging to Eneolithic come from the Jordanów and Brześć-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 Coţofeni 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 spectacle-
shaped 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 Sebeş - "Râpa Roşie" 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 Tiszapolgár culture.
There is no analogy yet in the Eneolithic milieu for the variety with rectangular section, the
belonging of the Căzăneşti piece to the Coţofeni milieu still being uncertain.
c) Necklaces are documented by the piece from Boholt, which has antecedents in the
cemetery from Decea Mureşului. Pieces closer chronologically and culturally are known in the
Baden milieu such as the pieces from the Vel'ká Lomnica deposit.
d) Beads are represented through two pieces in twisted sheet, belonging to the so-called
"Blechperle" or "Blechröllchen" 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 Bošáca
group from Bánow, as well as among Kostolac material from Iža.
e) Fragmentary oval plate, worked in thin sheet and adorned on the brim with circular
impressions, in the “au repoussé” technique (pl. 1/3). The piece comes from level eVI from
Băile Herculane – "Peştera Hoţilor", and the only analogy as regards the technique and the way
of arranging the decoration is the copper diadem from the Baden grave from Vörs, Although
the piece from Băile Herculane is incomplete, it is difficult to say that it could have belonged to
an ornament of the Vörs type. It is closer rather to the diadem from the Vel'ká 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 Vučedol culture.
The copper metallurgy recovers during the last phase of the Coţofeni culture, the
greatest part of the metal objects discovered in clear statigraphical situations and the traces of
workshops from Băile Herculane, Cuptoare - "Piatra Ilişovei" 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 Coţofeni culture to a different historical period, respectively
the Bronze Age, as A. Vulpe recently proposed.

HORIA CIUGUDEAN
(translated by Brînduşa Ciugudean)

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Pl. 1 - Copper objects: Băile Herculane – "Peştera Hoţilor" (1, 3-4), Moldova Veche (2), Crăciuneşti (5),
Cuptoare – "Piatra Ilişovei" (6), Şincai (7-8),
Bocşa Montană (4, 9) (apud Lazăr 1977, Roman 1976, Andriţoiu 1978, Maxim 1993)
 Pl. 2 - Copper objects: Ampoiţa – "Piatra Boului" (1), Meteş (2), Sebeş (4),
Poiana Ampoiului (5-7, 11), Băile Herculane – "Peştera Hoţilor" (10, 12, 14),
Băile Herculane – "Peştera Oilor" (13, 15), Moldova Veche (1, 3, 8-9, 18-19),
Bocşa Montană (16), Şincai (20-23) (apud Roman 1976, Lazăr 1977)
 1 2

Pl. 3 - Representations of spectacle-shaped pendants on the Coţofeni pottery from Răchita (1); Ampoiţa - “La
Pietri” (2); and Sebeş - "Râpa Roşie" (3)