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Weapons and Military Equipment Found in the German Settlement Area
11. Axe from Feldioara (plate 4:4). The item, primarily designed as a weapon and secondly
as a tool, has a neck rectangular in section, slightly extending into a square section
prominence; the grip orifice is rectangular with rounded corners and its edges are
enlarged as sharp “wings” for a better grip on the handle, the blade is elongated and very
slightly curved towards the point. A part of the blade and its point were broken long ago,
and based on similarities with other axes it is likely that the edge was originally narrow,
approximately 5 cm wide.
Dating: the second half of the 12 th century, during the period when the necropolis attributed to
the German hospites in Ţara Bârsei was functional.
Place of discovery: the item emerged during systematic archaeological research in the
medieval necropolis of Feldioara village near the grave of M 101, in an inferior layer
where the graves had been dug.
The area of origin area for this type of piece: Eastern Europe 77 .
References: A. Ioniţă 1995, p. 277-280; A. Ioniţă et al. 2004, p. 44, 219, fig. 53/2.
The National Military Museum in Bucharest.
12. Mace head from Racoşu de Sus (Covasna County – between Rupea and Baraolt) (plate
4:1). Mace head without a grip tube (?) 78 with 12 corners, four of them placed in the
centre on four edges, and the other 8 on three smaller edges, four disposed on the top and
the other four symmetrically disposed on the bottom. The mace seems to be very worn
out.
Dating: the 12 th – 14 th centuries.
Place of discovery: the village of Racoşu de Sus.
The area of origin for this type of piece: Eastern Europe 79 .
References: K. Horedt 1940, p. 19; K. Horedt 1986, p. 149, Abb. 62-5 with bibliography.
The Székely Museum in Sf. Gheorghe.
13. Mace head from Bod (Braşov County – between Feldioara and Hărman). Mace head with
grip tube and 12 corners, of which the 4 median ones are placed on four edges and the
other 8 on three edges, laterally.
Dating: 12 th – 14 th centuries.
The area of origin for this type of piece: Eastern Europe.
References: J. Teutsch 1903, p. 333, no. IX, fig. 182; M. Simina, Gheorghe Anghel 1998, p.
162, 164.
14. Mace head from Dupuş (Sibiu County – near Aţel) (plate 4:2). Mace head with elongated
conical grip tube at the bottom with a small ridge, and 12 long well shaped corners, the
median ones on four edges, and the peripheral on three edges.
Dating: 12 th – 14 th centuries.
Place of discovery: south of the village Dupuş.
The area of origin for this type of piece: Eastern Europe.
77 The spreading area of this type of axes, circulating between the 10 th – 12 th centuries, is very large, as
they could be encountered in Hungary, Serbia, Poland, the Russian principalities, as well as Moldavia
and Dobrogea (see A. Ioniţă 1995, p. 277-280; I. E. Emandi 1981).
78 According to the description, the mace is presented without a grip tube, but the drawing shows on one
extremity an extension of the orifice or of the sleeve, seemingly broken.
79 See notes 48-49 above.
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