Migration Period

Generally, the term “age of migrations” is conventional, as long as the turbulences generated by the migrations of the eastern or northern populations were short-time phenomena, followed by periods of political and economic stability. After the disintegration of the Hun kingdom, in the middle of the 5th century, the political power in the eastern Carpathian Basin was held by the Gepid kingdom. Its domination started in the last third of the 5th century and it was often allied with the Roman Empire. The coming of Avars (567/568), a population of warriors arrived from the East, put an end to the Gepid domination, but still, numerous groups of late Germanics or even Romanics continued to live inside the Avar Khaganat, fulfilling military and more, economic duties. Significant groups of Slavs, arriving from the north-west, started to colonize permitted by the Avars to the lower territories from the northwestern Romania. It is possible that small groups of Slavs came even earlier, during the first half of the 6th century. The Avar Khaganat became ethnically mixed, and the Slavs played a more and more important role, at the end of the 8th century. The Avar state was destroyed at this time, by the Carolingian Empire during its period of period of full expansion.
    Lacking the written sources, it is very difficult to determine with archaeological methods the ethnical configuration of the population living in the northwestern part of Romania during the last two or three centuries of the 1st millennium. According to the information provided by Anonymus – a rather late chronicle of the events, disputed by some specialists while accepted by others – the present territory of Satu Mare county, situated on the middle and on the inferior course of Someş river, would have belonged to the Romanian–Slavic voivodship under Menumorut, at the end of the 9th and the beginning of the next century, illustrating the final stage of the historical process that led to the assimilation of the Slavs by a Latino population.
    The interest for the finds from the migration period and from the early Middle Ages rose after the Second World War. Until then, the period was known through few accidental discoveries. A proper delimitation of the finds from the 5th and the 6th centuries was made in the region of Satu Mare, illustrated by finds from Sanislău, Berea, Dindeşti, in the 1960’s. On the basis of the information and materials gathered by Gyula Kovács, the Calvinist priest from Berea, passionate for archaeology, systematic excavations were successively organized in several points in the territory of Ciumeşti, Berea and Foieni, between 1962 and 1965. The specialists who participated to the excavations were from the Institutes of Archaeology from Bucharest and Cluj Napoca, and from the Regional Museum of Maramureş, the latter wielding then administrative authority over the present territory of Satu Mare County. Surveys were carried out in an Early Mediaeval settlement from Culciu Mare (1966–1967), supported by the Archaeological Institute of Cluj Napoca.
    Surface research has been intensified during the 1970’s, and identified several early medieval settlements on the territory of Acâş, Baba Novac, Căpleni, Dorolţ, Lazuri, Livada, Săcăşeni, and Tiream. They were followed by the beginning of systematic research in the settlements from Lazuri, a locality close to Satu Mare. Other early medieval settlements have been identified and researched during the next decade (Carei, Cămin, Sanislău). The early Slavic incineration graves, found in Pişcolt–Nisipărie are well worth a mention, too. One of the result of the cooperation between the County Museum of Satu Mare and the Institute of Archaeology and Art History from Cluj Napoca (of the Romanian Academy) were the resumed investigations in the settlements from Lazuri–Lubi tag, in 1993, one of the most important archaeological sites from Satu Mare County. Later on, other important finds are the result of the rescue excavations carried out by the archaeologists of Satu Mare Museum.
    Gepids (eastern Germans, relative of Goths) had reached the Upper Tisa area by the end of the 3rd century A.D. the latest. They became then the main allies of the Huns, from whom they took over the political control of the Eastern Carpathian Basin. In the period between 480 and 567/568, the northwestern “border” of the Gepid kingdom from the present territory of the Satu Mare County can be delimited to the south of the middle course of Crasna River and down to the southern margin of the former Swamp of Ecedea, in the area of Carei. There are no discoveries to attest the presence of the Gepids either alongside the inferior course of Someş River, or towards the middle section of this river. The information we have so far shows the fact that towards the east, the higher area beginning at the east of Ier River course wasn’t inhabited.
    The so-called “row cemeteries”, resembling today’s cemeteries where the graves are set in parallel rows, and the body was laid on the west (the head)–east axe, were started to use at the last third of the 5th century. The cemetery from Valea lui Mihai (Bihor county) is the only one known in the area so far, but the graveyard from Căpleni (Carei)–Kozard (unfortunately, slightly researched, only a few graves were found) is interesting. It seems to begin towards the final stage of the Gepid kingdom, and the burials continue until the early Avar stage. The settlements of this period are better known in the county of Satu Mare, even if none of them has been intensely investigated (Berea, Carei, Ciumeşti, Sanislău). The dwellings were more or less deepened in the ground, having rectangular or almost square shape, with pillars holding the wooden structure of the walls, and the roof being made of straws or reed. Hearths are sometimes present inside the dwellings, other fire equipment is missing, that’s why it is more likely that in the latter cases different house annexes must exist. These dwellings find analogies in the contemporary settlements of the Middle Tisa Basin or of Transylvania and, generally, in the Germanic or Roman-Germanic rural environment of that time.
    Pottery is the most numerous and often the most important for scientific analysis of the vestiges. The kitchen pots were made with the fast wheel, or rarely by hand, from a mixture of paste, sand and micro-gravel (resistant to firing), originating from the Roman provincial pottery. Vessels used for serving meals and for storing supplies were made of fine paste, especially grey or dark colored, often decorated with stamped motifs on the unfired paste. The inventory of men burials prove the warrior-like character of the elite (helmets, shields, swords, long knives, arrows), while in the women graves are present objects illustrating the activities, specific for a sedentary world (spindle whorl, scythe, shears etc).
    The warrior tribe of Avars (a considerable danger for the early Byzantine Empire until the first half of the 7th century), relatives of the Turks and Mongolians, reached the Carpathian Basin from the North, after a short stay in the lower Danube area. Transylvania felt under their control, though they only dominated the territory of plains and swamps, formerly inhabited by Gepids. It must be admitted that the territory inhabited by the Avars in the north-west of Romania, reached the middle Basin of Ier River and did not go beyond the north and north-east, during the early Avar period (about 567–670/680). A slight extension of the inhabited territory might have happened during the late Avar period, at the end of the 7th century and during the next century.
    The presence of Avars in the northwestern Romania can be proved with objects from their culture (including specific weapons, like eastern type swords, heavy arrow points with three wings, iron staircases for saddles, they brought the latter ones for the first time in Europe), and especially with the specific burial rite (the inhumation). Almost all of discoveries belonging to the Avars were accidental. Lacking the systematic research made in cemeteries, there is only one early grave in the Satu Mare County found in Ghenci (7th century). This aspect explains the fact that until the present there are no researched graveyards in this region. There is no known settlements that can be assigned to the early Avars, although their existence must be assumed, especially after the beginning of the 7th century, when this nomad population started to settle. The process can be illustrated by a deepened dwelling, researched in Sanislău–Drumul spre Horea, or by the hand made pottery found in Berea–Grădina cu Flori. An Avar grave was found in Dindeşti, dated in the 8th century, with a cast bronze plate on a belt with a decoration specific to the late Avar culture. A similar piece was found earlier in Căuaş, and it can be dated in this period, too, as belonging to the same type of pieces.
    As a result of the research during the last decades, more aspects are known today about the oldest Slavs, who reached the middle and the inferior area of the Someş River, after 567. It can not be excluded though, the possibility that their less intense presence begins in the first half of the 6th century. They arrived from the northeast and settled at the northeastern border of the Avar Khaganat as their allies, and then, starting with the 7th century, they penetrated Transylvania. The most illustrative are the researches from Lazuri–Lubi tag and from the cemetery of Pişcolt–Lutărie. This is why the specialists were proposed to use the term of “Lazuri–Pişcolt horizon” in order to define this phenomenon (dating in the second half of the 6th century and the first third of the 7th century).
    The early Slavs had a material culture remarkable for its simplicity. For example, in the beginning, they used only the hand-made pottery, without any decoration. They practiced agriculture, husbandry, crafts, and, especially the processing of iron. They colonized a vast area as a result of their migration to the south and southwest, established, therefore, contacts with the advanced civilizations, and evolved quickly. The dwellings were more or less deepened into the ground, usually square shaped, with walls of wooden beams laid horizontally, the entire construction being consolidated with vertical pillars. The specific fire equipment was the stove, made of stone or, where this material wasn’t available (in the settlements from Lazuri, Acâş or Culciu Mare), they were knapped in a block of clay, set in the corner of the dwelling. Related to the clay stoves, a lot of clods of fired clay were found, some of large dimensions, used for storing the heat emanated by the stove. Very interesting are the so-called “clay breads”, sometimes decorated with different signs, even crucifixes, indicating magical-religious practices, related to the symbols of bread.
    The pottery was made by hand, generally not decorated, because only pots and storage vessels were produced. It can be assumed that most of the vessels were made of wood, therefore, these pieces were not preserved in the ground (Slavs were famous for processing wood). Moulds for making bronze and silver ornaments, clay melting pots and spoons, found in the settlement from Lazuri suggest intense metallurgical activities.
    The Slavs practiced incineration until very late, changing this rite to inhumation, under the influence of the Avars or with their Christianization. The burnt remnants were put in urns or directly in small, not too deep pits in the ground. The early Slavic graves found among the Celtic graves in Pişcolt–Nisipărie illustrate this burial practice. Repeated anthropological analyses revealed that the calcified bones of a man and woman were found in an urn here. Written sources mention the Slavic custom of sacrificing the widow after her husband’s death, especially within the social elite.
    A recent discovery of a dwelling from Acâş, with identical characteristics and inventory with those from Lazuri and Culciu Mare, indicate that the early Slavs advanced towards the Transylvanian Plateau, through the Crasna corridor. Several similar settlements and an incineration graveyard are known in the area of Zalău and its surroundings, indicating their direction. Other groups of Slavs with an advanced material culture moved towards the south, occupying even the higher areas, like the Depression of Maramureş, or, in Satu Mare county, the micro-region of Tur (the settlement of Turulung-Vii is known from here, as it was previously researched), during the 7th century.
    Although, certain particularities were maintained from one area to another, the archaeological finds knew an uniformization throughout the Carpathian Basin, starting with the second half of the 7th century. The best example is given by the ceramic pot, made with the slow-wheel (operated by hand), and decorated with belts of parallel stripes, waved or straight, a true symbol of the early Middle Age in a wide region.
    The medieval settlement from Lazuri–Lubi tag is the most known site in the county of Satu Mare. It is placed over a settlement from the 6th or 7th century, and it’s most intense period is in the 8th century. Surprisingly, the famous series of vestiges from here are original, even unusual to this chronologic horizon known inside the Carpathian Basin. In this sense, we can mention the prevalence of fine pottery made with the fast wheel, used in the kitchen. This type of pottery maintained the specific of the late ancient pottery art, and it is found in association with pots made by hand and – surprisingly – to a less extent with ceramics made at the slow-wheel. The horizontal extension of the archaeological complexes indicate the existence of dwellings (deepened in the ground, with stone stoves or hearths), surrounded by annexes and free lands (probably arable fields). This situation indicates a special internal topography of the settlement, explained by the social-economic model focused on family farmsteads, unusual at this time. A bronze earring, with half-moon body and a star-shaped pendant, belongs to a series of similar pieces dating, the latest, from the beginning of the 9th century.
    The interpretation of this situation is not simple at all, as long as the research of this period is not intensified in the neighboring regions. The intervention of some communities inside Transylvania was assumed, but it can not be excluded the possibility that they were colonized from the southwestern part of the basin during the wars of the Avars with the Francs.
    Generally, the interpretations of the Romanian specialists on the evolution of the population from the northwestern Romania, during the second half of the first millennium, have taken into consideration the continuity of the Daco-Romans (although the area was outside the province of Dacia). More precisely they assume that this population is the ancestors of the old, local, Romanian population that had assimilated the Slavs until the 8th and 9th centuries. Often the archaeological research meets difficulties both in sources and methods, while it tries to delimitate the ethnicity of the old populations. The northwestern part of Romania can not be exception in this sense. Certainly, the intensification of further archaeological research and the scientific analyses and interpretation will contribute to the significant development of the knowledge in this direction.