Open Access“Looted Warriors” from Eastern Europe
Author(s) -
János Gábor Tarbay
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
dissertationes archaeologicae ex instituto archaeologico universitatis de rolando eötvös nominatae
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2064-4574
DOI - 10.17204/dissarch.2018.313
Subject(s) - hoard , sword , assemblage (archaeology) , elite , ancient history , archaeology , parallels , period (music) , art , history , geography , political science , engineering , law , mechanical engineering , politics , aesthetics
The study discusses and calls attention to assemblages that are recent victims of illicit metal detectoring in Eastern Europe. The first one is a Ha B1 sword hoard, allegedly from Mátészalka (Hungary, Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg County). The assemblage was looted in 2017. In less than a year, two of the finds have entered the British antiquities market and they were sold under fake provenance. The second find could have been a late Period V (Ha B3) elite burial. The looted assemblage has appeared on the domongol.org metal detectorist blog, and it is allegedly originating from “Ternopil Oblast” (Ukraine). It contains a bell helmet with solar barge decoration and a fragment of a unique Hajdúböszörmény-type situla, the parallels of which relate this find to the Rivoli (Italy) burial and the metallurgical sphere of the Eary Iron Age.