174 Aurel Rustoiu inventory. Around Deva were documented numerous traces of habitation from the same period of the 2 nd –1 st centuries BC (the fortress from Cozia – Piatra Coziei and probably the one from Deva – Cetate are the most significant) 63 which may sustain this hypothesis. Another curved dagger (sica) comes from Berghin (Alba County). The piece was i<strong>de</strong>ntified in the Museum of Sighişoara and belonged to the old collections accumulated in the 19 th century 64 (Fig. 8/2). The bla<strong>de</strong> is fragmentary and has blood channels 65 . The hilt was broken in ancient times, but a part of the guard is still preserved. The preserved length of the piece is of 20 cm. This dagger probably was also part of a funerary inventory. The hilt might have been damaged when the weapon was ritually bent before being placed in grave, as it is the case of the finds from Rast 66 in Oltenia. From Berghin are known, from various plots, Dacian ceramic fragments, a Greek coin, a Roman Republican <strong>de</strong>narius and an attachment of a situla of E 18 type, which may suggest the existence of some settlements from the 1 st century BC 67 . From Mediaş comes an assemblage of iron objects discovered in 1891, which could have belonged to some funerary inventories. They are preserved in the Brukenthal Museum Sibiu 68 . Amongst them is a ‘Thracian’ horse-bit and fragments belonging to another similar piece 69 (Fig. 8/3). The horse-bit was first published by V. Zirra 70 and then by W. M. Werner 71 , whereas the fragments of the second piece remained unknown. W. M. Werner inclu<strong>de</strong>d the horse-bit from Mediaş in the XVI type (Hebelstangentrensen mit zweiteilingen Mundstück), variant 3 (birnenförmiges Seitenteil). The lateral rings were <strong>de</strong>corated with incised lines, similarly to some pieces from Bulgaria 72 . The examples belonging to this type are the most frequent in funerary inventories from the area of the Pa<strong>de</strong>a-Panagjurski kolonii group 73 . The artefacts from Mediaş might have come from different graves, or from a single one. In certain situations, for example in the tumulus 2 from Cugir or in the tumulus from Călan, in the same grave were placed horse-bits from many horses 74 . The ol<strong>de</strong>r or more recent discoveries from Piatra Craivii (Craiva, Cricău commune, Alba County) indicate the existence of a small familial cemetery, similar to the one from Cugir, close to the well-known Dacian fortress. Some finds belonging to a burial were recovered at the end of the 19 th century. The inventory inclu<strong>de</strong>d, according the reconstruction recently provi<strong>de</strong>d by C. I. Popa, a long sword and two spear heads 75 . Very probably from the same grave comes a curved dagger having an intricate <strong>de</strong>coration on the bla<strong>de</strong> 76 (Fig. 9/1). The <strong>de</strong>coration has close analogies on a curved dagger discovered in a grave from Mala Vrbica-Ajmana 77 (Fig. 9/2), on the right bank of the Danube, in the Iron Gates region, and on another coming from Popitsa 78 in north-western Bulgaria (Fig. 9/3). The structure of ornamentation indicates the distribution across a wi<strong>de</strong>r area of an elaborated iconographic repertoire, having symbolic and i<strong>de</strong>ological meanings specific to the mentioned warlike elites. The wi<strong>de</strong>spread distribution of these symbols was <strong>de</strong>termined by the mobility which 63 GHEORGHIU 2005, 33 no. 33, 36–37 no. 43. 64 Unpublished. Museum of Sighişoara, inv. no. 598. 65 Multiple blood channels, although rarely encountered, can be also seen on other daggers, for example on a piece from Komarevo, in Bulgaria: TORBOV 2005, 693–694, Pl. 1/2. 66 TUDOR 1968. 67 GHEORGHIU 2005, 26 no. 8. 68 An iron bridle and a disk published by NESTOR 1937–1940, 177–178, Fig. 7/1–2. 69 Brukenthal Museum Sibiu. Information and drawings by S. Berecki to whom I would like to thank. 70 ZIRRA 1981, 128 Fig. 5/3. 71 WERNER 1988, 91–92 no. 297, Pl. 46/297. 72 TORBOV 2005, 696 Pl. 3/1. 73 RUSTOIU 2002, 51–53, Fig. 36 (distribution). 74 RUSTOIU 2002, 52. 75 POPA 2008. 76 RUSTOIU 2007b, 83–84, Fig. 1/1. 77 STALIO 1986, 33, Fig. 42. 78 TORBOV 1997, Pl. 3/1; TORBOV 2005, 695 Pl. 2/3.
Commentaria Archaeologica et Historica (I) 175 characterised this group, but also by the mobility of the craftsmen who followed the aristocratic ‘courts’ and created the entire panoply of arms and the prestige insignia of the military elite. 0 5 cm (1-3) 1 2 3 4 0 5 cm (4) Fig. 9. Curved daggers with <strong>de</strong>corated bla<strong>de</strong> from Craiva Piatra Craivii (1), Mala Vrbica-Ajmana (2) and Popitsa (3); iron brooch from Craiva Piatra Craivii (4) (1 – after RUSTOIU 2007b; 2 – after STALIO 1986; 3 – after TORBOV 1997; 4 – after RUSTOIU/GHEORGHIU 2009). The ol<strong>de</strong>r or more recent discoveries from Piatra Craivii (Craiva, Cricău commune, Alba County) indicate the existence of a small familial cemetery, similar to the one from Cugir, close to the well-known Dacian fortress. Some finds belonging to a burial were recovered at the end of the 19 th century. The inventory inclu<strong>de</strong>d, according the reconstruction recently provi<strong>de</strong>d by C. I. Popa,
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